Ad Critique- “The Non-Issue”

One of my favorite ad campaigns from the festival was “The Non-Issue” by L’Oreal Paris. L’Oreal found a problem when doing research about their consumers and they decided to do something about it. In collaboration with Vogue, L’Oreal helped create “The Non-Issue”, an single issue of Vogue that portrayed age as a non-issue in our society. According to their research, over 40% of women over the age of 50 however only 15% of them are represented in the media. L’Oreal wanted to combat the issue of gender-based age discrimination by making a Vogue article to specifically highlight women over the age of fifty to combat this ageism head-on. The articles in this issue we’re all centered around the belief that age should be a non-issue. Models included celebrities such as Elle Macpherson, Maye Musk, and Julianne Moore. Not only were of the models over fifty, but all of the designers, photographers, make-up artists, and all other contributors were as well. It also included suggestions for beauty, technology, etc. and even advice about menopause and all of the advertising in the magazine normalized aging. The ad had over nineteen million impressions, affected over forty thousand readers in only two weeks, and it was more successful than Rhianna’s most recent Vogue cover. I personally love this campaign because I recently learned that ageism is the most common bias in today’s culture, however, there is very little being done about it and it is rarely discussed. Having a mother who is over the age of fifty, I have realized how hard it can be to find products or clothing when none of the models in magazines or on websites look even remotely like you. I applaud L’Oreal for listening to their customers and making them feel equally represented in this fashion magazine, however, I hope that Vogue and other magazines took note and will continue to have more mature representation in the future.