Julia Roberts Is Too Airbrushed For England
Julia Roberts might be one of the biggest movie stars in the world, but in the United Kingdom, she's banned. Sort of. L'Oreal was forced to pull its dreamy ads featuring Roberts and supermodel Christy Turlington after the U.K.'s Advertising Standards Authority decreed them overly airbrushed, the Guardian reports.
The woman who launched the argument that led to ASA's ruling is Jo Swinson, a Scottish Liberal Democrat politician and Member of Parliament. Swinson has aggressively campaigned against unrealistic and digitally altered images of celebrities in advertisements.
Roberts, 43, is a spokes-celebrity for the L'Oreal-owned Lancome brand and its new Teint Miracle liquid foundation.
"Pictures of flawless skin and super-slim bodies are all around, but they don't reflect reality," says Swinson. "Excessive airbrushing and digital manipulation techniques have become the norm, but both Christy Turlington and Julia Roberts are naturally beautiful women who don't need retouching to look great. This ban sends a powerful message to advertisers -- let's get back to reality."
(Good point.) As it happened, L'Oreal conceded that it had given Roberts a digital makeover, but argued that the tweaks were not "directly relevant" and that the ad was an "aspirational picture." The cosmetics giant also offered the ASA red-carpet photos of the actress to prove that she is indeed naturally gorgeous. As if we didn't know that already.
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