Got Acne?
Proactiv Advertisements
CCISD
CCISD
1/1/2011
Proactiv: is it good, is it bad, will
it work, and will it allow you to be acne
free forever? Over millions of people
deal with acne, but how are we to trust
acne healers? Proactiv claims that they
are the number one seller of acne
solution in America. Why is that?
Proactiv has many success stories from
many people including some celebrities.
Yet there is also many people not
mentioned in these commercials and
those are the people that didn’t make the
cut, since Proactiv didn’t work for them.
Proactiv is an acne treatment
that stops and prevents acne from
appearing on your face or body. It has
had many consumers buy the product
over years and years and has become the
number one selling acne treatment in
America. With a three step solution your
acne is supposedly to disappear in a matter
of two weeks or less. Some people say that
Proactiv is the closest thing you’re going to
get to curing acne. Proactiv also claims that
their products are designed for all skin types
and categories of acne, may it be oily skin
with little acne or dry skin with a lot of acne
Proactiv is supposed to work. There are little
side effects with the clearing of your skin
from acne. These side effects are: redness,
dryness, or hives. These are expected
though, are they not? With so much
evidence of success from Proactiv, it’s hard
to imagine someone saying that it does not
work. We see the commercials with people’s
life stories of Proactiv and our idols, those
we look up to, using this product.
Katy Perry, Justin Bieber, and Avril
Lavigne are few of the many celebrity
Proactiv users. They each have their own
story to go with Proactiv and how it has
helped them with their self confidence of
blemishes. I know it’s hard to believe but
celebrities even care how we think of them.
This may be why Proactiv is such a big
selling company. These stars are those we
look up to and idolize. When our idols
become someone like us, it adds a sense of,
“Hey, I know how that feels,” making the
product our way of becoming closer to our
idol. Katy Perry stated, “Suddenly, all that
stress started showing up on my face as
blemishes. It made me feel very
embarrassed and really self-conscious.” This
sounds familiar does it not? Teenagers all
around one time or another cares about their
looks and become embarrassed or self
conscious. This similarity between the
celebrity Katy and her fans, may have sold
some Proactiv. Katy isn’t the only Proactiv
star though; all the celebrities sell to their
fans. If one celebrity doesn’t work, make
room for the next. From each story of an
idol, you see a pattern. This pattern being, I
deal with acne too, I get embarrassed or my
self confidence goes down, tried Proactiv,
and now I’m happy with clear skin.
Proactiv, is it really that good?
Proactiv
manipulates the
thought that if you
have acne you will
be a laughing stock
or in other words
to worry about
your looks and
what people think
of you. In Brave
New World
Revisited Huxley
tells of this
manipulation using
hatred and anger
instead of worry
and
embarrassment.
The quote states,
“In a long run,
anger and hatred
are self-defeating
emotions. But in a
short run they pay
high dividends in the form
of psychological and even
(since they release large
quantities of adrenalin and
noradrenalin)
physiological satisfaction.”
In short, emotions are good
when selling a product.
Making the consumer a
puppet, when the consumer
has the emotions you
wanted to erupt when
seeing an ad, the
advertisers sell their
product. We, the
consumers allow ourselves
to be influenced by theses
emotions that they affect
our lives. Mark Crispin
Miller even states in the
persuaders, “Advertising
wants to become the air we
breathe. It wants us not to
be able to find a way
outside of the world that it
creates for us.” This all
comes down that the
advertisers manipulate us
and what we see, and
believe, making us their
consumers to their
products.
Though the thought
of manipulating emotions
to sell a product is
interesting, does Proactiv
even really work? Many
reviews from acne.org
speak that Proactiv is a
waste of time and money.
Some were more
descriptive than others
along with a few “joke”
reviews. Along with
those that say it dried
my skin and acne
didn’t go away, you
have those that agree
that Proactiv did work.
Key word did, by this I
mean that they said
Proactiv stopped
working after a time
and the acne came
back. Other problems
reported were bad
service from the
Proactiv Company or
the price of what they
paid. How come we
don’t hear these results
on an ad for Proactiv?
In
myacnetreatmentrevie
w.org the authors speak
that Proactiv states that
they have a success rate of
85%, yet they also say that
in most review forums
only 42% of the visitors
recommend Proactiv.
Reason being, it didn’t
work for the 15% that is
missing from the 85% and
43% of the success rate
consumers may have not
been fully satisfied with
the results.
Now, what really
causes acne? We hear
about clogging of pores
and dirt and stress. But is
that all there is to it? “All
acne is a disorder of the
pilosebaceous unit, which
is made up of a hair
follicle, sebaceous gland,
and a hair. These units are
found everywhere on the
body except on the palms,
soles, top of the feet, and
the lower lip.” explains
Heather Brannon on
ask.com, What Causes
Acne? In fact, every
human being has oil in the
skin called sebum which
increases with hormones.
This is the reason teens
deal with acne more than
adults. When blackheads
or “open comedo” forms it
is the result of sebum and
dead skin clogging your
pore, yet the surface of the
pore is open or clear letting
you see a dark color of the
sebum and dead skin.
Whiteheads or “closed
comedo” are excess oil and
dead skin clogging the
pore also blocking the
surface. Bacteria thrive in
the excess oil and grow
rapidly in the closed pore,
creating inflammation.
This is what gives your
pimple a red, hot, and
swollen appeal. But why
does this all matter? You
can’t stop acne. It’s like
trying to stop grass from
growing forever. You may
cut it all you want but it
will be back. So why does
proactive say they can
prevent acne, when you
can’t. Your face will get
clogged again and again
during the day. Dirt and
dead skin will be in your
pores and if not that you
still have sebum no matter
what.
Proactiv’s ads have become more than just a way to show you how their ingredients work on
your acne, or including free bonuses with your ordered product. They have spread from using
celebrities to entice those that support them to making consumers fear and worry of their looks.
Jessica Simpson fades in
from a black screen; she
sits in a fetal position with
no shoes, looking relaxed
against a tan screen.
Moving to the next scene,
she walks on a red carpet
around fans in a white
dress smiling. Flashing to
the next scene, she is
sitting in a dressing room
in a white robe, hair up,
“After trying every procedure,
facial treatment and product I
could find, I finally decided to try
Proactiv. I mean, I had nothing
to lose except my acne and I was
definitely okay with losing that!
Since then, I’ve seen massive
changes in my face and my
confidence." – Katy Perry
and getting
makeup put on her
while looking in a
oval mirror
surrounded by
lights. Flashing
quickly are photos
of Jessica smiling
on a white
background,
looking in different
directions. A clip
of one of her concerts moves into the screen,
black background, pink blouse, and singing
into a microphone. Then going to a clip of
her blowing a kiss in between two RVs.
Going back to first scene of Jessica sitting,
then she is twirling in a robe, going back a
white poodle appears out of nowhere and
walks to her sitting on the ground, she picks
up the poodle. Poodle disappears and she
talks of how she
doesn’t know what will
happen in a day, but
she starts and ends her
day with
Proactiv.
Lindsay Lohan
fades in from black
screen; she is wearing a
blue spaghetti string
blouse, standing in
front of a white
background. She asks
if the consumer freaks
out about acne and
concerns on their
looks. When she says,
“well help is on the
way,” Practiv splashes
through in three bottles. Water like
substance and white background surrounds
the bottles. The next scene is Lindsay sitting
saying she deals with acne and doesn’t like
it, and then the showing of pictures
highlights the zits on her face before
Proactiv. Back to the scene of her sitting in
front of a tan background, smiling, wearing
a white sweater she explains that Proactiv
worked for her. Later in the commercial the
narrator says, “Now’s your chance to join
Lindsay Lohan and millions more who’ve
cleared their skin with Proactiv solution.”
Both commercials have similarities
and differences but mostly similarities. Both
celebrities are fading in from black and at
sometime have a tan back ground. Both
mention something of using Proactiv
everyday and loving it. They also influence
the color white in the advertisements at one
time or another. So how does this affect
consumers? Remember these are celebrities
and many people that have given a review of
Proactiv say they are the reason for the
selling of the product. This
may be true considering
how many people that
follow the pop culture and
the music industry. Also
remember that the idols give
a reference to us, the fans,
and make us feel as though
we are a part of them. Tan
might indicate dirty skin or
just skin and when the white
background appears we may
have a thought of
cleanliness and purity.
Proactiv uses color to mess
with our senses. They also
use a sense of peer pressure,
“Join millions others” is
pretty close to, “everyone is
doing it.” These hidden
messages may help Proactiv
sell.
“Got acne?” is in big white letters at
the top of this ad, below this it reads, “Just
ask your girlfriend what to do. Oh, that’s
right, you don’t have a girlfriend.” The color
of these words goes from a white to a aqua.
Then you have the Proactiv bottles all lined
up pretty. In the corner is a triangular fold
that says in the middle “go now”.
This is a sort of harsh advertisement
when you see it and read it. More
humiliation could be added to teen’s lives
about their looks and appearance. It
produces a sort of depressing feeling. This
feeling could make a male person that deals
with acne and has no girlfriend question his
looks. He may go get Proactiv just because
of the depression of thinking that his looks
affects his relationship status. The text
contrasts with the back ground adding more
emphasis on the actual text.
use the word “proactive”. Proactive
meaning, “serving to prepare for, intervene
in, or control an expected occurrence or
situation, especially a negative or difficult
one” so says dictionary.com. Is this what
Avril and Katy mean that they are
proactive? These ads may relate to having a
Avril Lavigne has her body
positioned to the left yet her head is looking
straight at the camera, her outfit sort of
blends with the dark brown and her eyes pop
out with all the eyeliner. At the top right
corner there is the name Proactiv in white
and in the bottom left corner are small
Proactiv bottles. Over Avril in faded whit
color, huge text say, “I’m no pushover. I’m
Proactiv.”
Katty Perry having a sort of
surprised face stares straight at the camera,
having her right hand reaching up to gently
touch her mouth with the middle finger. In
the top left corner is the name Proactiv in
white and in the bottom right corner are
three Proactiv bottles, to the left of them in
small white letters reads, “Katty doesn’t
play nice with acne. She uses new
Proactiv—now with micro-crystal medicine
and 24/7 skin care advisor support.” In the
bottom left corner in white letters says, “Go
to Proactiv.com or text Clear to 44144 for a
special offer.” Aligned left but to the center
of the poster in huge case letters the color of
faded white reads, “I’m not polite. I’m
Proactiv.”
What is even the meaning of
Proactiv? There is no definition unless you
sense of control over your acne. The posture
that both singers are using shows an emotion
of “I’m bad and I have control”. Is this what
Proactiv is really trying to sell, using these
two celebrities, that even the consumer has
control? So, instead of an acne solution
being sold you have a sense of control, but
do the consumers really have this if they are
being told by those they idol and the
advertisers what they have control of?