Am I the only one fed up with beauty writers?

[ThePowderPuff]

I am a journalist and have always found the topic of beauty journalism and writing about beauty interesting. But I get so dissapointed everytime I read beauty and fashion magazines about beauty.

As journalists we are taught to be skeptical, critical and investigative, but somehow that all vanishes when it comes to writing about beauty.

The beauty pages in the big fashion magaznes and the beauty magazines themselves are - at least here in Denmark - filled with comercial-like descriptions of all the amazing things that the products can do, just copy-pasted from the manufacturers product descriptions.

I have yet to see an article in a magazine actually investigating the claims that the cosmetics companies make, and actually doing some critical investigation. I have simply never seen it.

For instance yesterday I was reading in the danish version of Elle. They had a long article about the best cremes out there. It was only about cremes that costs 250 dollars+ and it did not once actually discuss whether there was scientific basis for claiming all the things that the cremes claim they can. All it said was, that when a creme was that expencive, it was ofcourse also that much better.

Am I the only one, who would like to read critical beauty journalism, actually investigating producers claims?

Or do we actually only want to read rosy things about the dream world the beauty industry is?

(I appologize for bad spelling etc. English is not my native language)

 

[hello_kitty]

If they don't say positive things, they'll lose advertisers. And with a hurting and economy (at least in the US) and with magazines already struggling as it is in an online world, advertisers are very important to keep.

It's not just the beauty world. I read a lot of the import car enthusiast magazines, and they do the same thing... hype up the products of their advertisers, and don't say anything negative about them.

Most mainstream magazines are just massive advertisement nowadays anyway. Even a lot of online stuff like forums will skew in the direction of advertisers and supporting companies in order to keep the money coming in.

 

[Jinni]

Honestly, I don't read any Danish women's fashion/beauty magazine. They really do suck terribly, and they don't contain any useful information.

It's interesting because computer magazines or music magazines can hand out both good and bad reviews, and they are also dependant on advertisers.

An honest beauty magazine would be the bomb, but until then; at least we have the internet

 

[gildedangel]

I wouldn't call it "journalism" becasue I agree that journalism is about trying to not be biased and being critical about things. Most of those recommendations are basically paid for as advertisments. You'll notice that a lot of recommended products have separate "official" advirtisements in the magazine or in sister magazines. It's all about the money; bad reviews means that no one wants to give you money; so you write good reviews.
Although crictical beauty journalism would be fabulous, it probably couldn't begin happening until at least a few years out of the recession; magazines are really losing money and are not going to jeopardize their income.

 

[ThePowderPuff]

Thank you very much for your opinions. One of the reasons I'm asking is because I will be going back to university next year to do a masters degree in journalism. And I am considering writing about this topic.

So keep writing, I really appreciate your oppinions on this topic.

 

[ThePowderPuff]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jinni Honestly, I don't read any Danish women's fashion/beauty magazine. They really do suck terribly, and they don't contain any useful information. It's interesting because computer magazines or music magazines can hand out both good and bad reviews, and they are also dependant on advertisers. An honest beauty magazine would be the bomb, but until then; at least we have the internet

Exactly! They're horrible! Sometimes I buy them but I always regret having waisted my money. And exactly, there is so much other consumer related journalism out there, which seems to do both good and bad reviews and are very trustworthy. Why is the beauty writers different?

What magazines do you read then?

 

[KristyVictoria]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Katjamo Exactly! They're horrible! Sometimes I buy them but I always regret having waisted my money. And exactly, there is so much other consumer related journalism out there, which seems to do both good and bad reviews and are very trustworthy. Why is the beauty writers different? What magazines do you read then?

This is why I prefer to read blogs instead!

 

[friedargh]

In Australian magazines I wouldn't say this happens all the time. Often in the mags they will try out different brands of a similar product (such as mascara) and evaluate the pros and cons of each. Otherwise it's usually just a small snippet about the "beauty editor's choice" or whatnot which isn't very long at all.

 

[LMD84]

uk mags don't tend to copy and paste from the brand descriptions. sometimes they will give people products to test over 7-14 days and at the end they will say if it did what it said it would and score it out of 5 or 10. so i guess i am lucky that uk mags are more honest.

 

[kittykit]

Since I'm living in a non-English speaking country, the only English mags we get here are from the US and UK. I've never bought any Czech beauty mags since I don't understand the language. I love the UK mags... they're so similar to the ones I'm used to in Australia.

 

[Simply Elegant]

In the most honest one I read, 4 or 5 women test the product and see how is and their ratings are published.

 

[BEA2LS]

i agree though i do like to read magazines still.. they are fun and easy to carry with me

blogs generally give better, more honest advice though. (though they, too can lie for advertisement)

 

[MizzTropical]

Of course a magazine has much more to lose from negative reviews then a blogger sitting in her bedroom on her computer does. I don't trust magazine reviews/advice much at all anymore. I love how mags offer affordable alternatives now, but honestly most of the products they rec to you aren't good at all. I seen a mag rec an Almay powder (it sounded really good lol)that ''somehow just makes pores completely disappear...'' I thought wow I need to look that up online, then I look up reviews and every single one is bashing the powder saying its worthless. And it's funny that Almay had ads printed on the very first two pages!

 

[Almond_Eyed]

There is a simple reason why these beauty writers aren't "critical" of the products they "review," and that is: ADVERTISING MONEY.

A publication depends on money from advertising to run and survive, especially magazines. There is no way in hell that a journalist is going to give a bad review of a product from a company that invests advertising dollars into the magazine. That would be contradictory to place an ad for a product and then criticize it in the editorial. Even if a magazine doesn't receive advertising income from a company, by being critical of the company's products excludes them from being a potential investor.

Money makes the world go round...

 

[anita22]

I never bother with women's magazines, purely for this reason... it just frustrates me. Especially when they show you which cosmetic products to use for a look, which has clearly been done using professional products, not something from Maybelline...

Funnily enough, I work in marketing, and yes there is magazine advertising involved...

 

[snkatha]

I feel that many beauty magazines do a great disservice to their female readers. I want to read a magazine that i can get useful tips and looks out for ME not a company. however, i think first an foremost, magazines are a business. i wish there was a magazine that tested product claims and were honest though.