Welcome to Club Scrutiny
A new television commercial seems to make men uncomfortable. A handsome man has an arrow pointing to the area around his eyes as the camera zooms in for a horrific close-up view. The voice-over declares, “Most men over 40 look in the mirror and see this.” It pauses dramatically, then triumphantly announces, “when they could be seeing this instead . . .” suddenly, a younger man with artificially greyed hair and a magically smooth face appears, looking completely happy and wrinkle-free. The ad goes on to promise equally miraculous results for dark spots and under-eye bags. The before and after examples are quite dramatic.
My husband spotted the old switcheroo right away. “That’s fake” he grumbled. “Welcome to the world of false advertising women have been living in our entire lives,” I replied.
How many times have ladies sat through ads telling us (and our husbands) that women could be tighter, smoother, slimmer, or generally more acceptable if we only used their miracle product? Twenty-five-year-old women are held up as the gold standard for all of us, and we’ve had to sit there and take it. The promises always sound effortless — just apply this cream and voilà! Perfection is yours! But we all know it never quite works that way.
Advertisers, along with our mothers, drilled into our subconscious that the right color of lipstick had the same healing power of therapy and it’s better to arrive late than arrive ugly.
And now, men are finally getting a taste of what it feels like to have their aging faces scrutinized and judged. The irony is that the men were the ones who insisted we get new jumbo TVs with clearer pictures. Just in time for their advertising journey of shame.
It was bound to happen sooner or later. The beauty industry spent decades selling every woman in the world “hope in a jar,” then realized they could double their gullible customer base by including men. Not all of the products are bad, but most ads promise results that are, at best, wishful thinking. Yet men are taking the bait. Beauty scholars predict that by 2027, the men’s skincare and grooming industry will be worth over $5 billion. At this rate, within a decade, no one will ever look over 40 again. Or, we’ll all be out billions of dollars and still look exactly the same.
Of course, this isn’t new. Evidence of men’s grooming products have been discovered in ancient civilizations. Perhaps cavemen weren’t so Neanderthal-ish after all. Maybe they smeared plant sap under their eyes to combat dark circles. “Me no ugly old dude,” they’d grunt while waving a club.
But what is new is the advertising angle — the exaggerated claims, the airbrushed results, and the impossible transformations, all designed to convince men that their natural aging process is unacceptable. Just like women have been told for years. Well, well, well, welcome to Club Scrutiny. We’ve been waiting for you. Pull up a seat and prepare to pop the vitamins, slather on creams, and rub in serums. You’ve arrived at the age of comparison. “Befores” can sit way over there, while the “Afters” get preferred seating.
And for the record, I think my husband has never looked better.
Our Hollywood stars have fought aging tooth and nail for years and that is an example many choose to follow. Painful procedures. Fortunately, I am a coward and still am traumatized by the ordeal of having my ears pierced a hundred years ago. I’ve learned to accept my many wrinkles, sun spots, and sagging flesh as a privilege of getting old.
And aren’t you a beauty just as you are ! And your earrings are dazzling!