Credibility and fantasy are mutually exclusive?

Today's Wall Street Journal mentions that those September 2009 5-pound fashion magazines are diminished in weight and page count anywhere from 20-40% due to the reduction in advertising. I still love to peruse these magazines and noticed that the fashions shown were somewhat more conservative than in the recent previous years.

However, what stood out most for me was the P&G Pro-X ad. A skincare and anti-wrinkle product, that is actually reported to live up to its hype, uses an airbrushed 18 year-old in the ad. The screen capture from their website does not do justice to the full page face of the lovely girl in the magazine who certainly does not need the product. It doesn't exactly give me confidence in the product or make me want to run out and buy it, despite the fact that I am in their demographic. Now I do know that fashion advertising is aspirational and often way out there. But ... we all understand that is just for the fun of it. Cosmetics touted with medicinal jargon fall into another category. What can they possibly be thinking? That the consumer is THAT gullible? Ads for skin-care that "guarantees" younger-looking skin can't have it both ways - both being credible and creating fantasy.

I guess the 2006 "Evolution" ad for Dove Soap by Unilever, despite all the added publicity it garnered, was just a flash in the pan in the advertising world.