Opinion: Nicole’s Neutrogena endorsement defies belief
OPINION: Who genuinely thinks Nicole Kidman’s smooth, age defying skin is the result of a product you can buy for $25 at Chemist Warehouse?
ANOTHER day, another celebrity endorsement as Nicole Kidman becomes Neutrogena’s latest Global Brand Ambassador.
It’s a smart move by the company since she’s obviously wrapped in a pretty impressive epidermis, but whenever a celebrity steps out to endorse a product and people use it as their sole motivation to buy said product I’m always a little confused.
You genuinely think her smooth, alabaster, age defying skin is the result of a product you can buy for $25 at Chemists Warehouse? Good for you.
There’s no doubt the most powerful form of marketing for any brand is personal recommendation.
And naturally in our celebrity obsessed culture the public want to know what beautiful people use behind closed doors. But when money changes hands isn’t that about as far away from a genuine recommendation as you can get?
Believe me, if Nicole Kidman, her perfect skin and I went out for coffee and she said, apropos of nothing, “you know I’ve been using this moisturiser I bought for $25 and it’s the best s**t I’ve ever put on my face”, I’d be racing off to the nearest chemist.
But if the recommendation is coming after a contract has been signed, pardon me if I’m not filled with the same desperate passion to purchase.
Clearly I’m in the minority because companies keep dipping into their pockets to sign high-profile celebrities, so it must be working. But wouldn’t it be more convincing if it was endorsed by someone with some actual expertise?
I know a dermatologist isn’t as sexy as an Oscar winner, but doesn’t the more weighty recommendation come from the person who’s been hunched over a microscope for decades trying to work out whether this stuff actually works?
Yes, Nicole Kidman has undeniably beautiful skin and that’s what Neutrogena is selling. But the idea that her blemish-free face was achieved through nothing other than a tube of their latest moisturiser is surely enough to make anyone raise an eyebrow (Botox permitting).
If her complexion is not the result, as she’s claimed, of surgery or syringes, then the next logical explanation is genetics. And last time I checked you can’t buy that stuff in a bottle.
There’s also every chance her youthful radiance is the result of slathering herself in sunscreen for most of her life, or because she eats well and drinks six litres of water a day.
The point is, all of these things accumulated over the course of decades, or buried in her genetic make-up, adds up to skin you’d have to get in a time machine or be born again to achieve.
If Nicole Kidman endorsing a product makes you curious about it then by all means give it a try, but if you’re comparing your wrinkles to her silky smooth, make-up artist and soft lighting assisted face and thinking it can be achieved with whatever product that beautiful face is attached to, I’m afraid you might be disappointed.
Rachel Corbett is a writer, radio, TV and podcast presenter and creator of the online podcasting course, PodSchool. Follow her on Twitter, Facebook or at her website.