|
|
|
|
|
|
Resources |
|
|
|
The Cosmetic Dupe
| Article
# : |
12523 |
|
|
Section : |
LIFE
|
| Issue
Date : |
7 / 1987 |
2,090 Words |
| Author
: |
Leil Lowndes
Leil Lowndes is a free-lance writer and model agency owner
living in New York. |
Every year, women - and increasing numbers of men - spend billions of dollars on cosmetic preparations. A woman thinks nothing of paying $15 for a jar of face cream, $8 for a lipstick, and $11.95 for a pressed eye shadow. (In some circles, increase those numbers to $65 for face cream, $14 for lipstick, and $1.95 for eye shadow.)
Are the more expensive products more effective than the cheaper drug store versions?
"Definitely not!" say dermatologists.
Dr. James H. Sternberg at the University of California in Los Angeles echoes the sentiment of most dermatologists. "Just because one soap, lotion, or cosmetic is more expensive than another doesn't mean it's better." In fact, a 99-cent jar of petroleum jelly is the best moisturizer for skin, but, he tells us, "nobody likes the texture."
How does one explain this unquestioning acceptance of inflated cosmetic prices? A marketing consultant, Allan J. Mottus, explains part of the phenomenon by describing "a whole new group of female consumers such as those who are just out of law school. They don't know how they should look, so they think they can buy their way out of the confusion." They fall prey to the product image created by television, newspaper, and magazine advertisements, and they follow the advice of the cosmetician in the local department store who is trying to sell her line of products. They are victims of a gross misassumption that you get what you pay for.
Market researches have discovered
... (2000 of 12388 Characters)
Read Full Article
|
|
