Love Island star’s makeup ad banned by watchdog over harmful message to girls

An advertisement which featured a Love Island star has been pulled by advertising regulators due to promoting "irresponsible" content.

Lana Jenkins, who appeared on the ITV reality show, starred in an advertisement by make-up brand Rimmel London. The ad, which was launched on Facebook back in September, saw the 25-year-old putting on a face of makeup whilst playing with the camera.

As well as doing up her face, she had encouraged potential customers to rush to the shops and get the company's new line of products ahead of the schools going back. But some of the ad's viewers were less than happy with the message being promoted at the time the promo was released.

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The caption for the post read: "Get ready to slay this back-to-school season. Get 25% off Multi-Tasker Concealer and other Rimmel faves with code B2S25 only at lookfantastic.com."

Some Facebook users hit out at the advertisement, which they said played on young girls' insecurities ahead of the return to school. Two complaints were eventually sent in to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for capitalising on young girl's worries on their looks.

The allegations were investigated by the ASA and after a lengthy process, the complaints were upheld. In a statement regarding their ruling, the authority said that it would lean in to people's insecurities in the hope of making money from a younger demographic.

"We considered that the use of the word 'slay' in the claim 'Get ready to slay this back to school season' implied that girls or young women were more likely to succeed or do well when they went back to school if they wore make-up, in this case, a concealing and contouring product," the statement read. "We considered the ad had the effect of playing on young girls’ insecurities about their appearance and therefore concluded it was irresponsible."

The ASA went on to give Rimmel London's parent company Coty UK a warning to not use the advertisement again. They added that any future marketing campaigns should not play into young girl's worries on their looks by suggesting make-up at school is required to get ahead.

The brand originally released a statement saying that the message was meant to empower women in the 18-35 age bracket, rather than prey on potentially vulnerable women. They added that they had intended to refer to the time period of September, insisting that schoolgirls were not specifically targeted, but also women going to university or work.

But the ASA hit back at these claims when they specifically referred to the words "back to school season", which – when used with bright and vibrant colour schemes – would imply that the ad was meant for children "returning to senior school or sixth form college after the summer break".

Lana shot to fame when she first appeared on the hit ITV show earlier this year. Coupling up with now ex-boyfriend Ron Hall, make-up artist Lana eventually finished as the runner up behind winners Kai Fagan and Sanam Harrinanan.

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