14 DAY TRIAL // It’s a known fact that a tan, even a fake one, can create the impression of a slimmer, somewhat more toned figure. That, of course, is by no means to say that you’re actually losing those pounds, just that the body seems tighter but only by so little. An ad for St Tropez fake tan, starring Kelly Osbourne, is now drawing countless complaints for claims it can make one look slimmer by as much as ten pounds, the Daily Mail informs.
Though she’s recently lost a lot of weight – an incredible journey that started on the last season of Dancing With the Stars, continues to this day and still gets media attention –, Kelly Osbourne says in the ad it was the fake tan that helped her with her self-esteem problems. Not only that, but, by using it, she looked ten pounds lighter, she says in the ad, which sends the wrong message to teens and young women out there that they might actually lose weight if they bought the product.
“I looked healthy, I looked like 10lb skinnier, and it started to make me look at my body in a different way. It made me look at what looked better rather than what I didn’t like, and I kind of got addicted,” the usually pale Kelly says in the clip. The fact that the product came with the stamp of approval of The Prince’s Trust, a charity organization that raises money for disadvantaged youth, only made matters worse, for it meant the misleading message could get to more highly impressionable people out there.
“I was gobsmacked. Self-esteem should be about who you are and what you've achieved. Telling impressionable young girls that having a spray tan and appearing on a reality TV show is the way to make yourself feel better is about as far off from my understanding of self-esteem as you can get. To have this sort of message endorsed by a highly respected charity seemed totally wrong,” PinkStinks, the website that sounded the alarm says for the Mail as to the initial reaction to the ad.
In the meantime, The Prince’s Trust has completely dissociated itself from the latest campaign from St Tropez, while the ad itself has also been pulled from the company’s official website.