Oh Flip

Something disconcerting about that look in her eye? That must be what’s known as a “sidelong glance.”

The sidelong glance is a powerful signal. To promote a range of posh cosmetics for women, the advertising agency used a code of communication for people who would like to get to know one another better. Of course, men might very well feature in that exchange, and so what is the advertising message? "Use our product and you'll look alluring to men"? But the sidelong glance does that all on its own, and far more unmistakably than a bit of eyeshadow. Which tends to demonstrate that the primary purpose of advertising is to secure product awareness. That must be so, because contemporary advertisements are so piss poor that you wonder about the mental state of the clients who said, "yeah, that'll do".

I usually think people are looking askance at me, rather than giving me a sidelong glance.
Lush cosmetics have the right idea, with their “cruelty free cosmetics”, but their advertising could be better.
My ideal of the alluring has always been Diana Rigg as Emma Peel: sexy, intelligent, ironic. Another Sixties icon for men and women of sixty plus.