What lipstick commercials can teach us about working out

Did you ever notice lipstick commercials? They take very literal pictures to essentially prove to you that you are going to be a plump-lipped, long-color-lasting, sexy goddess with moisture-filled lips if you buy their lipstick. I saw one recently that had honey dripping off of a rose petal in one frame, a super close-up/expanded picture of the glittery shimmer in the lipstick color itself in another frame, and an in-your-face close-up of beautiful, plump, smiling lips bearing the color of the lipstick – in this case, a shimmery bright red. You know, your basic, off- to-run-errands red lipstick…?? Guys, forget it, she’s not going to run errands in red lipstick.

I don’t wear lipstick, and rarely wear colored gloss. To all you women who regularly do, I salute you. But I do work out. I like working out. 97% of the time, I want to go workout & workout hard. The other 3% of the time I’m either fighting something off, beyond sore because I didn’t stretch enough, or overly tired from not finding 8 hours to sleep a night. But I know others don’t always feel quite the same way. Just like I don’t feel like wearing lipstick to go run errands.

But I tell you, every time I see a lipstick commercial, it hits a part of my brain that says, “ooh, I think I might need to get that,” even though, again, I do not wear lipstick. The shimmery lips, the clear pictures of just how moisturized my lips will be, it’s all so enticing, and on more than one occasion in the past, I’ve gone out & bought said lipstick in the thought that “this time, this time!, it will be exactly what I need to complete my beauty routine!”

Working out needs the lipstick marketing team to create an ad campaign hit on those same “need to” parts of a persons’ brain. Should there need to be a commercial motivating someone to go workout? No- it should come from an internal drive to better oneself, but we can all agree that works only so-so for anyone trying to make fitness a part of their life. But, I’m telling you, if the lipstick marketing people made commercials for exercise like they do for lipstick, every person would be venturing off their couch to go after that workout & to see if they really will get all the beautifully pictured benefits of the workout, as displayed by that amazing marketing team.

The only difference would be that while it’s a hit or miss if the lipstick brand and color will ‘complete me & my beauty routine’, it’s a guarantee that once exercising has commenced, the exerciser really will benefit from the effort. So while most women have an abundance of lipsticks long-forgotten in their make-up drawer, commercial promises not fulfilled…exercise will begin to fulfill promises from the very first workout, and will continue to build from there. It just may take a good lipstick marketing team to get a few of you off the couch.