Clinically proven Protect and Perfect Intense serum is the product of the moment at Boots. An aggressive marketing drive and the claim of scientific proof has piqued the interest of the media and the public, with customers queueing outside stores to get to the goods. I’m pleased to see that it’s also caught the interest of seasoned science-bullshit-eradicator Ben Goldacre, of the Guardian.
Ben points out that the exceptional nature of the trial isn’t the results – which prove only that P&PI works better than placebo, but rather the fact that a cosmetics company has trialled their product under lab conditions. Most don’t. Here’s the article at Bad Science, Ben Goldacre’s blog.
We spend millions on skincare products with exotic ingredients, often on the strength of marketing alone. With creams costing £100 and over, it does seem kind of strange that intelligent, otherwise shrewd people will buy into pure marketing without a shred of proof.
Should we be demanding more from our skincare?
The sad fact is that if every product were lab tested, we’d probably come up with a truth that nobody wants to face: They don’t really work very well. I.e. you ARE going to get old, and you ARE going to lose your looks.
The myth of miracle creams is one that we’d all like to buy into – the promise of a magical loophole that will keep us young forever. If cold hard science is there to tell us that isn’t true, we kind of lose our hope. Perhaps we’d rather spend huge amounts of money and keep the possibility that just maybe, there’s a product that can grant us a little bit of immortality.
Slap Happy 
Colin said
I do think that the Boots Serum would do some good to your skin if you used it over a prolonged period. Mind you, the placebo worked pretty well in this trial too. I am reasonably convinced that a regular moisturisation regime with just about any cream with enough oil in it will be more beneficial than doing nothing at all. But as you say, you are still going to continue aging so it certainly won’t work miracles.
S said
Hi Colin, thanks for your thoughts. If oil is the key player, there must be lots of cheaper alternatives. The trial I’d really like to see would be P&PI here up against something like E45 cream or a basic supermarket moisturiser brand.
For me as a consumer, the only key factors are a) comfortable application and b) the presence of sunscreen. However I’m 27 so maybe in a few years I will get more demanding about my products!