Ever get sucked in by a mascara ad that depicts lush, dark, perfectly defined lashes that seem like they would cause tornados with merely a blink, only to try it and find you look more like a raccoon than a bombshell? Or a hair commercial featuring bouncy, shiny tresses that cause a 15-car pile-up, but when you try it you can’t so much as hail a cab?

Jessica Alba for Campari, before and after retouching. (Courtesy of Campari)

You likely know that there’s some trickery going on behind the scenes of an ad campaign, but you may not realize the extent of it. To paraphrase, all great advertising is predicated on a lack — making the consumer feel like something is missing from their life, and this product will fill that void. But what does it mean when the product is propped up by lies?

The law is somewhat flexible when it comes to showing how a product works advertising. These days, photo manipulation is the norm for all fashion, beauty, and weight-loss ads, but every so often, even the giants get busted.

In 2007, consumers lodged numerous complaints against cosmetics company Rimmel for false advertising. The complaints said makeup artists used obvious false eyelashes on Kate Moss, the spokeswoman at the time, in print and televised advertisements for the company’s Magnif’eyes mascara. Rimmel denied the use of falsies, but admitted that her lashes were digitally enhanced during the retouching process. The ad was banned by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) but the company was never fined.

A similar scandal arose with L’Oreal’s ads for its Telescopic mascara featuring Penelope Cruz. Except in that instance, the beauty superpower admitted using false lashes. “It is common industry practice to make use of some artificial lashes in order to ensure a consistent lash line under filming or shooting conditions,” said L’Oreal in a statement. ”The ASA had previously accepted on more than one occasion that this industry practice was not misleading.”

Sometimes the altered reality is less insidious than outright dishonesty. In December, images from actress Jessica Alba’s photoshoot for her spring ad campaign for Campari liqueurs were leaked on the internet. The photos — shot by fashion photographer Mario Testino — provided a stark contrast to the images used in the subsequent ad campaign. Ms. Alba’s skin was painted a darker tan, her waist was narrowed, her thighs slimmed, her bust lifted.

Most people would agree that Ms. Alba was the picture of beauty in the before photo, and yet even she was subject to a digital makeover after the fact. Even the pool behind her got the photoshop treatment.

But at what point is enough enough?