Advertising

Advertising is a communication method designed and  intended to  promote a product or  service  for consumer purchase and  use.  Although advertising takes many  forms,  in the  beauty  industry its aim  involves  targeting men  and  women with  stereotypical idealized   images  of  physical   appearance and  attractiveness, along  with  an  ideology  that  consumers are  expected to  exhibit  when  and  after using  that  product. However, the images  presented and  methods promoted typically convey a singular, stereotypical message. As a result, advertising in the beauty industry has  faced harsh criticism for being  racist,  sexist, detrimental to society, and unrepresentative of the targeted audience or the status quo.

History

Beauty advertising in the 20th  century follows the development of modern advertising throughout the late 18th  and 19th  centuries. Modern advertising developed with the rise of education, print  capitalism, and Western economies. New groups and business agencies emerged to facilitate, organize, and develop  advertisements as the  practice expanded during the  19th  century. Industrialization in the  latter half of the  19th  century further changed the  purpose and  outlook of large-scale advertising and  created a business environment for the advertising of specific industries like beauty  to  emerge. In the  20th  century, imagery  and  ideology  were the  primary factors  that  contributed to advertising campaigns. The  availability of new products in the  first decades of the  20th  century contributed to the  growth of advertising, and beauty  products were present to change the cultural and social dynamics of Americans lives. In the early decades of the 20th  century, new manufacturers and  companies were set up to produce, specialize  in, and  advertise  new and specific products. Unique to the beauty  industry is the litany of female entrepreneurs shaping early advertising practices. In 1890,  hairdresser Martha Matilda Harper licensed her  Harper Method, which  became the  foundation for 300 beauty salons in the  Northeast. And  the  most  successful of her  time,  Madam C. J. Walker relied  on her  own rags-to-riches story, along  with Walker  agents, to promote her products, processes, and the occupation of beauty  culture. While her husband Charles initially  helped her  start  the  business, it was she  who  made  it national in scope.  Many  female  entrepreneurs transformed beauty  methods and beauty schools into  franchises.

Embracing a new ethos  and style, beauty  products attempted to cash in on the panache of the modern girl. Her bright smile, bobbed hair, and embrace of boyish adventure made  the flapper the It girl for advertising a string  of products from deodorant to toothpaste and  face cream.  However, when  it came  to cosmetics, the main  tool used  for advertising in the roaring ’20s was radio, because many  women’s magazines initially refused cosmetic advertising. The  taint  of wearing  rouge, however, began  to fade, and  the  end  of the  decade  witnessed a dramatic increase in  the  amount spent  on  advertising, from  $300,000 in  1927  to  $3.2  million  in 1930.  Additionally, African  American beauty products expanded dramatically in the 1920s  beyond those  designed for hair care and  hairdressing. Madam C. J. Walker’s company introduced face powder and skin-care products in the 1920s to capitalize  on modern sensibilities and  the  demands of drugstore retailers. Most controversial, however, was the company’s decision to sell skin bleachers such  as Tan-Off, something Walker  refused to market before  her  death, but  which  later became popular.

By the  1920s  and  1930s,  companies were introducing and  reconfiguring new products and  methods of cosmetic application and  use,  and  new  technologies like motion pictures contributed to a multitude of cultural and social shifts in attitudes that forever changed the industry. Films and images of celebrities reflected and  created new  standards of female  beauty, especially  with  manufacturers like Max Factor  who sold celebrities products that  did not cake or crack. Factor  used this reputation and the appearance of his products on stars like Alice White  to sell his methods and  products to the average consumer. The  flawless complexions of celebrities and their sexual allure caused an interest in cosmetic products as a way to improve one’s appearance, both as a measure of personal taste and a method of attracting the opposite sex. Although this had been projected as a female world of commerce, Factor  was marketed as the  lab-coat-wearing expert  who  exemplified the male image of authority, even in a decidedly feminine pursuit.

After  World  War  II, advertisements promoted new  goods  and  products to  a population that  had  been  wary of material and  consumer culture during the  crises of the  previous two decades. The  introduction of the  television furthered the power  of advertising, as the TV radically changed how Americans experienced entertainment and the proliferation of numerous new goods and products. Programs produced for television, as for radio,  were  backed  by money  offered  from  companies  that  would  promote specific  products and  brands during the  program’s broadcast. Beauty products were no exception, and television helped advertisers to choose what products were advertised and which  audiences were exposed to those products. Revlon revealed  the power  of television advertising when  it successfully conducted a lipstick  war against  Hazel Bishop  between 1955 and 1958, eventually growing  to become the top cosmetics manufacturer by the end of the 1960s,  with six separate product lines designed to appeal  to different classes of consumers.

In the 1960s  and 1970s, advertising was still male dominated, but not immune to feminist critiques that  drew attention to women’s objectification in all advertising,  as well as opposing the  use  of cosmetics altogether. In  response, Estée Lauder introduced Clinique in 1967,  which  was a product line designed to promote  skin  care  and  cosmetic use  as a regular, everyday,  healthy cleansing product.  Many  of the  new  more  natural looks in beauty  were accompanied by new advertising messages, sometimes selling  the  same  old merchandise but  recast  to reflect a more feminist stance. L’Oréal’s “I’m Worth It” campaign for hair color, for example,  was followed  by other ads attempting to capture the  mixed  consciousness of female consumers. One  of the more  memorable 1980s  advertisement was Enjoli’s “8-Hour Perfume” that featured a career-minded gal touting that she “can bring home bacon, fry it up in pan . . . and never, never, never let you forget you’re a man.”

Criticisms and the Future

Images  of sex and  sexuality  have long  been  used  as powerful tools  in advertising products and  services  and  raised  critiques about the  beauty  industry as a whole. These images  range  from  highly  explicit  displays  of sexual  activity  to  products designed with  the  intention of  improving physical  appearance and  attractiveness.  Sexual  images  may have  little  to do  or little  in common with  the  product in question, and  are used  only because the  image  sparks  interest in the  product. Overt  images have accompanied fragrance products, for example,  where  men  and women are  depicted semi-clothed or  nude and  in  sexually  explicit  or  suggestive positions. In 1981,  when  Calvin  Klein  featured 15-year-old Brooke  Shields evocatively  announcing to  the  world  that  “nothing comes  between me  and  my Calvins,”  the consuming public  was infuriated yet titillated. Over the next several decades, CK jeans, fragrances, and even children’s underwear would  present a litany of all-too-young-looking, at times androgynous, always sensual Calvin Klein models. In the 1990s,  for example,  British model  Kate Moss  came to epitomize a heroin chic that  invoked accusations of anorexia and a reprimand from President Bill Clinton. Most  recently, in 2009,  the  latest  CK controversy erupted over images of oiled-down topless models in sensual play that  feature a teenage-looking girl presumably being passed  around from one man to the next, all of whom, once again,  were  wearing  nothing but  their  Calvins.  Calvin  Klein  may  be one  of the better-known advertisers when  it comes  to pushing the  envelope, but  such  ads are indicative of the larger beauty  industry and its precarious balance between the erotic,  exotic, and constantly changing mores.

Critics have been  especially fearful of any and all advertising to children, an industry  that  represents nearly  $600  billion  a year. Fears include worries  over body image and obesity,  poor  nutrition, and alcohol and tobacco use. Advertising tools have come  under fire as a result, especially  cartoon characters that  brand specific products for the  youngest of audiences. Some  psychologists have even  reported that  advertising to children under a certain age should not  be conducted at all, since it could  result  in feelings of inferiority if they do not  possess specific or numerous products. The  fashion industry’s quest  for the  new tween market fuels debates over selling sexuality  to preadolescents.

New Technologies

The  growth of advertising throughout the 20th  and into the 21st century brought numerous criticisms and  attempts to avoid or detach the influence of advertising fueled by the latest technology on American life-concerns. Some groups looked  at how advertisements targeted specific groups, with the major  concern being  what kind of influence advertising could  hold. During the last decades of the 20th  century and  in the early 21st, the cropped and  airbrushed images  of persons used  to promote the  use of brands and  products created unobtainable body  images  that could  distort expectations of self-worth and  well-being. Critiques of advertising have also increased with  the  introduction of new  technological methods to dispense  advertisements and  products, in particular the  Internet. The  Internet also allows  advertising for a range  of beauty  products to enter  into  consumers’  lives on a very regular basis, as trial use can be tracked in manufacturer Web sites and different methods can be assessed in demonstration animations.

The  growth of advertising into  the  21st  century and  the  development of new technologies and  media  indicate that  advertising is not  in  any  position to  decrease or lose momentum. Global  developments in communications also suggest that  advertising will take  on  new  meanings for consumers as manufacturers are forced to compete in new markets and for new customers. However, the criticisms have  not  been  ignored. In 2007,  Dove  created the  Self Esteem Fund, intending to promote healthy body  images  and  build  conversations with consumers about what they need  and how they feel about the products offered  and used  on a daily basis.  Regardless of the  controversy, advertising is an essential element of material culture and  the  development of new  technologies that  create  new  methods and  mediums to  advertise  products. Advertising promotes and  helps  construct the culture around Americans, creating systems  for that  culture to grow through the  continuous consumption and  production of beauty  goods  and  fashions, the meanings of which  remain part of complex and controversial dialogues.


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