Introduction
For centuries, there have been ideals and standards set for beauty and what it is that makes a beautiful person. Women, in particular, have been susceptible to upholding these specific standards all throughout history – dating even back to Cleopatra’s time. The modern cosmetics industry has used these psychological ideas to help facilitate its empire today. However, much, if not all, of the cosmetics market and its success is due in part of the expanding marketing base that has been seen around the world. Marketing pioneers have helped uncover the fears of women and what it is they look for in certain cosmetics to stay a ‘beautiful’ person. This essay holds personal meaning and holds significance because the marketing of
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Beauty Beginnings
Dating back to the 6th century BC, Pythagoras propagated the idea that harmonious balance would be achieved based on correct proportion and perfect symmetry. This ideal is still widely believed today to be a basis on what constitutes something or someone as beautiful. The term used to describe this harmonious balance amongst a certain system was ‘cosmos.’ Other ideals came to have an effect as well, such as the lightness of one’s complexion, a youthful looking body, and an unblemished face. Furthermore, in ancient times, women used natural substances to enhance appearances of their face and body, much similar to what women use today, however they appear in different forms. Egyptian women would “[dust] their skin with ochre to give it a lighter, golden hue,” as well as “[paint] their eyelids with charcoal,” and have “their lashes darkened” (Tungate 11). What Egyptian women would do to make themselves more ‘beautiful’ is something that is seen amongst all women today. It is important to investigate what it is that kept this trend going, understand the desires and pursuits of women in why they use cosmetics, and what other advancements and ideas came along that sparked the mass marketing of cosmetics to women.
Unlike the Egyptians, other early civilizations, like the Greeks, had a certain reluctance about using cosmetics. Instead, beauty lay more in the shape of their body, and strong body structure. It was not until
The psychology of beauty is complex not just because the concept of beauty is as yet undefined, but also because it is largely true that beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder or how individuals perceive other people or things. The importance of beauty has been taught since the first civilizations. It is known that the cave people of the Mesolithic period (around 10,000 B.C.) softened their skin with castor oil and grease, and also used plant dyes to tattoo their skin. Lipsticks first appeared in the ancient city off Ur, near Babylon, 5000 years ago. Ancient Greek women painted their cheeks with herbal pastes made from crushed berries and seeds. A dangerous development of beauty
For centuries, women have found it to be difficult to live up and be the standard “runaway model”. Women have the pressure to fit in to be considered beautiful since ads and media have distorted society in how they view and evaluate beauty. The false representation of models in the beauty commercials have made women want to replicate them even though they don’t know what’s behind the editing. Even though this is a huge matter, companies did not stand back but instead made more commercials that self-degrade women constantly, except one. The Dove Evolution Commercial- “Campaign for Real Beauty” focuses on the way they change women sending a strong message to women about beauty and what it really
Cosmetic brand Maybelline New York has an emotional effect on a variety of individuals. Their company has not only attracted the attention of women but has caused women to identify themselves as fierce, daring, and most of all beautiful. Maybelline’s eyeshadow advertisement “The Blushed Nude” portrays a young women who is striking, bold and beautiful. Maybelline wants consumers to feel beautiful and their advertisement provides the image and desires a women seeks in accomplishing natural looking beauty. Women wish to identify themselves as beautiful and belong to a
Within society, advertisements for beauty companies are persistent and unceasing. These ads often attempt to sell their products by highlighting common physical aspects, and claiming that they have the ability to enhance them. In their work “Skin pedagogies and abject bodies,” Jane Kenway & Elizabeth Bullen discuss and examine how various iterations of the beauty industry market themselves to consumers, and how these methods affect consumers in several different societal ways. However, while Kenway and Bullen acknowledge that separate factors, such as race and gender, can have a tremendous effect on how beauty products are sold, they do not emphasize the combined effect of those two categories specifically. Throughout the essay, Kenway and
The Beauty Myth’s central argument is the growing standards of physical beauty of women as they grow stronger. This standard has affected women in many ways, such as in the workplace, culture, and religion. The standard has taken over the work of social harassment. The beauty myth expands the belief an unbiased measurement of beauty exists and that women want to express it and men would want that women. The author, Naomi Wolf, states that the beauty myth is not about women themselves, it is about the power of men and their society. The myth supplies power to multibillion dollar cosmetics industries and it keeps women from rising too high in the workplace. Within this book, Wolf shows how the beauty myth functions and affects women in the workplace, media, sex, religion, culture, violence against women by men, and by women themselves in the configuration of cosmetic surgery and eating disorders.
Beauty standards had completely shifted in the time of the 1920s, as women were attempting to achieve anything opposite than the previous “Victorian” standards. This change was a kind of movement, and resulted in products that would draw attention their new looks. The cosmetics business advanced and was prevalent in enhancing one's beauty. The purpose was to resemble movie stars, actresses with their “beautiful eyebrows and eyelashes.” Women considered to be “average” would used makeup to draw attention to their face as they strived to look in resemblance to movie
The definition of true beauty continues to evolve as generations pass and new ones emerge. Ulta Beauty, a popular cosmetic store, sells products with the aim to make women feel confident in their skin. Their use of advertisements helps spread the word about new, improved product lines and reach out to potential buyers. Selling makeup is the obvious goal of a cosmetic store, but the kind of consumers they attract and how varies between different franchises. When a company displays their products in one shot instead of in a commercial, the task of conveying the message becomes harder. Ulta Beauty persuades women to purchase their products by pointing out buyers’ insecurities while still appearing to promote empowering feminist values.
The idea of cosmetology and beauty was commenced by ancient tribal hunters. It is believed that they would smear ash under their eyes and use animal urine to alter their smell. This is where the idea of eyeliner and perfume originated (Schurman). Around the world cosmetology is being introduced like Egypt is suggested to be one of the most ancient culture that associates with cosmetics. Make up to them was really significant especially to the royal egyptians. Their idea of eyeliner was made up of lead, ash and mercury. The use of this eyeliner helped reduce glare, prevent any type of infection, and mostly to make their eyes beautiful (Schurman). Now the Chinese ancient culture had mixtures of natural ingredients to produce stimulating nail polish. The nail polish to these people were sign of wealth (Murphy). In ancient Rome and Greece those who could afford it would receive baths in lotions. They wore perfume, face powder, blush, eyeliner, and lipstick. During this period it was discovered that oils, lotions, and animal fat have beautification properties (Schurman).
It 's not a mystery that society 's ideals of beauty have a drastic and frightening effect on women. Popular culture frequently tells society, what is supposed to recognize and accept as beauty, and even though beauty is a concept that differs on all cultures and modifies over time, society continues to set great importance on what beautiful means and the significance of achieving it; consequently, most women aspire to achieve beauty, occasionally without measuring the consequences on their emotional or physical being. Unrealistic beauty standards are causing tremendous damage to society, a growing crisis where popular culture conveys the message that external beauty is the most significant characteristic women can have. The approval of prototypes where women are presented as a beautiful object or the winner of a beauty contest by evaluating mostly their physical attractiveness creates a faulty society, causing numerous negative effects; however, some of the most apparent consequences young and adult women encounter by beauty standards, can manifest as body dissatisfaction, eating disorders that put women’s life in danger, professional disadvantage, and economic difficulty.
Everyone loves to feel beautiful, but what is the price? Everyday there is a woman painting painting her nails, a man running gel through his hair, and a mother rubbing lotion on her childs skin. These are looked over like normal activities but they contain a dark secret. This secret can lead to death, pain, and injuries. In fact, it has been in the dark so long, that many people choose to ignore it. What is this secret? Well, the beauty industry hides an ugly truth: It has flaws in the system that lead to mislabeling of products, unregulated chemicals in formulas, and dangerous diseases in cosmetologists.
Have you ever thought about who created makeup? Or how it was created? When, where and how? Why was it created? How has it changed over time? Has it affected anyone? Well I’m going to tell you some of it. Make up wasn’t just created by powder or anything small and simple like that, no. Makeup actually has a lot of its own differences. In 180 BCE was when makeup had first had started but it wasn’t commonly used as much as then. People would limit the use of makeup because it was so expensive and hard to get and or find. The women who actually had it or used it were the prostitutes and the wealthier women. The “Cheap Knockoff’s” were the ones who were sold to the poorer women. The people didn’t really care if the slaves used makeup but
Cosmetics are substances that are applied onto the body and/or face to enhance a person’s looks or scent. Cosmetics can be make-up which is mostly used by women and it is to enhance a female’s appearance. It is normally applied to face, hair, and body. Cosmetics has been used throughout society since Ancient times. In Ancient Egypt, cosmetic chemistry was being used before anyone knew it related to chemistry. Cosmetics was being used for many reasons in Ancient times. It is said that Cleopatra bathed in donkey milk to keep skin smooth, this is an example to show that chemistry is being used for the benefit of skin care. Skin care is another example of cosmetic chemistry being used. Skin care has been an important factor in society. Skin care has been around since 3000 BC in Ancient Egypt. This was prepared by natural materials.
The cosmetics business is a billion dollar industry. Every year, women are responsible for consuming millions of cosmetic products. The cosmetics industry is so large because of several factors. The media is a huge contributor to the intense pressure to look a certain way. The idea that "sex sells" is evident in gossip magazines, movies, advertisements, music, and more subtly- in the business world. People first notice what race someone is, how beautiful or ugly they are and what clothes they are wearing. Beauty is skin deep; however, first impressions are usually what others use to base their
In the 21st century, beauty and make up are like the wheels of a cart or the two sides of a coin. Women are beautiful in themselves; but a little make-up does help a lot and it keeps one to make the day better and happier. Every woman wants to be pretty whether she’s young or old so the beauty salon is the place to go. Beauty salons are also like a temple; however, the difference is that we go to worship in the temple and in the beauty salon we go to be worshipped by the beauticians and by the other people around.
Often times, women are pressured by the mainstream media to upkeep a stellar appearance. They are expected to measure up to high standards without question. Even before most girls reach puberty, commercials are bombarding them with small Barbie esque makeup kits filled with lip glosses and chalky eyeshadows. The impact it has on impressionable children, both girls and boys is something that will likely last a lifetime if unlearned. Cosmetic companies who are marketing to young ladies say they can simply improve their looks to gain acceptance from their peers if they use the products they are selling. The makeup industry is a multi million enterprise that makes a profit from women’s insecurities and amplified pressures from society as a common tactic many cosmetic campaigns use is to push women to embrace the ‘natural look’ by providing products that will make it appear as if the individual is not even wearing makeup. Companies will spout out that with these products, the end result will be ‘you, but better.’ It is somewhat of an underlying and slightly manipulating slogan, as if to say how a woman appears could be improved because it is lacking in the moment. This distorts how we all believe how a woman is suppose to look.