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Cosmetic advertising is the
promotion
Promotion may refer to:
Marketing
* Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...
of
cosmetics
Cosmetics are constituted mixtures of chemical compounds derived from either natural sources, or synthetically created ones. Cosmetics have various purposes. Those designed for personal care and skin care can be used to cleanse or protect ...
and
beauty
Beauty is commonly described as a feature of objects that makes these objects pleasurable to perceive. Such objects include landscapes, sunsets, humans and works of art. Beauty, together with art and taste, is the main subject of aesthetics, o ...
products by the
cosmetics industry through a variety of
media
Media may refer to:
Communication
* Media (communication), tools used to deliver information or data
** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising
** Broadcast media, communications delivered over mass e ...
. The
advertising campaign
An advertising campaign is a series of advertisement messages that share a single idea and theme which make up an integrated marketing communication (IMC). An IMC is a platform in which a group of people can group their ideas, beliefs, and conc ...
s are usually aimed at women wishing to improve their appearance, commonly to increase
physical attractiveness
Physical attractiveness is the degree to which a person's physical features are considered aesthetically pleasing or beautiful. The term often implies sexual attractiveness or desirability, but can also be distinct from either. There are many ...
and reduce the signs of
ageing.
Persuasion
The obsession with youth and beauty sends thousands of people to stores searching for a quick fix. Looking into cosmetics retailers, teenagers are trying on makeup to make them look more mature while middle-aged women are sourcing for the best
anti-aging
The anti-aging movement is a social movement devoted to eliminating or reversing aging, or reducing the effects of it. A substantial portion of the attention of the movement is on the possibilities for life extension, but there is also interest in ...
cream for her skin. The beauty industry relies on all kinds of persuasion techniques to sell products. Brands like to rely on celebrities to sell their beauty products. "If the product is good enough for her, it’s good enough for me." This philosophy is often the impetus behind advertisements for makeup, skin products, and hair products. This causes consumers spend extra money on items that might not be suitable or workable on themselves. Celebrities can also help to build
brand awareness through promoting products as consumers believe the product is used by the celebrity and this can affect consumer's decision making.
Beauty product advertising bombard consumers on a daily basis. They create promises to consumers that certain product can make consumers look younger or that foundation can take years off your appearance. Beauty advertising often seek to consumers of the product value or even its necessity for the consumer's well-being and
self-image
Self-image is the mental picture, generally of a kind that is quite resistant to change, that depicts not only details that are potentially available to an objective investigation by others (height, weight, hair color, etc.), but also items that h ...
.
The effectiveness of advertising depends on convincing consumer that the product can improve their appearance. They may use different methods to persuade individuals to make purchases. Association can be a powerful tool. As well as incentives like discounts. It targets emotional responses when the product is associated with feelings. As many people aware that their personal appearance can have a significant effect on how they are treated by others, advertising can use these concerns by encouraging the target market.
When beauty advertisements make promises that certain product can make consumers look younger. Beauty advertising often has little to do with the product. The product is often dwarfed by a beautiful woman's image. As beauty advertisement is selling the beauty and also the
self-worth
Self-esteem is confidence in one's own worth or abilities. Self-esteem encompasses beliefs about oneself (for example, "I am loved", "I am worthy") as well as emotional states, such as triumph, despair, pride, and shame. Smith and Mackie (2007) d ...
. This is also another important reason why celebrities are increasingly appeared on beauty products advertisements. Celebrities represent the best selves, they are beautiful and adored by millions. After consumer review those beauty product campaigns, they will start to get concerned about their appearance and start to shop for similar products because they want to be attractive, like the celebrities.
People not only expect to look good, but feel good too. Consumers expect the products will make them look better than they did without the products or even believe these products will make them more appealing like some of the models who advertise the products. Therefore, Advertisers use those buzzwords to appeal to a wider range of consumers and to wider their marketing strategy by targeting new generations and gain the attention of diverse consumers.
Criticism
Many campaigns have come under fire through their alleged use of
pseudoscience
Pseudoscience consists of statements, beliefs, or practices that claim to be both scientific and factual but are incompatible with the scientific method. Pseudoscience is often characterized by contradictory, exaggerated or unfalsifiable clai ...
and their promotion of unrealistic goals. Moreover, many campaigns are accused of inducing harmful habits on people (such as bulimia and anorexia), and leading to destructive plastic surgery practices.
In addition, cosmetic advertising is often accused of excessively using
photo manipulation
Photograph manipulation involves the transformation or alteration of a photograph using various methods and techniques to achieve desired results. Some photograph manipulations are considered to be skillful artwork, while others are consider ...
to enhance the appearance of models, instead of using the cosmetics themselves, creating an unrealistic image of the product's benefits, Estée Lauder for example.
Cosmetics are a major expenditure for many women, with the cosmetics industry grossing around 7 billion dollars a year, according to a 2008 YWCA report.
Cosmetic retailers design advertising to alter women's attitudes toward cosmetics, encouraging them to buy more products.
Many advertisers shape this attitude by encouraging women to feel dissatisfied with their appearance.
According to sociologist,
Jean Kilbourne
Jean Kilbourne (born January 4, 1943) is an American public speaker, writer, filmmaker and activist who is known for her work on the image of women in advertising and her critical studies of alcohol and tobacco advertising. She is also credited ...
, adolescents are particularly vulnerable because they are new and inexperienced consumers and are the prime targets of many advertisements. Study after study has proven that repeated exposure to
ideal beauty as portrayed by the media causes detrimental psychological effects in children and adolescents ranging from distorted body images and lowered self-esteem to eating disorders and steroid use.
This
thin ideal
The thin ideal is the concept of the ideally slim female body. The common perception of this ideal is a woman who possesses a slender, feminine physique with a small waist and little body fat. The size that the thin ideal woman should be is decrea ...
represents less than 5% of the American population leaving 95% of females with a beauty norm that is impossible to meet. Not only is it impossible to meet, but the model in the advertisement has often been
photo manipulated.
The flawlessness of advertising woman is, in fact, an illusion created by makeup artists, photographers, and photo re-touchers.
[ Each image is painstakingly worked over: teeth and eyeballs are bleached white; blemishes, wrinkles, and stray hairs are airbrushed away.][ Media images convey normative information as to what an attractive body looks like that prompts women to evaluate their own body against this normative standard.
Beauty standards are essentially societal norms or expectations that are used to define a very specific idea of what should be considered beautiful and not conforming to society’s beauty standards can have detrimental effects on a person’s sense of worth. Researchers have found a correlation between exposure to cosmetic advertisements and body image issues among black women. For example, cosmetic companies tend to glorify euro-centric characteristics over other physical features and this leaves people who lack these traits extremely self-conscious. Matter of fact, an experiment discovered there was a correlation between the likelihood of women undergoing cosmetic surgery based on their body dissatisfaction before and after experiencing some form of cosmetic advertisement.] The results supported the hypothesis that mental health issues, such as depression and anxiety, are more common among women who have undergone cosmetic surgery than their non-patient counterparts.
See also
*Sex in advertising
Sex appeal is often used in advertising to help sell a particular product or service. According to research, sexually appealing content, such as imagery, used for marketing does not need to pertain to the product or service in question. Rath ...
* Angel dusting
*Cosmeceutical
Cosmeceuticals are cosmetic products with bioactive ingredients purported to have medical benefits. In America, there are no legal requirements to prove that these products live up to their claims. The name is a portmanteau of "cosmetics" and " ...
References
External links
Guidelines for Cosmetic Advertising and Labelling Claims
at the Advertising Standards Canada
*Gibson, Owen. 17 August 2005.
at Guardian Unlimited
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Advertising
Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...
Advertising by product