Sexism in the beauty industry has always been an issue ever since beauty became an industry.Women have always been expected to fulfil a specific role in
society such as the cleaning, childbearing and the cooking which meant that
they couldn’t also sustain a working career; this means that the man is the
only person bringing any money into the house and ultimately gives him more
authority over the woman. Advertisements
didn’t help to change this stereotype, they were chauvinistic and blatant about
what the role of each gender was which was completely imbalanced.
Such ads were popular around the 1950s and advertised
cleaning products for women and the women’s appearance around the house, which
the male would find desirable.
In the 1800s, the Woman’s Rights Movement originated by
women which attempted to prevent such division wasn’t taken seriously until the
1960s and 70s where after the Civil Rights Movement did this movement gain
enough recognition to make a change. They protested for simple things that most
women may take for granted today such as Access to equal education and freedom
of choice in terms of abortion without reference from a man, and for
something’s that still haven’t been fixed such as equal career with equal pay
opportunities.
This social construct has come from advertisements there
were present at the time and other social constructs are in place in society
today due to the same reason. Advertisements are the most power from of
propaganda and have an effect on their audience more than they think. Certain
beauty logos are imbedded in our memories so much so that by only viewing a
small snipe of such logo we can know he brand, their newest products out at the
moment, where its available and what the brand is about. Form example, Tom Ford
is a dark and sexy brand advertised at the higher send of the beauty spectrum.
It advertises the quality of their products and how they will make you feel
rather than the price of them. They usually endorse celebrities into their
products by asking them to appear in their ad campaigns or a little more
unconventionally, Jay-Z was asked to release a song called Tom Ford.
Different companies advertise different aspect of their
brand which makes them different, the unique selling point (USP).
Estee Lauder
A young girl called Estee Lauder in New York had her
Hungarian Uncle come to stay for a while, and brought with him some face
creams. She starting selling them in beauty salons to women and began her company
with her husband and in 1946 they received their first large order or $800.
Ever since them she has been armed with one simple premise- anyone can be
beautiful.
Clinique
Their USP is that many of their products are hyper
allergenic and fragrance free and are very concerned about the products
ingredients. Their appearance is very scientific and bright- slightly
futuristic, which makes them seem the best around. They have interesting new
concept such as 3 step skin care system which in 1968 was brand new idea,
however new many other brands have their versions of a skin care system but
Clinique’s is still world famous as the fist and still one of the best as they
have had the most amount of time to develop theirs and make it the best.