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| https://www.amazon.co.uk/Branded- Beauty-Marketing-Changed-Look/dp /0749461810 |
Makeup and fashion is an industry that relies heavily on the usage of advertising and marketing techniques and it through the creation of these beautiful advertisements, alluring images and marketing that targets our sense of desire that products are sold to a mass consumer market. Branding is a technique that has been around for decades from the first product endorsed poster girls of the early 20th century to the physiological play on fashion trends in todays society, a technique designed to reinvent already existing products for the purpose of increased sales. This leads us on to a survey that was conducted among 8,600 women by a French company back in 2010, Tungate writes that out of all of the responses around 1/4 of women admitted that they felt they had an addiction to a form of constructed beauty. The survey went on to explore how an even large proportion admitted that they wouldn't leave the home if they had not applied some form of makeup. What does this suggest about our perception on beauty and dependance on cosmetic enhancement. In many respects it places its importance for women almost as high as living essentials such as food and water, but why does this dependance on beauty aesthetics exist in the first place.
According to Tungate it comes back to evolutionary genetics whereby we instinctively desire to attract an exemplary specimen of the human race. In regards to the beauty aesthetic it is believed that the ancient greeks had achieved the ultimate in the perfected human form, demonstrated from their construction of marble statues all of which feature youthful, unblemished skin, bright eyes and muscularly toned physiques (or elegant curves and small waisted women). This is a point made by Armstrong who ventures on to suggest that through this historical perception of beauty we have developed an instinctive need to reflect this standard within ourselves. Of course this is an unattainable image of perfection and the human body is not comparable to that of marbled art. This is where our dependance on product comes into play and the methods of marketing to manipulate our emotional need to achieve perfection for their own financial gain. Even if a product doesn't necessarily work, the most successful of advertisement campaigns trick us into thinking a cream can completely reverse the natural process of ageing.
Within the current consumer culture the success of cosmetic advertising comes down predominately to three elements: beautifully imagery, clever wording and celebrity endorsement. Cosmetic brands have been linked to the fashion industry since the early 20th century however what of recent has set apart traditional marketing from that of the elite is an association with celebrity status. Campaigns for cosmetics are now dominated by celebrity models and makeup artists who feature as a select through that dominate advertisement imagery. In regards to the modelling aspect this is a technique that has been used since the 1990's however the makeup artist connection offers another branch in media imagery. Makeup artists offer a promise of professionalism in their associated products. Products that are designed for the fast paced fashion lifestyle supply the consumer with slick packaging and high quality product that previously would have only been attainable by the elite. In addition to the products themselves the public are able to access continuous media in the form of online tutorials and videos, often created by supporting faces but in turn this acts as a modern form of cheaper beauty marketing.
The influence that beauty cosmetics have on consumer culture is alarming especially when taking into account the ease of influence that is held over us by the manipulation of our cosmetic needs. Tungate does argue however that this power is shifting. Within a post modern era we are now able to access the very media that created the over edited images that once sold us countless product, we too can access the products and the means of capturing the images. The veil is beginning to lift on the creation of marketing and now a new campaign for more natural beauty aesthetics is bleeding through , take into example the new campaign from Bobbi Brown and bareminerals, brands the have built themselves on the creation of the natural woman. It would seem that beauty is beginning to alter into accepting the more natural state. If this be the case then it leads on to further questions such as how does a market so dependant on aspiring to our false perception of beauty cater to a society that completely reinvents its aesthetic?
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