The Significance of Maybelline & Dove's Beauty Campaigns

The analysis of beauty related advertisements reveal the stereotypes, beauty culture, insecurities of women, and social norms of different time periods. In Barbara Welter’s The Cult of True Womanhood: 1820-1860 she describes that “The attributes of True Womanhood, by which a woman judged herself and was judged by her husband, her neighbors, and society could be divided into four cardinal virtues- piety, purity, submissiveness and domesticity.” The ideologies of true womanhood continued well into the 1900s and still exist today. Within American society women were greatly influenced by the ideologies of the dominant white American culture, but as time progressed women challenged these ideologies. While women attempted to keep up with the changing American cultures there were other factors that prevented them from changing with society, such as their financial and social ranking. Women adapted to these new beauty cultures in hopes that it would help them find themselves and redefine their gender identities. A woman’s physical appearance was her way of blending in with society or assimilating with the standards of beauty for women. Women from the early 1900s to the present defined their own womanhood based on their physical appearance, sexuality, job orientation, their activism in their community/society, and their ability to provide for their children.

The underlying brand message of Maybelline during the 1930s was that women could enhance their beauty if they purchased their eyelash and eyebrow darkening products. Maybelline used print advertisements to promote their products and was able to reach millions of women, according to their advertisement. The Dove “Real Beauty” campaign was initiated to “widen the definition of beauty” in 2004. Their updated campaign, “A Bold New Vision: The Dove Movement for Self-Esteem” started in 2011 and Dove conducted its largest global study —The Real Truth About Beauty: Revisited. This study revealed that only 4% of women around the world consider themselves beautiful, and that anxiety about looks begins at an early age (Dove, 2015). These campaigns are similar because they both seek to make women feel more beautiful, but they are different because Maybelline promotes makeup products to enhance beauty whereas Dove wanted to change the ideas of beauty from the inside out and promotes self-acceptance.

The reality of the early part of the 20th century was that most beauty products were directed towards Caucasian women with advertisements of pale beautiful faces encouraging consumers to buy the products they were promoting. Women of color were sometimes featured in advertisements that promoted brighter, whiter skin, with bleaching cream which would be considered more acceptable during that time period. Other advertisements during the 1930s focused on new ideas of womanhood, which consisted of a wife/mother pursuing acts of self-expression, educating themselves, maintaining their youthfulness and beauty while still performing their duties as a wife/mother. These acts were suggested so that women could retain the attention of their husbands and keep up with their husband’s social status and intelligence (Marchand, 1985). Maybelline’s advertisement simply focused on promoting outer beauty to achieve a full life.

In the pictured Maybelline 1930 beauty campaign, the woman is shown with smoldering smoky eye makeup, a fur collar around her shoulders paired with a matching earring and necklace set. From this advertisement it is clear that beauty is associated with a certain amount of wealth. Schudson notes, “Increasingly, however, an index for income was visible and available in the status and quality ranking consumer goods. Material goods became ‘visible symbols of inner worth’ in worlds where few other symbols had permanence or continuity (Schudson, 156).” Maybelline also collaborated with popular movie stars for advertisements and that further promoted the culture and appeal of luxuriousness and class. The U.S was actually entering the Great Depression, but Maybelline managed to survive it because of their consumer’s needs. Production is the result of consumer demand and it has only filled a void that it has itself created (Gailbraith, 1958).” This 1930s Maybelline ad states, “Millions of women instantly gain added charm and loveliness with those three delightful, easy-to-use Maybelline preparations…Then, from the delight of your new found beauty, observe with what ease you attained such delightful results.” They also use phrases like charming allure, beautifully luxuriant, and bewitchingly inviting, which attempts to persuade women that they will be instantly more attractive, thus increasing her chances of finding a man.

The Dove campaign reflects the views of various different ethnic backgrounds, which is a very realistic interpretation of what women look like. The marketers envisioned their target demographic, which are women with varying ages. This shows how open minded advertisements have become, as compared to the past when marketing mostly targeted Caucasian Americans. The women are posing in their underwear and appear to be happy which signals that they accept themselves and their bodies and encourages other women to be too.

The Maybelline campaign from the 1930s reflected existing social expectations as does most of their most recent campaigns. Attaining beauty is the primary objective of Maybelline. Kathy Peiss credits the cosmetic industry for convincing women that beauty will lead to the abundance of success in a woman’s life. Peiss states, “The logic of cosmetics being able to make women more beautiful …led to the assertion that women should be beautiful-as a duty to her husband and children, in order to achieve business success, or to find romance-and those who were not beautiful only had themselves to blame (2008).” The Maybelline advertisement highlighted the women’s beauty and her appeal to the opposite sex. The Dove “Real Beauty” campaign on the other hand seeks to encourage positive self-esteem in their consumers starting with younger girls. Dove has created self-esteem- building, educational programs and activities that encourage, inspire and motivate girls around the world. Dove has reached over 7 million girls so far with these programs, and set a global goal of reaching 15 million girls by 2015 (Dove, 2015).

The Dove campaign has shown the progression of society by spreading awareness about “Real Beauty” by collaborating with the entertainment industry to show that what girls see in movies and magazines represents an unrealistic standard of beauty. This campaign targets a large demographic of women and starts by educating young girls. Women have challenged the ideas of womanhood by becoming members of women’s clubs and a women’s role in activism during the 1930s which affirmed her status in her community and or neighborhood. Club women and welfare activists thrived on the ideas of women empowerment. (Gordon, 2008)

Women’s gender identities have shifted in various ways across time. Before a woman’s place was the home but now women as a whole have more opportunities to be more career-oriented and independent. Although racism, sexism and classism still affect women across the world, there have been some improvements through women’s activism such as building organizations to help empower women and children. The Dove “Real Beauty” campaign signifies a great shift in beauty culture because it empowers women and encourages them to reclaim their own identities.

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Bibliography

The Dove® Campaign for Real Beauty. (n.d.). Retrieved June 23, 2015, from http://www.dove.us/Social-Mission/campaign-for-real-beauty.aspx

Gailbraith, J. (1958). The Dependence Effect. In The Affluent Society.

Gordon, L. (2008). "Black and White Visions of Welfare Activism, 1890-1945." In Unequal Sisters.

Marchand, R. (1985). Advertisements as Social Tableaux. In Advertising the American dream: Making way for modernity, 1920-1940. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Peiss, K. (2008). Making Faces: The Cosmetics Industry and the Cultural Construction of Gender, 1890-1930. In Unequal Sisters, 324-342.

Schudson, M. (1984). Historical Roots of Consumer Culture. In Advertising, the Uneasy Persuasion. New York.

Welter, B. (n.d.). The Cult of True Womanhood: 1820-1860. American Quarterly, 151-151.