The socio-historical context of the 90s in the US
According to the Gauchat et al. (2012), there is broad consensus among contemporary scholars that gender inequality in the United States has declined since 1960, particularly in the areas of the economy, the family, and politics. For instance, women were actively participating in the labour market, the wage gender gap was shrinking, their gains in terms of incomes and human capital increasing (Blau, F. et al (2006)).
Thus women represented paying buyers and were directly targeted by marketing campaigns aimed at ‘high spending single females’ or so-called ‘winning women’. With relation to the societal attitudes towards the gender inequality, the 1990 are considered to be the post-feministic time, when the third wave of feminism seems to contradict itself and return to the ideals of femininity. The market tried to adapt to the changes, how Winship, J. (2000) highlighted the advertisement experts understood the shift, admitting that “instead of the feminist fighting for citizenship, or one allegedly burning bras and hating men, today’s young woman embraces consumption to assertively demand of her mate” (said during Marketing conference at 1998) and, therefore, campaigns were in line with the cultural and economic changes.
Thus women represented paying buyers and were directly targeted by marketing campaigns aimed at ‘high spending single females’ or so-called ‘winning women’. With relation to the societal attitudes towards the gender inequality, the 1990 are considered to be the post-feministic time, when the third wave of feminism seems to contradict itself and return to the ideals of femininity. The market tried to adapt to the changes, how Winship, J. (2000) highlighted the advertisement experts understood the shift, admitting that “instead of the feminist fighting for citizenship, or one allegedly burning bras and hating men, today’s young woman embraces consumption to assertively demand of her mate” (said during Marketing conference at 1998) and, therefore, campaigns were in line with the cultural and economic changes.
Representative for the time compain -
"Maybe she's born with it, Maybe it's Maybelline"
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The campaign “Maybe she’s born with it, Maybe it’s Maybelline” was started by Maybelline in 1991 and deem to be successful (rising profits and widely recognizable) as well as long-living. Therefore, it is seen as imporntant for the time period and is analyzed in details.
*To be more presice discourse analysis was used for the linguistic elements, Goffman categories for image analysis (Goffman, E. (1979)) and sociological concepts and perspectives for explaining the campaign message in general (Merton, R. (1938)).
*To be more presice discourse analysis was used for the linguistic elements, Goffman categories for image analysis (Goffman, E. (1979)) and sociological concepts and perspectives for explaining the campaign message in general (Merton, R. (1938)).
How does Maybelline campaign work?
Results of the analysis
Slogan as the key messageThe slogan is formulated as a question or ambiguous statement – “Maybe she’s born with it// Maybe it’s Maybelline”. It is a catchy word-play, but also such opposition allows to redefine the status of beauty as achieved not ascribed and in turn creates conditions for promoting the beauty products as the mean of acquiring desirable attributes via consumption.
Moreover, it underlines the naturality of the products’ effect – it is indistinguishable from the ‘real’ inherited beauty (“Like it’s a part of her”/ “supple” / repetition of ‘true’). Thus the slogan is indeed loaded with mwanings and as focus group discussion concluded is "a very smart marketing".
Beauty idealsThe female image constructs category of perfectly looking women (“some women” = not every women, note how the category os formulated in a vague way, it allows to keep it open for any potential buyer), who are especially impressive in terms of their appearance and represent the ideal of femininity.
o In the linguistic way, this exceptionality is reinforsed by such imperative predications as “anything” (sounds fascinating), “never” (loses impact), “everything” (looks good on her), “without a bit of” (dryness), “do it all” + “everyday”, etc.
The images are fragmented, showing/focusing only particular parts of the body which look according to the beauty standards (white, proportional, skinny, without flaws), which evidence objectification - portrayals of women that suggest that their major function or purpose in the advertisement is to be looked at.
Moreover, analyzing the amount of Body display, it should be noted that the woman is shown wearing revealing clothes, images of women are sexualized, which was read by the respondents of the survey (word cloud). -White, skinny girls, with long hair, just being the society's beauty figures... Other features of the images include:
o Feminine touch. The woman touches herself (hair, face, legs) or her clothes (shoes) in an unnatural way. This type of touching is to be distinguished from the utilitarian kind, which involves grasping, manipulating, or holding objects. o Licensed withdrawal. The woman removes herself psychologically from the situation at large or is shown mentally drifting from the physical scene, leaving her disoriented and dependent on the protectiveness of others. This is indicated by an expansive smile or laughter, covering the face or mouth, or withdrawing her gaze from the scene at large,
o The special un-seriousness involved in childlike guises and clowning suggests a readiness to be present in a social situation garbed and styled in a manner to which one isn't deeply or irrevocably committed o Location. The woman is shown in a decontexualized, that is, unidentifiable, environment that does not allow for any purposeful activities.
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Product imageo Every advertisement in the campaing reveals the secret and demystifies the exceptional beauty of the women, almost mocking the observer for their nativity and ignorance in an informal almost humiliating way: it undermines what one obviously see, the fundamental ability to vision cognition - further increasing the insecurity
(“Ha!” /“Nah”/ ”Hardly”/”Nonsense”/”Gimme a break”/”Are you kidding?”/”Oh stop”?/”Get real”) * Not surprisingly, they’d use adjective ‘foolproof’ to advertise the product. It's interesting to see how people perceive this message rather negatively, almost feeling offended or threatened:
o The image of the product is more straightforward (the good itself and the range of the colours), its properties are stated clearly.
o The main message is naturality (‘true’, ‘full of life’, ‘fresh’) and, more practically on endurance (‘for hours’, ‘all day’ ) some references to science (‘innovative’ + ‘formula’, ‘vitamin-enriched’, ) and universality (‘does-it-all’). It's stupid, it like you cannot be pretty without the Mabelline, it implies Maybelline makes them pretty. Could it still be feminism?Third-wave feminism was often associated, primarily by its critics, with the emergence of so-called "lipstick" or "girly" feminists and the rise of "raunch culture". This was because these new feminists advocated for "expressions of femininity and female sexuality as a challenge to objectification". Yet the key idea of the lipstick feminism is the freedom to choose certain patterns of behaviour, thus it is essential to realise the reasoning behind the female characters actions. So...
How 'beauty' is defined as the cultural goal?o The message is told in whispering/written in incomplete phrases (to imitate inner flow of thought) – it underlines the secrecy and the exclusivity of the conveying idea.
o Moreover, represented the female has no voice, yet is assessed by external speaker/thinker, thus, it creates insecurity, viewer begins to doubt whether she is assessed by an outsider in this flattering way. Which is in line with the G.H. Mead theory of socialization: "What the individual is for himself is not something that he invented. It is what his significant others have come to ...treat him as being." The “me” part of the self, the way we are seen by others is key for our self-perception, yet we never know for sure, but the advertisement sells successful perception by others as a way to successful interactions. The relations between genders is shown in the end of every video: men appear and approve the beautiful female characters). As o The L. Mulvey theory of male-gaze seems to be applicable here: “the female gaze is the same as the male gaze. This means that women look at themselves through the eyes of men” – so one of the advertisements depicts the woman watching in the mirror, exhibiting luring and playful behavior, yet the female character is alone.
Thus the women perceptions of self once again are shaped by societal significant other, their self-esteem is tied with the ability to comply with the standards of beauty. As the focus group participants notice: Pressure on feeling beautiful, not actually being: when you put [make up] on your face, you feel beautiful, even if you’re not that much. They create this pressure and earn money on people insecurities. |
Conclusion
To sum up, the consumption of the beauty products could contribute to the buyer positive self-identity via the control over their perception by significant other (men): usage of the Maybelline goods creates belonging to the group of perfectly looking women and reduces the insecurity of the buyer.
Moreover, the consumption is an presented as the acceptable institutionalized way to achieve the societal goal ('beauty') – the locus of control is on individual women so as the stress of not being able to comply with the constructed standards.
Therefore, the beauty industry provides women with means but restricts in the aims, which are defined externally, which means it could not be seen as feminine empowerment.
Moreover, the consumption is an presented as the acceptable institutionalized way to achieve the societal goal ('beauty') – the locus of control is on individual women so as the stress of not being able to comply with the constructed standards.
Therefore, the beauty industry provides women with means but restricts in the aims, which are defined externally, which means it could not be seen as feminine empowerment.