Sexy, Stylish and Subordinated? Sophia Rizos 301121577 CMNS 223 Jody Baker Shannon Vogels Word Count: 3347 1
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4 The image of the ideal woman within a consumer culture based on notion of commodification of image and self, as well as from and advertising perspective respectively, has change drastically through out the years. Examining advertisements from the 1920s or 1930s in comparison to those of the present day is crucial in the study of feminism, femininity, social position and self worth of women from a consumer standpoint, as well as from a cultural and micro-level perspective. The two advertisements discussed in this paper, one for Palmolive face soap from 1920, and one for Maybelline Mascara from 2010, present the dichotomy of how the idealized woman has not only changed, but has completely shifted gears, and established a place for herself within society, essentially encroaching upon a man s aesthetic through the commodification of self through appropriated sexualized meanings. What...collapse[d] the class audience into the mass audience was female in gender. The consumer whether class or mass was a she, (Marchand, 66), and because of this, historically,...advertisers of the 1920s became increasingly committed to a view of consumer citizens as an emotional, feminized mass, characterized by mental lethargy, bad taste and ignorance... these masses were [...] tasteless, emotionally foolish, and essentially feminine, (March 69-84). Here we can see that advertisements of the past saw not only women, but the ignorant masses of consumer culture, as encompassing feminine traits, ultimately assuming that anyone willing to buy unnecessary products without commission, did not have the mental capacity to understand they were being systematically targeted by advertisers. In this way, the view of women became a meager one and we can see that presented in the Palmolive ad when it states Often we marvel at her - the girl whose only asset is her beauty. She know so little and says so little; yes serenely attracts everyone to her side. Later prompting the question, Brains of Beauty? as if the two
5 could not possibly be interwoven without the right beauty product, for the only intelligent decision a women is entitled to make is what brand of soap is allowed to caress her flawless skin. Ergo, Exactly what look women should adopt to play their modern roles was defined less by the close-up of soaps and cosmetic ads than by the stances, silhouettes, and accessories of women in the whole range of social tableau advertisements, (Marchand, 170) which we can see within the Palmolive advertisement. There is no elaborate image of the product, but the photo of the woman, which is ultimately the center focus of the advertisement, is intended to draw the reader in, regardless of the product being advertised. In this way, meaning is appropriate from the stylized, beautiful, ideal women into the soap, and is thus giving extrinsic value through appropriated meaning. Since women were viewed as virtually the sole buyers of style goods, to incorporate style into a product was to give it a feminine appeal... [because the] conception of women [was] emotional, irrational and lacking in self-control, (Marchand, 131). Since women were viewed in this way, it is suffice to say that the notion of bewildered heard within an advertising perspective took new bounds when it targeted femininity. In the Palmolive ad, the idea of irrational and lacking of self control in order to develop an image of oneself that stands within the frame of timeless beauty, the ad states Freshness, Charm - the Enticement of a Skin More Precious than Personality or Cleverness - do you seek it? Then for One Week Follow this Simple Beauty Method which is Brining it to Thousands. This prompts this notion of frivolous spending in order to become beautiful and create the perfect you, and was used in advertisements throughout the last century, and continues to be imbedded within consumption text today, although, more recently, it has become much more subtle. This ad not only tells women that they
6 need the right soap in order to have a beautiful, desirable, aesthetically pleasring and flawless complexions, but it facilitates the desire for women to continue consuming in order to maintain this newfound look. The majority of the ad s text is an explanation of how the product should be used and in what way in order to get the desired effects of the soap, and in order to create an image of ever lasting beauty. Marchand explains that one of the prevailing concepts of advertisement through the early 20th century were formulated around the ideas of classical, timeless beauty, in which is became women s responsibility to maintain their youthful appearance for fear of rejection by men as well as their friends and family, noting that Men, the tableaux reiterated, fell in love and stayed in love with the beauty-minded and ultimately hone-oriented womanly woman. Watch that you don t disappoint him, they warned, (Marchand, 186). Women were not only expected to beautify themselves for their own self love, but for the acceptance of others based on first impressions and maintenance of physical form. The Palmolive advertisement reads Thus, in simple manner, millions since the days of Cleopatra have found beauty, charm and youth prolonged... Just remove the day s accumulations of dirt and oil and perspiration, cleanse the pores, and Nature will be kind to you, which presents the concept of beauty as an obtainable measure, if only a significant amount of effort is put in, to obtain the desired effects. Without this effort, Nature, which ultimately should be subjective and not personified, becomes an overarching demon that will objectify one s beauty unless they buy the right products. In this way, the ad attempts at breaching the concept of natural beauty and commodified beauty, essentially destroying the idea that they are separate entities and essentially promoting their fusion. Beauty is no longer a natural thing, it must be created, and if it is not maintained, Nature
7 will smite the negligent women with terrible skin, frizzy hair and an unattractive aging process. The reference to Cleopatra is relevant to this theory as well, for she was portrayed as a vain, selfabsorbed, yet an ever lasting beauty; because of her direct indulgence in herself, she continued to be beautiful and sought after by men until the day she died, a yearning women of any century wish they could obtain. Palmolive Soap is what Marchand describes as...experienced goods - products whose qualities and consequences can be determined only by use, not by examination prior to purchase, because the product itself cannot be proven to work unless it is used by the consumer. In this way, the ad bases its argument solely on external signifies in order to sell the nonrefundable product. There a few ways in which these external sources are ratified: firstly, the ad states that...it costs by 10 cents the cake! - so little that millions let it o for their bodies what it does for their faces. Obtain a cake today, then note what an amazing difference one week makes, which not only attracts the consumer because of the low price, but enables them as human beings by prompting them to note how they feel about the product. This brings us full circle to the idea of the woman as being duped easily into believing that buying products is solely their choice: it is not. Palmolive exemplifies with its attractive, leading text that women were looked at by advertisers as lowly creatures who need to be made to feel as though they are choosing superior products, when in reality, they are being sold products through high emotional need by the feminine population to be accepted, beautiful and loved. Marchand notes,...advertising leaders of the 1920s and 1930s added that women possessed a well-authenticated greater emotionality and a natural inferiority complex. Since women were certainly emotional, advertisements must be emotional, (Marchand, 66).
8 Secondly, another external source within the advertisement itself is the woman in the right hand corner. She is an ideal woman - beautiful, slim, well taken care of, sexy and seems to be in control of her life, through being in control of her physical beauty. She does not look the way she does naturally, she is a product of her spending, and solidifies this notion of natural beauty and commodified beauty as being interchangeable. This taking control can be viewed from a different standpoint as well, encompassing the idea that she is, through proper consumption, a socialite, not only adored by all, but viewed by all as a wonder. The emphasis on youth and slimness, however, did reinforce the notion of women s new freedom of physical activity; [...] - the women was on the move, (Marchand, 184), which is clear when looking at the Palmolive ad. The women is by no means a limited house wife, a restricted individual by any sense. She is shown as free, in pursuit of her own life s ambitions through control of her beauty. Contrastingly, this control is not truly real control, but a fictional projection in order to sell a product to a woman that feels inadequate to not only herself, but to men and other women, and in such, becomes a way for a woman to please the rest of society. Marchand explain this noting that...from the nineteenth-century culture of character, which stressed morality and work discipline as prerequisites for success [was exchanged] to a new culture of persona. which emphasized the cultivation of one s ability to please others, (Marchand, 209). This is key: the idea that society changed to a culture of persona over character, which is presented directly in the Palmolive ad when it states...develop your beauty to bring out the sweetness of your personality. That s what thousands of girls have done- and found new happiness as a result. This would eventually become the dominate style for womanly directed advertisements of the future; women were no longer attractive because of their character and self worth, but were for the
9 persona they presented. Ironically, while advertisers sold product understanding this ideal, they also sold products to women based on the complete opposite mentality: that through consumption, women could develop a sweet personality by presented themselves in a proper way. Here, we can see how early advertisements essentially used the woman s insecurities to their advantage, promoting that consumption provided women with the means in order to be attractive in every way, but under the radar, actually ratifying this through the belief that woman were of no such capabilities. The advertisement for Maybelline Mascara contrasts the Palmolive advertisement nicely, and, at least on the surface, will look like it is strikingly different, even though it is not. Regardless of its similarities and differences, what must first be established is the time frame of this ad: 2010. Because of this, a completely different woman is not only being advertised to, but also an incredibly different woman exists alongside theories about who she is, and what she is capable of. Goldman notes that...advertisers adapted to female consumers who had grown hostile to how advertisements continuously positioned them to envy the body or the look conveyed by model images, in a time where Feminist values including self-definition, equal treatment in labor markets, control over one s body and personal freedom have been semiotically transformed into what signifies attractiveness to men, (Goldman, 131-132). In this way, women were no longer looked at as passive consumers, but more so belonging to a group of people that sought freedom and took advantage of the male gaze, appropriating their own meanings and using their sexuality to get ahead in life. In the 1920s, sexuality was something women wanted, but did not use to develop their own strength and rid themselves of the chains laid by the male dominated society, where in the...twentieth century, advertising had evolved a distinctive mode
10 of address toward women that articulated a vocabulary of visual signifiers which define[d] the meaningful universe of femininity, (Goldman,132). This idea of femininity as being the basis of advertisement campaign came in many forms, but the the more dominant was through images of sexuality as being harbingers for strength: if a woman controlled her sexuality, embraced it and showed it off, she controlled her life and deserved to succeed. To signify feminism, advertisers assemble signs which connote independence, participation in the work force, individual freedom and self control [and]... meanings of choice and individual freedom [became] wed to images of sexuality in which women apparently [chose] to be seen as sexual objects because it [suited] their liberated interests [and added]... in the visual construction of self appearance, (Goldman, 133). We can see this very idea exemplified in the Maybelline ad. The copy states Fierce, full, amazing lashes have never look so fabulously loud, (CITE), which are placed atop an image of the product and an over-sexualized, fierce woman. This women is not a celebrity, and because of this, she automatically become more relatable. She is stunning, fabulous, fierce, full and amazing, just like her lashes. The woman in this ad is photographically posed in sexually vulnerable and subordinate positions, [but she] address[es] the camera and the viewer with gazes that suggest indifference. As a fantasy about being an irresistible object of desire, [she] still possess enough cool detachment to remain aloof... to be simultaneously [an] object of desire and subject in control of [her] social situation, (Goldman 141). Here we see similarities to the Palmolive ad, where the woman is sold a product through her own need for something better, to change herself in order to regain power. As well, much like the Palmolive ad, the idea of women taking control of their lives for person satisfaction through commodification becomes the foundation of the Maybelline ad. She
11 is new type of women - she has liberated herself, which, as advertisers like to promote, is only possible through mass consumption....the superhuman myth, aka the fabulous new woman - sublimely self-confident and secure, poised, effortlessly beautiful, she moves with a style and grace called presence, [and because of this]... Advertisements frequently represent women taking control and power over their lives and relationship through their commodified articulation of feminine appearance. This model of social power proposed that autonomy and control can be obtained through voluntary self-fetishization, (Goldman 108). Again, this is directly linked to the Palmolive ad where women were giving the means of taking control through spending power and the self-editing. A major difference between the two ads though, is the way woman are shown. Both woman are looked at, in their respective time periods, as ideal, but the Palmolive woman is classic, where as the Maybelline woman is modern, stylized, tattooed, cool and sexy. She is not only trying to attract a man through her sexuality, even though she does, but she wants to liberate herself, essentially getting the upper hand over any man that crosses her path, and in such...regularly made consumer ads, has women enhancing their social economic power vis-avis men by presenting themselves as objects of desire. These ads endorse a notion that femininity as defined by commodity consumption comprises a route to control, security and power in relations with men [and]... address women about increasing their social power by willingly engaging in self-fetishization, (Goldman 113). The woman in the Palmolive ad wants to be accepted, the woman in the Maybelline ad is fighting back, regaining her strength, her will and her place in life, and doing it through sexuality erected by her consumption. Nature, in this case, is not her
12 enemy, but her means of taking back what was ultimately hers: her beauty, her power and her equality to man. The Palmolive ad promotes how easy the soap is to use, how cheap it is to obtain and how effortless getting perfect skin is. The Maybelline ad portrays no such ideals. Goldman points out that...women s traditional task of controlling their figures, so long achieved by means of patriarchally enforced self-torture, has now become a supposedly pleasurable activity, (Goldman 111), and this is because while beauty was once looked as a responsibility to please a man, it is now viewed as a liberation tool, and in such is embraced by women in the modern age. The Maybelline does note dote a price, a technique on how to use the actual product, not does is it even have an entire image of the product itself. Here we can see both similarities and differences with the Palmolive ad for in both ads, the woman are the main attraction of the advertisement and carry with them signifiers and meanings, but contrastingly, the Palmolive ad denotes an easy lifestyle where are the Maybelline ad wants women to work for it, to take initiative to change themselves and regain their rightful place within society. The Maybelline advertisement is created in a modern, nouveaux advertising style as well, because a theme in women s advertising has proceeded to address women about themselves as malleable surfaces that can be adorned with objects that carry desired attributes and commodities powers of signification. They encourage and perpetuate a pattern of seeing women as collections of body parts... each part carries its own sexual persona... Ads encourage women not to merely to adorn themselves with commodities, but also to perceive themselves as objectified surfaces, (Goldman 121). This is very different than the Palmolive ad, where the woman is looked as a holistic beauty, and fully fledge attractive entity, created entirely as one
13 unit. The Maybelline ad is made of sexualized body parts. The woman is not whole: she has great hair, clear skin, full breasts, a tiny waist, and more importantly, amazing lashes, and because of this, consumers are able to detach the lashes away from the individual. The meaning of this ad is not that this woman is beautiful and has gorgeous lashes, it is that she is beautiful because she gorgeous lashes, lashes only attainable with the right mascara. Woman desire this, they aspire to get it and in such self improvement becomes a matter of increasing the value of one s parts in the interest of securing admiration of one s appearance, hence popularity, hence validation of self, (Goldman, 125). This has also created another change in regard to women of the present in contrast with women of the past: the idea of being glamourous. The woman in the Palmolive ad is beautiful, but not glamourous in any sense. The woman in the Maybelline ad is the embodiment of glamour, which is only possible because she owns the right mascara. Advertisement here offers [her] an image of [herself] made glamourous by the product or opportunity it is trying to sell. The image then makes [her] envious of [herself] as she might be... it is about social relations, not objects. Its promise is not of pleasure, but of happiness: happiness as judged from the outside by others. The happiness of being envied is glamour, (Goldman, 115) and ergo, we can see that the notion of happiness is projected through this concept of the glamour life where every woman desires to obtain that fierceness and that sex appeal that will give her the means in order to take control of her life. Both these ads portray an image of the woman in regard to her desire for self worth through self-fetishization. Each ad does this in a different way, either through classic beauty ideals or overly sexualized meanings and images. Regardless, the concept of femininity and
14 feminism within the advertisements themselves become the overreaching point: woman have always been and will continue to always be advertised to through their self doubt, and it is through this medium that they are sold commodities in order to allow them to facilitate accepted social personas within the capital based consumer society. Meanings within these advertisements become re-appropriated, and images of beauty, sexuality, and glamour are used to ignite feelings of control, liberation and freedom. The way women are looked at within society has not changed, and it does not seem as though it ever will, for, while advertisers may not think women are ignorant anymore, they still see them as the major driving force in a consumer culture and will continue to exploit them every second they get, through any means necessary. Works Cited Goldman, R. (1992). Readings Ads Socially. London and New York: Youtledge Marchand, R. (1985). Advertising the American Dream. London: University of California Press.