Gender, Media, and Identity
This book explores how a certain kind of âfemininityâ is constructed through the language of cosmetics advertising. The relationship between gender, the mass media, and identity is often complex. In much contemporary Western 1 media, there exists a strong connection between femininity and an attractive appearance, which can be found in both language and images depicting and/or targeting women. From Disney princesses to reality television makeover shows, female appearance from childhood through to adulthood tends to be foregrounded in a way that male appearance is not. This âdouble standardâ generally manifests itself in an increased media focus on female looks above success: Hillary Clintonâs cleavage, Sarah Palinâs beehive, and Michelle Obamaâs upper arms being just three examples in a recent US political context (Rhode 2010: 10). As Greer laments: âevery woman knows that, regardless of all her other achievements, she is a failure if she is not beautifulâ (2007: 23). Although womenâs actual thoughts, behaviour, and purchasing patterns are on many occasions far removed from their discursive media representations, the predominant mainstream constructions of femininity are worthy of careful examination and critique in order to dissect their underlying ideologies (Gill 2007: 217). In this context, cosmetics advertising texts are often best conceptualised as sites of struggle where the actual reader may be âhailedâ into a certain subject position which they can accept, reject, or otherwise respond (Althusser 1969; see also Mills 2012: 44).
The majority of cosmetics are marketed using the message that the female appearance can be improved with the aid of products: one has the opportunity to look younger, slimmer, prettier, and so on. Although progress has been made with regard to gender equality in several arenas of society, sexist media representations still prevail and womenâs bodies tend to be viewed as commodities to look at whilst simultaneously constructed as sites for improvement (Byerly and Ross 2006: 37â38). The female body is often presented as always needing âworkâ in order to conform to the âever narrower judgements of female attractivenessâ (Gill 2007: 255). The âfatâ female body is increasingly seen as problematic in this contemporary media discourse, signalling a lack of control within the context of medical narratives about obesity (Murray 2008). The presupposition in media discourse is that women want to improve their appearance, and that they will do so through particular cosmetics (Gill 2007: 135). This is not to say that women cannot or should not modify their looks; rather, the issue lies with the pervasiveness and restrictiveness of these media constructs. Women who do not want to change their appearance through beauty products and other âfeminisingâ practices may be positioned as outside of the norm portrayed in the media. Many women enjoy such activities, 2 but often the emphasis on âplayfulnessâ and âfunâ can disguise the fact that these practices are routinely expected and prescribed, and opting out may be difficult or even seemingly impossible for some women (Gill 2007: 182). There exists a tension in the feminist scholarship between the potential harm caused by regarding cosmetics as necessary items to âfixâ the female appearance versus the (somewhat contested) potential pleasure gained by their usage (Smith 1988; Wolf 1991; Walter 1999: 87â103; Hollows 2000: 157; Gauntlett 2008: 85â87; Talbot 2010: 38; Jones 2010: 365; Rhode 2010: 88). The position adopted in this book is that cosmetics advertising should be examined and critiqued in order to challenge the taken-for-granted assumptions that are often found there: heteronormativity, stereotypical âfeminineâ and âmasculineâ identities, and an overarching emphasis on physical beauty, amongst many others. This process may enable us as consumers to become more critically engaged with the ever-pervasive domain of cosmetics advertising. In this vein, critical linguistic analysis gives us the tools to unpack product claims; to identify presuppositions that may reinforce outdated gendered stereotypes; and to consider how consumers may challenge the ways in which they are addressed through cosmetic advertising discourse. Critical discourse research can be a first step in the process of societal change and should aim to both question and reform existing discourses (Toolan 1997).
Cosmetics advertising should be situated within the context of the global beauty business, which has been enjoying unprecedented growth worldwide. Advertising and marketing campaigns are key ways of penetrating new markets, creating brand awareness, maximising product sales, and, ideally, achieving customer loyalty. In 2008, consumers worldwide spent $330 billion on fragrances, cosmetics, and toiletries (Jones 2010: 1); and research by Mint in 2013 suggests that this figure has increased to $382 billion from an estimated 85 % female base. 3 Globalisation , whether viewed productively in terms of market freedom or as contributing to gross inequalities (or somewhere between these two viewpoints), 4 has not created uniform convergence of worldwide consumers with exactly the same needs, wants, and desires (de Mooij 2010: 2). Many cosmetics products are sold in different cultural and linguistic contexts, and there may be slight changes in terms of the adaptation-localisation ratio in order to effectively appeal to the target demographic (Kelly-Holmes 2005: 7; Machin and van Leeuwen 2007: 105; see also Munday 2004; Sidiropoulou 2008; Woodward-Smith and Eynullaeva 2009). With regard to the English and French contexts in which this current research is situated, there is much overlap in the type of cosmetic being sold (and indeed sometimes they are exactly the same). One difference is the increased advertising and consumption of âslimming creamsâ in France, which do not as yet have the same market share in the United Kingdom (these creams are explored in particular in Chapter 5 of this book).
Cosmetics advertisements in Britain and Metropolitan France are subject to regulation in terms of what they can or cannot claim about a product. LâAutoritĂ© de RĂ©gulation Professionnelle de la PublicitĂ© (LâARPP) is the French independent body regulating advertising, approximately equivalent to the UKâs Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). 5 Both organisations advise companies and advertising agencies on how to best comply with their codes of practice, in addition to responding to consumer queries and complaints. In some cases, they may recommend advertisements change their content and can withdraw adverts due to non-compliance. However, even if advertisements do follow the guidelines, the language used could still be potentially misleading and/or affirm certain ideological positions. The ASA emphasises that cosmetics advertising is often aspirational, in that peop...