Beauty industries sell more than just products; they sell the definition of an ideal woman. An average woman ends up spending about $35 on beauty products per month.
And how does an estimated $532 million industry impel you to spend that much?
The answer here stands simple, your insecurities are fueled which drives you towards purchasing the idea of beauty.
For the next few minutes take a seat and a copy of Cosmopolitan. On the cover, you’ll find a young, attractive woman who is near the definition of perfection with glowing skin, no fine lines and high cheekbones. If you continue to look at her you'll find yourself admiring her and within the next few minutes on e-site browsing and buying the same products as her. And if you do end up doing that, the beauty industry has succeeded in selling the idea of beauty to you.
When are the standards of beauty established?
While most of us were growing up, the beauty standards were associated with fair skin and this idea was deeply instilled while little girls played with Barbie’s. This is commonly known as ‘The Barbie Effect’. Barbie’s were introduced in 1995 by Mattel Inc., and since then they have come to be known as the epitome of beauty, set aside the use of them by industries to advertise their products. In 2008 Mac released Barbie cosmetics for adults under the line Barbie love MAC.
What happens when the world's two most leading companies collaborate?
We, the customers end up being entwined in their trap of redefining ourselves. We try fixing things, for an instance our appearance that doesn't require a fix.
Then again in 2020, MAC re-collaborated with Barbie.
Beauty industry primarily targets white women leaving the rest to either striving to be like them or turning into amateur scientists that mix and remix products to find the right shade for them. A study by Women Wear Daily, 2017 showed that African American women spend 80% more than mainstream women representation. Women of colour have been made to believe that lighter skin equals to better beauty. This message comes across through lack of representation or turning down the skin tone of the models. According to Global Industry Analyst, skin lightening is projected of $31.2 billion. The industry also targets women culturally, for example; criticizing black women for their hair and skin tone or Asian women for their facial features.
Even though there’s no denying that beauty industry is coming to be more inclusive with upcoming brands like Fenty, Milk Makeup and Glossier, but that doesn’t deny the existence of brands that are even today carrying out white beauty standards and makeup apps that are earning by offering, “Black”, “Asian” and “Indian” as their filter. So, an Industry this huge has a lot of work to do!
Written by: Avnee Satija
Illustration: Gayathri Pingali
Edited by: Ushma Doshi
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