Those of you who still have the freedom to make plans on Sunday nights might not know that there’s a full-blown beauty/gender debate unfolding on the fourth season of AMC’s stellar show Mad Men. The television series is set in the ‘60s and centers on the forward-thinking Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce advertising agency. Recently, they landed a big account with Pond’s Cold Cream. While brainstorming for the Pond’s campaign, the marketing team was at a stalemate: Freddy, the sexist but harmless fuddy-duddy, says that if they market Pond’s as a means for women to land a husband, it’ll sell. Peggy, the young proto-feminist copywriter, insists that focusing on Pond’s as part of a woman’s beauty ritual will speak to women who wish to indulge themselves in front of the mirror.
Of course, it’s clear that Peggy has her finger on the pulse of the women’s movement to come, but that doesn’t mean that Freddy’s take on what motivates women to purchase beauty-related products is all that archaic, even by today’s standards. Believe me, I would know. As someone whose job description means being uniquely steeped in beauty product marketing with a critical eye, I can assure you that while the goal may not be to get married, it’s definitely still important to get noticed by men. Don’t believe me? How many beauty products—makeup, skin care, hair care, fragrance—are described as flirty? Sexy? Seductive? A lot. If sex sells anyplace, it’s with beauty products, which are almost exclusively marketed to . . . straight women.
This Pond’s debate on Mad Men got me thinking about what marketing angle sparks my own interest in a beauty product. With everything that Paula has taught me about the beauty industry and as a bona-fide member of The Cosmetics Cop Team, that’s not an easy question to answer. While I can’t say that I shop Dove exclusively, their Campaign for Real Beauty ads have definitely resonated with me. And Dove’s short films like this one that critiques the power that advertising has on women from an early age is compelling. I’m well aware that there’s an inherent hypocrisy to Dove’s marketing angle (particularly the image retouching), but the campaign’s aim seemed true enough to make a lasting impression on me.
What do you think? Are beauty products still aimed at helping a woman find a man or is it about female empowerment? And, for better or worse, which products’ ad campaigns speak to you?
