Beauty Standards: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Makeup Advertisements by Maybelline and CoverGirl

Beauty Standards

A Critical Discourse Analysis of Makeup Advertisements by

Maybelline and CoverGirl

Cathrine Flymén

BA Thesis 15 credits Spring 2020

Supervisor: Soraya Tharani

Table of content

2.1.2 The organisations and the brands ... 5

2.2. Theoretical background ... 6

2.2.1 Gender Discourse ... 6

2.2.2 Advertising Discourse ... 8

2.2.3 Critical Discourse Analysis... 11

2.3. Previous Works ... 13

3. Design of Study ... 14

4. Results and discussion ... 15

4.1 Goals of beauty ... 18 5. Concluding Remarks ... 24 Reference ... 26 Appendix ... 29 CoverGirl ... 29 Maybelline ... 44

Abstract

It could be argued that makeup are products that are almost exclusively targeting women, and the advertising of makeup could create an image of how women should look. This study investigates how two cosmetic brands, Maybelline and CoverGirl, are advertising makeup in social media and what this conveys about gender and beauty. The study is approached from Fairclough’s (1995) three-dimensional model while considering strategies of advertising and gender discourse. Through a textual analysis, it was found that although the brands want to transmit an emotion of confidence to women, the advertisements still display and communicate gender in stereotypical ways.

1. Introduction

It could be argued that discourse analysis has mainly focused on language in forms of spoken and written text. But, according to Cook (2001) discourse analysis must consider visual and audio text when these two elements are combined with written or spoken text. The relation between text, visual and audio text is present in advertising since advertisement can take various forms. Cook (2001) claims that advertising is known for its pervasive language to get consumers to buy products. Many advertisements target a certain audience, e.g. male or female consumers. One genre of advertisement which is strongly associated with one specific gender, is the cosmetic advertisement which almost exclusively focuses on women (Goddard and Meân Patterson, 2000). These adverts of cosmetics can reveal quite a lot about gender discourse, but it can also reveal what is considered to be beautiful (Goffman, 1979). Makeup can be

considered essential in making a woman feel confident, beautiful, and happy, while not wearing makeup will create a sense of self-consciousness, or make them feel uncomfortable or

embarrassed over their physical appearance according to McCabe et al (2017). Most makeup brands exist in umbrella organisations which implies that many of the brands have the same organisational commitments. Two of the largest cosmetic manufacturers are Coty, Inc., and L’Oréal (Willet and Gould, 2017). The brands which will be included in this research are Maybelline from the umbrella organisation L’Oréal together with the brand CoverGirl from Coty, Inc. Only advertisements which were either portraying the product or images of women were included in the analysis. Further, the study did a qualitative analysis of how the word goal was used to encode a standard of beauty.

1.1 Aim

The aim of this study is to investigate how beauty ideals are represented in makeup

advertisements from Maybelline and CoverGirl which belongs to L’Oréal respectively Coty, Inc, two of the largest organisations in the industry. Further, this study will specifically look at how gender discourse is used to target a female audience. The research is conducted with the following research questions in mind:

1. What linguistic tools are used in advertising strategies of makeup and how are they used?

2. What differences and similarities are there in the gender advertising discourse between the brands Maybelline and CoverGirl?

2. Background

The first section of the background will provide an overview of how advertisements are present on social media, and a brief introduction to the two organisations and the two brands. This will be followed by the theoretical framework of the paper, and lastly, previous work will be presented.

2.1 Situational Background 2.1.1 Social Media

Advertisement is no longer only in print, television, and radio, but has started to appear in social media as well. Simpson and Mayr explain that advertising “promotes goods and services through various media” (2019:34) and one of these media is advertisement on social platforms. The reasons why advertising through social media has become so popular is because

advertisers can reach a larger audience at any time through more channels than ever before. As the internet developed and expanded in the 90s, a new forum, where companies can

communicate with consumers through advertisements, was created (Gordon and Turner, 1997). Subsequently the rise of internet-based advertising has grown by the year. Harker (2008) explains that any form of commercial content through any form of channel, which intends to inform consumers about a product or service is advertising, which includes online sources, e.g. YouTube, Facebook, or Myspace. Statistics show that the vast majority of Instagram users are between the ages 20-29, as the age group represents a third of all users on the platform (NCES, n.d). Social media creates channels of communication which is accessible to masses of people, and this is the appeal for businesses to create brand awareness and customer loyalty, both for profit or non-profit organisations (Noor Al-Deen, and Hendricks, 2013). According to Forbes, 5% of all advertising was online in 2005 and ten years later, in 2015, this figure has risen to 31% (Fuchs, 2018). In 2019, 77% of the population in the United States holds a social media account according to Statista, which is approximately 247 million people (NCES, n.d.). This has been picked up by cosmetic brands which now have their own accounts on various platforms, e.g. Facebook or Instagram.

2.1.2 The organisations and brands

Founded in 1904, Coty, Inc presents themselves as the organisation that “want to positively disrupt the beauty industry” (Our Story, n.d: para, 1). Their main belief is that beauty is at its

best when it is authentic and displays the diversity of beauty. Coty also express that the point of cosmetics is to “make you feel happy, never sad. Beauty should be fun, joyful and give you confidence” (Our Purposes, n.d: para. 3). CoverGirl was founded in 1961 and promotes themselves as a category leader of cruelty free and vegan beauty through their Leaping Bunny certificate. Like Coty, CoverGirl notions that the brand “celebrates authenticity, diversity and self-expression” (About us, n.d: para 1).

The Loréal Group was founded in 1909 (History, n.d.) and they express that the aim of the organisation is to reach a larger audience as their vision is ‘universalising beauty’.

However, not by setting one standard of beauty but to inspire innovation by diversity. The Loréal Group claims that the business of cosmetics allows “all individuals to express their personalities, gain self-confidence and open up to others” (Our Mission, n.d: para. 1).

Maybelline was founded 1913 and promotes the brand as taking “trends from the catwalk to the side walk, empowering women to make a statement, explore new looks and flaunt their

creativity and individuality” (About Maybelline, n.d: para. 1). Further, Maybelline claims that the inspiration for the cosmetics brand is confident and accomplished women.

2.2 Theoretical Background

In the first section, gender discourse will be discussed from Butler’s (1999) view that gender is socially constructed. This will be supplemented with Goffman’s (1979) work of how women are displayed in advertisements. The next section will deal with advertising discourse from three main theorists; Cook’s The Discourse of Advertising (2001), Delin’s The language of

everyday life: an introduction (2000) and Brierley’s The advertising handbook (2008). This

will be followed by Fairclough’s (1995) approach to critical discourse analysis. The last section will present previous works that have investigated how women are affected by makeup and the portrayal of women in advertisements.

2.2.1 Gender Discourse

Gender can be defined to be different traits that have been assigned to being a man or being a woman. What these traits are can vary depending on which social class, culture, or society the individual belongs to (Simpson & Mayr, 2019). Through the studies of language, it is clear that gender is socially constructed in relation to language which shapes and constructs gender (Butler, 1999). Butler (1999) argues that gender is something that is performed by men and women. Additionally, Weatherall (2002) notes that it is not biology which limits men and

women but the social learning of being a man or woman. Simpson and Mayr explain that gender bias in language is evident through “sex specification, gratuitous modifiers, lexical gaps, under-lexicalization, semantic derogation, asymmetrically gendered language items and connotations of language items” (2019:16). Advertisements directed to men and women start at an early age, e.g. in how boys are actively playing with toys or are outdoors while girls are more likely to be passive and pose next to toys, This continues in advertisements depicting men and women in binaries including active/passive, mind/body and public/private (Kosut, edt, 2012)

Lakoff’s Language and Woman's Place is considered to be one of the most influential works on gender discourse. In the study, women’s language is claimed to be characterised by lexical disparity, empty adjectives, hedges, intensifiers, and overly polite forms (Simpson & Mayr, 2019). Weatherall (2002) includes imperative forms of speech acts as a characteristic of women or men’s language. This is because imperative forms are used more by men than by women and is a part of linguistic resources to construct oneself as powerful, or in this case masculine (2002). However, Weatherall also argues that “the notion of gender-specific speech styles is a cultural resource producing and negotiating gender in interactions, rather than a description of how women and men actually speak” (2002:87).

In the 90s, Herriman (1998, cited in Goddard & Meân Patterson, 2000) conducted a study about gender and advertisement. He found that words for physical attractiveness such as pretty, sexy, or glamorous collocated with women, where man collocated with descriptive words such as height, abilities, and personality.

As mentioned earlier, Goddard and Meân Patterson (2000) claim that cosmetics is a category which targets women specifically. This is visible through the language used together with cosmetics which suggests a very traditional femininity e.g. “ideas of delicacy and subtly (‘hint of tint’), virginity and innocence (‘peach blush’)” (2000:38). Additionally, it can be seen when the intended audience is women or men not only through the language used to sell products, but in the name of the products. Both language and the product name can reinforce the femininity or masculinity of a product (Goddard & Meân Patterson, 2000).

Further, it was found by Goffman that women in visual advertisement were often seen to use what he called ‘the feminine touch’ to lightly touch or ritually caress objects or

themselves (1979). The self-touch can be perceived as showing the body as delicate or

precious. This is a part of Goffman's theory of "feminine" stance which is described as "general difference in hair styling, facial decoration, and cloth patterns that distinguishes male subjects from female subjects in American advertisements"(1979:26).

Men tend to be bigger than women, which shows the hegemonic relation between men and women. It was also found that women are pictured on floors or beds and are posing with 'the bashful knee bend' or with canting postures of body or head more than men are. These are features, especially the canting, that have been used to reinforce the women as accepting subordination, and submissiveness (Goffman, 1979). It is also argued by Goffman that women smile more than men in advertising as the smile can be a sign of inferiority (1979).

Colour coding is also connected with gender, which can be seen in e.g. advertisement. Goddard and Meân Patterson lists pink or other ‘feminine’ colours such as primrose yellow or mauve to appear in advertisements directed to women, while advertisements to men are usually using darker or stronger colours, e.g. dark blue or dark green (2000).

The aspect of gender is important to this study since critical discourse analysis is interested in power and dominance in social structure (Simpson & Mayr, 2019). One type of text where ‘unequal encounters’ could happen is in advertising. Thus, gender discourse must be used to investigate how the advertisers portray women.

2.1.2 Advertising Discourse

Advertisement is known to be “one of the most pervasive forms of discourse” (Delin,

2000:125). It can take many more forms than a traditional text, for example posters, magazine ads, television, radio ads, etc. And while the primary goal of the ‘ad’ is to sell, there are other agendas of advertising which might have more complex or long-term aims. These aims might be to improve the image of a corporation, convince consumers that the product/service has reliability or even improve the general profitability of a specific market sector (Delin, 2000).

Cook explains that discourse analysis is the analysis of “context of communication:

who is communicating with who and why; in what kind of society and situation; through what medium; how different types and acts of communication evolved; and their relationship with each other” (2001:3). Since advertisement is dependent on visual text to sell products, it is important to include the relationship of text and visual to investigate the discourse of

advertising. It is apparent that this relationship has grown more important since the increase of television and radio in the 1960s, as moving image, music and vocal quality helps to create an atmosphere for the advertisement (Delin, 2000). For example, music can be a tool to evoke a certain mood or can make the audience associate it with certain events or images (Cook, 2001). Therefore, a song can make the audience start seeing the images of the advertisement when they hear the piece of music.

Advertising exists in different categories in how they are sold, product vs non-product ads, and in categorization by technique such as hard-sell vs soft-sell ads and reason and tickle ads. The product versus non-product ads is easy to understand; is it a product or goods being sold or is it something more abstract being promoted e.g. charities or political parties. In hard-sell ads the advert is making direct appeal to the consumer while soft hard-sell is relying on the mood and implies that the consumer’s life will become better with the product in it. The reason ads are giving motives for the consumer to buy the product, in contrast to the tickle ad which appeals to the consumer through emotion, mood and humour. Reason and tickle ads are often mistaken for the hard-sell, soft-sell technique, however they are different. The distinction is that soft sell is not giving a direct appeal in their reason for purchase (Cook, 2001).

Appealing to and maintaining the focus of the intended audience are the main goals for the producers/advertisers. Delin (2000) explains that advertisers are trying to find ways to fit their product to the consumers which requires a great understanding of who these consumers are. The producers’ approach this in different ways, for instance by the demographic

description or psychographic information. The first involves an insight of the target audience’s age, sex, region or the social grouping which the intended audience belongs to, while the latter focuses on personalities which can be segregated into different characteristic traits e.g. risk-taking or security-seeking (2000). Social media is an easy way for the advertisers to reach consumers because they leave information about themselves in their social media accounts e.g. gender, education, and political or religious affiliations (Noor Al-Deen & Hendricks, 2013).

In Fairclough’s model of advertisement (1989) there are three main perspectives which are considered as a framework to advertising discourse: building image, building relations, and building consumers. The first perspective addresses how the product makes positive claims which might not be interpreted in ways logic would suggest where positive, memorable, and familiar vocabulary is used. Secondly, building relations is explained as the relationship between the advertiser and the consumer through different choices such as regional or social accents and through addressing consumers with imperative and interrogative forms. Building consumers means to “construct ‘position’ for consumers” (Delin, 2000:131) which leads to the belief that the consumer needs the product, through tools such as presupposing (2000).

The vocabulary is important to advertising and will usually consist of the three general characteristics, as mentioned above, familiar, positive, and memorable. The familiar vocabulary has been termed as core vocabulary, which means that there are certain words that are neutral and can appear in different contexts according to Delin (2000). These core words are verbs and adjectives, e.g. make, get, look, give, new, fresh, big, great, easy, bright etc. (2000). The use of

adjectives can build up a brand as it generates mood and emotion which helps to add value to products and brands (Brierley, 2008). The choice of words with positive meaning means that one word has been selected over another, this is called ‘candidate synonyms’. But Delin (2000) also argues that there is no word that is a direct synonym of the other, changing one word for another would change the meaning. Another aspect which can draw attention to words is the use of different colours, unusual spellings or even different fonts or font sizes (2000). Brierley (2008) develops the notion of unusual spelling, or what is mentioned also as ‘language games’, which he claims to be less persuasive than verbs, adjectives and adverbs. Language games can be to change a verb or nouns to an adjective, or invented words or phrases which includes compound words.

Delin (2000) argues that language in advertising must be as ordinary as possible, to give the impression of being a conversation between equals, since the advertiser is in a more

powerful position. The most basic way to do this is for the advertiser to use direct address (2000). Simpson and Mayr (2019) explain the importance of the direct address, which is the use of the second-personal and possessive pronouns, since individuality is of high value, especially in Western societies. This conversational approach is upheld using invitations, suggestions, or rhetorical questions, and even through imperatives or interrogatives. The interrogatives and imperatives will ask or tell the consumer to do something. Disjunctive syntax breaks a sentence up into smaller segments which tends to mimic a conversational style. There are several

reasons for using disjunctive syntax: it does not consist of statements, it can be informational since it is a small separate information in focus, and it can create a tension by connecting short segments together (Delin, 2000).

Endorsers can be seen as an important tool to convey a specific message from a

company and in return help them sell their product. Friedman et al. (1979) proposes three kinds of endorsers: the celebrity, the expertise, and the consumer endorser. Expert endorsers are people or organisations whom the audience believes has a specialized knowledge in a particular area. The celebrity endorsers are people who are known by many people (Tellis, 2004). They have reached their ‘celebrity status through television, radio, film or magazines where their lives are displayed. But Weismueller et al (2020) suggest that the celebrity endorsers come in two categories; the first is the traditional celebrity who has achieved their status from the alternatives seen above, and the non-traditional celebrities who have gained fame through social media, i.e. influencers. According to Tellis (2004) the use of endorsers is approached from different theories; source credibility, source attractiveness, and meaning transfer. Source

‘expertness’ and trustworthiness. Source attractiveness depends on three attributes: the

familiarity of the source to the audience, the likeability of the source’s physical appearance and behaviour and the resemblance of the source and the audience. Meaning transfer is the idea that celebrities convey a code of meaning which can then be transferred to the product through three ways; encode meaning, meaning transfer and capture. This will result in the consumer buying the product, if the stages have been done thoroughly (Tellis, 2004).The first step is how the celebrities image (e.g. who they are, what work they have done, stories about them, age, gender etc.) will encode meaning to the audience. The celebrity can then transfer those qualities onto the product they endorse. Lastly, meaning capture is the consumer’s desire to possess some of the qualities that has been transferred from the celebrity endorser to the product (2004).

Kotler and Armstrong (2006) suggest that advertising can be strategically sold using the AIDA model. The idea of the model is that the message of the advert should get Attention, create Interest, arouse Desire and obtain an Action which usually means that the consumer will buy the product or goods advertised (2006). However, Brierley (2008) points out that the model has been criticised since it is thought that people will act in this linear way when they are exposed to advertising, especially with the Desire and Action parts of the model. Therefore, most of the advertising strategies are only focusing on raising awareness and stimulating interest. The first strategy of raising awareness can be done by involving the consumer into the advert, or to shock them to take notice. It can also be done from the “new improved” approach for established brands to make the consumers of their product to maintain loyal or feel that the brand is improving their product all the time. The interest can be sustained by using elements of suspense, nostalgia, or fantasy, but also by using a storytelling approach in the advertisements (Brierley, 2008).

The different elements of advertising discourse are applied to advertisements in order to sell or improve the image of the company/organisation. Some aspects of the advertising

discourse are therefore focusing on language e.g. vocabulary, direct address, etc., while others focus on the surroundings of the advert, e.g. font/font size, music, endorsers, etc. According to Fairclough (1995) text is not only spoken or written. Therefore, both linguistic as well as visual elements must be considered in the analysis.

2.2.3 Critical Discourse Analysis

Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) is a theory that aims to investigate how “language is involved in social relations of power and domination” (Fairclough, 2001: 229, cited in Sunderland, 2006:50) and “the way individuals and institutions use language” (Richardson,

2007:1). Sunderland claims that the “study of discourses is greatly enriched by the detailed and systematic study of actual language use, including the use, distribution and frequency of certain linguistic items” (Sunderland, 2006:39). CDA is typically used to critically analyse the

discourse found in news texts, advertisements or other texts that display ‘unequal encounters’ (Simpson & Mayr, 2019). Fairclough developed a model to investigate discourse which is often mentioned as the three-dimensional model (1995). The analysis is done through a framework of three dimensions; text, discourse practice and sociocultural practice (1995).

Fairclough (1995) notes that text has traditionally been understood as a written piece of language but is today referring to different forms of text depending on the discourse of the subject. It might be written or spoken text, but within a cultural discourse it could be buildings, pictures, or a piece of music. The view of text in this perspective is somewhat problematic, as Fairclough explains that “it can obscure important distinctions between different types of cultural artefact, and make the concept of a text rather nebulous by extending too far” (1995:4). The micro-level focuses on the linguistic features such as adverbs and adjectives, verbs, logical connectors, pronouns, metaphors, euphemisms, and dysphemism (Strauss and Feiz, 2014). Fairclough (1995) further explains that text can provide an insight of discourse of what is present in the text as well as through what is absent from the text. Strauss and Feiz (2014) argue that the micro level must also consider the relevant surrounding semiotic resources, which could be the font size and style of the text, photographs or the distribution of text and graphics etc (2014). This is what is suggested to build image in advertising discourse (Delin, 2000)

The discourse practice introduces discursive events, which is explained to be “how text producers and interpreters draw upon the socially available resources that constitute the order of discourse” (Fairclough, 1995:10). Fairclough introduces Foucault’s (1981) form of discourse where the order of discourse refers “to the ordered set of discursive practices associated with a particular social domain or institution and boundaries and relationships between them”

(Fairclough, 1995:12). Locke explains this to be how the text is received, read, interpreted, and used by the readers (2004). From the advertising discourse, this is how building relation is constructed (Delin, 2000).

The sociocultural practice is the situation in which the text has been produced in (Locke, 2004). It is societal conventions which influence how genres of discourse can be understood, interpreted, and created (Strauss & Feiz, 2014). This is what Fairclough considers to be the critical element of theory because it takes a “pejorative view of ideology as a means

2.3 Previous Work

Through the years there have been many studies of how women and beauty relate to makeup. According to Kaur et al (2013) it is known through history that women have applied various materials on themselves to become beautiful. Early on women applied materials such as flowers, herbs, clay, etc. in order to beautify themselves. In contemporary time, cosmetic products have been developed such as mascara, eyeshadows, and foundation etc., which are used to enchant the physical appearance of women, e.g. by smoothening the skin. Kaur et al (2013) claim that the appearance of women is so important that it has been seen to influence women’s careers or even their personal lives. This could be because of biological reasons since e.g. skin quality could indicate the health of a person, if they suffer from infections or illness, as well as their age (Buss, 2005). But it is argued by some that beauty products and other things that are addressed to women are a source of pleasure for them as well and is not influential in their successfulness (Gauntlett, 2008).

In McCabe et al’s (2017) study it was found that women will tend to feel

uncomfortable, self-conscious and embarrassed about their physical appearance when not wearing makeup, and when the participants in the study wore makeup it could make them feel confident, beautiful or happy. On the other hand, it was also noted that women notice how influential cosmetic advertising is in their lives as it has told them all their lives that they need makeup to look beautiful and that it is the act of wearing makeup that naturalizes the feminine body. McCabe et al concludes that “female consumers accept the cosmetic advertising

discourse even though it assumes a gender bias toward female inferiority and objectification of women’s bodies” (2017: 19).

Furthermore it has been observed that makeup advertising is sold to consumers through their problem-solving approach, while including vocabulary that constitutes what beauty is, for example being ‘wrinkle free’, having ‘plumped lips’ or eyelashes that are ‘long or thick’. The adverts that were used in Kaur et al’s (2013) study showed that most of them included direct address or pronouns to attract the audience, intertextuality and even a technical vocabulary as well as the vocabulary of beauty.

Kates and Shaw-Garlock (1999) agrees to the criticism that women in advertisements are represented in a problematic and unacceptable way. But they note that “stereotypic character traits attributed to women have shifted from weak and dependent to strong and autonomous” (1999: 34). This can be seen in what they call ‘the lone woman’, which means

that the depictions of women leaning on men or other women which might imply the need of support to legitimate a woman’s identity are not present. A woman standing on her own can therefore represent strength and independence (1999). In their study of how women react to advertisements, they also find that women connect more easily with advertisements that represent the ‘natural look’. By this they mean a reformulation of the beauty ideal, the represented woman is appreciated by the subjects in the study as real, authentic, warm, and healthy. The ‘overly made up’ images which represented the stereotypic character traits of women are considered to be “plastic and phony” (Kates, & Shaw-Garlock, 1999: 42).

Kaur et al’s (2013) study is useful to this study as they use Fairclough’s three-dimensional model, and the focus is on language within cosmetic advertising. While neither McCabe et al or Kates and Shaw-Garlock focus on linguistics, their works are still relevant to this study as they give a social context to how women react to the beauty standards that makeup companies put in place.

3. Design of Study

The study focuses on two makeup brands which are classified as drugstore makeup. This means that the products are usually around the same price and sold at supermarkets or drugstores, thus reaching a wider and similar audience. The selected brands were chosen since they both are ranked on Glamour Magazines as having some of the best drugstore makeup products of 2020 (Glamour Beauty Editors).

The data used in this study was collected from CoverGirl and Maybelline’s social media accounts on Instagram and is restricted to data posted in January 2020. The advertisements in the study are referred to as posts because it is the term used for an image or text published on

social media (Cambridge Dictionary). These posts have a standard layout on Instagram: the

image is at the top, followed by a caption and beneath the caption there is a comment section located. From CoverGirl 64 posts were collected and from Maybelline 120 posts.

January was specifically chosen because of the month not having holidays or special

occasions which could influence the advertisements that the brands would post. However, the first of January had to be taken into consideration as it is New Year’s Day. This is because the advertisements could be concerning the New Year rather than the products as such. Further, during January the Chinese New Year is celebrated and this was featured by Maybelline but not by CoverGirl. Therefore, the posts concerning the Chinese New Year were not included in the analysis while the posts from New Year’s Day were still considered. It was also observed that

some of the posts had nothing to do with the brand but were used as a comedic aspect of makeup in general in so called memes. These were not included in the study either because of the aim being to investigate the strategic linguistic features to sell makeup. Therefore only 61 posts from CoverGirl were used and from Maybelline 100 posts were used as the other posts fell under the categories that would not be used. Only advertising which was either portraying the product or images of women were included in the analysis. Further, the study did a

qualitative analysis of how the word goal was used to encode a standard of beauty.

The study will use Fairclough’s three-dimensional model of textual, discursive, and sociocultural analysis as mentioned in Critical Discourse analysis: the critical study of

language. The works of Cook (2001) and Delin (2000) explain advertising discourse, and their

approaches will be used to investigate the strategies used by these two brands. Additionally, the study will look at how these specific choices are displaying femininity. The study will also use the AIDA model of Attention, Interest, Desire and Action. However, the use of the AIDA model will be limited because of Brierly’s (2008) criticism that consumers do not think in such a linear way. The Merriam-Webster dictionary will be used to take a closer look on words used in the adverts. Merriam-Webster dictionary lacked abbreviations and language which is used in social media and therefore Cambridge Dictionary was also used, even though the advertisers are located in the U.S. Cosmetics can refer to many different products that will take care or change the physical appearance of a person such as skin care, fragrance, hair products etc. This study will use cosmetics to only refer to it as makeup, and the words will be used

interchangeably throughout the paper.

4. Results and discussion

The layout of the advertisements is through the standard Instagram format where the image comes first, the text is below the photo, and beneath the text the consumers can make comments and ‘chat’ with the advertiser. Thus, the advertisers can communicate with the consumer directly. Therefore, the advertisement in social media builds a relationship by not only mimicking a conversation but also by allowing a conversation between the advertiser and consumer in the comment section.

The brands try to mimic a realistic conversation through the use of disjunctive syntax, interrogation, and imperatives to build a personal relationship with the customers (Delin, 2000), example:

CoverGirl:

(JCG.23) Talk about a glow up. (JCG.65) Glow daze.

(JCG.50) Tell us your favourite shade below! (JCG.25) Faded eyeliner? Can’t relate. Maybelline:

(JM.6) Three words: No. Liner. Needed. (JM.27) hydration is KEY!

(JM.96) Comment below what shade you’re wearing this weekend! (JM.107) Do you struggle with getting flawless wings? We got you!

While interrogatives were less frequent throughout the posts from both brands, imperatives and disjunctive syntax were used in almost all posts. This is to set up a conversation that seems to take place between equals (Delin, 2000). It is also done by the use of direct address towards the viewer, as it is building a relationship between the consumer and advertiser (Simpson and Mayr, 2019). On the other hand, imperatives are seen as a more dominant approach in a conversation and are associated more with men (Weatherall, 2002) which implies that the advertisers are trying to use their power to get the consumer to make an action. Simpson and Mayr (2019) discusses Lakoff’s investigation of women’s language where empty adjectives and intensifiers are seen as characteristics of women’s language. The use of empty adjectives and intensifiers are present in the advertisement, example:

CoverGirl

(JCG.8) wintry dry skin… fresh, dewy glow. (JCG.15) glowing, dewy finish

(JCG.69) a fresh AF base for a glam look

Maybelline

(JM.5) love, love, loving our #colorsensational formula (JM.17) the prettiest shimmering gloss

(JM.32) an hourglass double curved lifting brush (JM.110) crisp, vibrant pigments

However, there is no evidence of who is communicating the advertisement more than the brand. Therefore, it is impossible to know the gender of the advertiser, even though the

attributes of women’s language are evident. On the other hand, Weatherall argues that specific characteristics attributed to a gender is a way of reinforcing and negotiating gender and is not a “description of how women and men actually speak” (2002:87). Thus, the empty adjectives and intensifiers do not imply that it is a woman who is the communicator, but rather that the

advertisers are negotiating gender through the language in the advertisements.

Maybelline and CoverGirl target women. One of the tools they utilize is the frequent use of colours which are considered to be feminine such as pink (Goddard, Mean Patterson, 2002). However, a lot of the posts used darker colour schemes, especially Maybelline used a lot of black which goes against the stereotypical colours and conveys a bolder side.

The advertisements are product ads; it is an advertisement which sells a product or goods (Cook, 2001). Further, it can be argued that theses advertisements are selling their products through setting a mood or emotion known as tickle ads (2001). The reason is that they try to convey confidence as a feeling and sell the product from that feeling.

Both brands target women, which can be seen partly because of how the brands

negotiate gender in the text and through color scheme. Additionally, it can be assumed that the brands target a specific age group. The age group 20-29 could be assumed to be the one they would focus on since the vast majority of Instagram users belong to that group (NCES, n.d.). Delin (2000) argues that understanding who the consumers are is one of the most important things to the advertisers, and through social media the demographic group of age or gender could be discovered as consumers leave information about themselves on the platforms (Noor Al-Deen & Hendricks, 2013).

Images in the posts show that canting postures (Goffman, 1979) are still present in the portrayal of women. While most of the ads do not display the women’s bodies, the women in the photos are frequently tilting their heads to one side or the other. This suggests that even advertising directed towards women will display women in poses that are insinuating a subordinate or submissive position. Thus, women learn from advertisements that this is not only how femininity is displayed but how it is achieved.

Furthermore, the study found that the brands uses a lot of positive, memorable, and familiar vocabulary in building their advertisements, example:

CoverGirl: clean, shine, perfect, goal, glow, fresh, dewy, shimmer. healthy, glam

The usage of words that convey a positive feeling are known as building an image (Delin, 2000) and they can set a mood or emotion to the consumer leading them to purchase the product. This indicates that the brands are using tickle-ads. (Cook 2001) It is also clear that these words would fall under the category of vocabulary of beauty (Kaur, Arumugan, & Mohamed Yunus, 2013). It is not surprising that the positive words have to do with beauty since the idea of cosmetics is to enhance the physical appearance of the consumer.

One of the words that was used frequently by both brands was perfect, which means that there are no faults or defects or that something is satisfying all requirements (Merriam-Webster, 2020). It is therefore a powerful word in beauty discourse because there is no higher purpose for companies to reflect on their products than creating a beauty which is ‘perfect’.

The study will now further discuss the specific word choice goal that is present in the posts from both brands. Goal is particularly an interesting word choice since it would not be expected to be found in advertisements for beauty. The word goal also conveys a certain aspect of winning since it is normally used in sports, but also used as the aspiration of what someone or something should achieve.

4.1 Goals of Beauty

In some of the posts the word goal was used as a way of grasping the attention of the consumer. In Merriam-Webster dictionary, goal is defined as goal 1: the end which effort is

directed which indicates a positive meaning to it (Merriam-Webster, 2020). This was a word

that was used by both brands.

Figure: JCG.16

which was uploaded by CoverGirl the word is used in the disjunctive syntax “#CleanFresh goals!” below a picture of a smiling model who looks right at the viewer. CleanFresh is the name of the collection which is sold by CoverGirl. It is conveyed that the smiling model has achieved the aim of being beautiful and happy by using the CleanFresh products. According to Goffman (1979), it can be expected that women smile in pictures as a sign of inferiority. The picture is only showing the face and neck of the woman, but according to Fairclough (1995) the viewer apprehends that the woman has a body even though the body is not visible in the image. What is seen of the woman is that she is not wearing any visible clothes, which might suggest that the woman is naked. In addition, she is tilting her head which can be a sign of how she is subordinate (Goffman, 1979). Furthermore, the model is displayed with a light pink

background, which is one of the colours that is stereotypically aimed at women (Goddard and Meân Patterson, 2000). But she is also in a passive position and there is more focus on her appearance than her mind which Kosut (2012) explains indicates a gendered discourse in the advertising. The text then continues with the imperative “Get the look using the Clean Fresh collection”. This implies that the brand is telling the audience that by buying the product (action) the consumer will become as confident as the woman in the picture. The text is

followed by “Now available at Walmart'' which is not actually creating the action. According to Brierley (2008) this is often the problem with the AIDA model, but by having the “get the look” sentence followed by the “now available”, it gives the viewer a place where these

and the name of the shades that were used in this image. The names of these products can be seen to follow the pattern which was found by Goddard and Meân Patterson (2000) with names such as “325 Black Vinyl”, “130 Fresh Squeezed” and “300 Soft Brown”. The post is rounded up with CoverGirl’s slogan “#EasyBreezyBeautiful” and further adds the “#CrueltyFree”. This shows the discourse practice of the brand CoverGirl, but it also shows their commitment to the Leaping Bunny certificate to highlight that the brand is cruelty free and vegan.

CoverGirl’s second post including the word goal starts off by using it to attract attention. Above the the text “Hello, glowy skin goals” there is an image of actress Lili Reinghart.

Figure: JCG.63

The phrase is disjunctive syntax which Delin suggests is a tool to create conversational style (2000), but there is also glowy which is making an adjective of the verb glow. Brierley explains that playing with language such as changing words, makes a brand’s advertising stand out and original (2008). The post is generating interest in the next sentence “#CoverGirl @lilireinhart looks fresh af with our new #CleanFresh collection”. This is due to the use of ‘af’, which of course is online rude language (Cambridge Dictionary, 2020) but is also often used as an emphasiser. Further, the post is generating interest through mentioning the actress Lili

Reinhart. Tellis (2004) explains that by using a celebrity endorser, desire is created according to the meaning transfer theory, and when done properly it could lead to the audience to buy the

product that is endorsed. Thus, Lili will symbolize an image of perfect skin, and viewers thus feel a desire to want to look like her. This desire might lead the consumer into buying the product, resulting in action according to the AIDA model (Kotler & Armstrong, 2006). In addition to naming Lili, the post is also naming the makeup artist Patrick Ta. The use of these two celebrities endorsing the CoverGirl Clean Fresh collection creates further desire. The advertising has no clear strategic action, there is no direction for where the viewer should go to purchase the product, which shows that the AIDA model has not been used to create the advert. In similarity with the previous post (see figure JCG.16), the final lines of the post include the “#EasyBreezyBeautiful” and “#CrueltyFree”. This indicates that the organisation Coty is promoting authenticity and humanity through their Leaping Bunny certificate.

In similarity to CoverGirl, the frequency of the use of goal in Maybelline’s

advertisements is very low with three posts including the word, only one more than CoverGirl.

Figure: JM.69

The first of Maybelline’s posts starts with big capital letters “LASH GOALS”. Above is a woman who slightly tilts her head towards the camera and looks at it directly, with thick, long, and dark lashes. Therefore, this post also displays the stereotypical cant pose of women which is seen as submissive and subordinate (Goffman, 1979). Capital letters help to raise awareness as stylistic elements such as e.g. font or font size can create attention (Delin, 2000). Putting

lash and goal together beneath this picture creates a desire to want to have eyelashes which are

as voluminous as the models. The advert continues “our new #falsieslashlift mascara delivers dramatic volume and long lifted lashes”, where the sustaining of interest is held by presenting

the ‘new’ mascara which is then collocated with the words ‘dramatic volume’ and ‘long lifted’ that explains what the product will do to enchant the viewer’s own lashes. This post also uses the imperative “tag a friend that needs to try”. The advertiser’s aim of this advertisement is therefore not to get the consumer to buy the product. Instead, they want the consumer to share and recommend the product with their friends, which would result in reaching out to more people.

The second post does not start with disjunctive syntax unlike the rest of the posts. “@onisbeauty does it again serving us #skingoals with our #superstayfoundation in shade ‘espresso’” from what Brierley says about us/our it can be understood that determining whether

us is referring to the advertisers or if it is inclusive to include both the brand and the viewer is

not possible.

Figure: JM.73

The model is looking down, almost closing her eyes, over her shoulder, and (in similarity to the first post from CoverGirl, see figure JCG.16) the viewer might wonder if the model is naked beneath what is seen. The background of the post is light pink, which traces back to Goddard and Meân Patterson (2000) notion of gendered colour in advertisements. This post is unlike the others specifying the makeup artist, the model, and the photographer, which indicates that this photograph might not be a professional shot by the brand themselves but from the mentioned accounts in the post. Thus, this is a part of the celebrity endorsers that has achieved fame from social media according to Weismueller et al (2020). But since the photos are not taken by a

advertisers and the viewer can communicate with one another. If a viewer reaches the goals of beauty they can be featured by a brand as having acquired the beauty ideal by using

Maybelline’s products. The conversational approach is therefore even more present in Social Media where the ‘producer’ and the ‘reader’ can communicate with each other.

Similar to the first post, the last of Maybelline’s goal-posts starts with “LASH GOALS” but this time the phrase is accompanied by a video instead of just a photograph.

Figure JM.106

The video shows the product against a black background and is then following the model applying mascara with close ups on her eye as the eyelashes gets longer and darker. The video then shows the model’s full face as she says “I’m obsessed”. It cuts to a black background showing the name of the brand: “MAYBELLINE NEW YORK”. A soft beat is playing in the background as the video plays. In this case it cannot be determined that the music will evoke emotions of the viewer as is discussed by Cook (2001) because it is not recognized as a song, and therefore it might not be there to make the advert memorable but it might arouse interest in the product. After “LASH GOALS!” the post uses an imperative “Head to our channel,

youtube.com/maybellinenewyork to see how @iluvsarahii got this #ValentinesDay glam using our new #nudesofnewyork palette and #falsieslashlift!”. The desire is created by listing the model’s instagram account as Weismueller et al (2020) explains that meaning capture can be achieved through using celebrity endorsers. In comparison to the previous post (see figure JM.XX), this one does not convey an image of communication between the brand and the consumer as the video ends with the brand name and further that a photographer is not mentioned. To get the action from the consumer, there is an imperative to head to the brand’s

account on YouTube to see how the model is getting glamorous with Maybelline’s products. If the consumer then buys the products, they can recreate it and also be glamorous.

CoverGirl is restricting the use of goal to skin, while Maybelline is using the term both to refer to skin and eyelashes. There are also similarities in the first post (see figure JCG.16) from CoverGirl and the second post from Maybelline (see figure JM.73) with a pink

background and a hint that the model might be naked outside of the frame.

The specific choice of goal instead of any of the words which Merriam-Webster suggest as synonyms e.g. aim, ambition, dream, object, purpose etc., implies that the images that are shown are what the audience should aspire to look like and the products which the brands have would help the viewer to achieve beauty. Thus, both brands are trying to show themselves as a reason to how women can feel confident by using positive, familiar, and memorable

vocabulary. However, neither of the companies are dealing with how they are setting a standard that makeup must be worn to be beautiful and how it makes many women feel insecure of their appearance when they are not wearing any makeup.

5. Concluding Remarks

The two brands, Maybelline and CoverGirl are showing more similarities than differences in their advertising strategies. The word choices in the texts establish that advertisements of makeup will use a vocabulary of beauty to make the consumers believe that beauty can be achieved through makeup. Both brands use linguistic tools of positive, familiar, and memorable vocabulary in order to market their products. Additionally, the brands build a relation with the consumers by mimicking a conversation between equals through disjunctive syntax and direct address. Further, the advertisers try to involve the audience through linguistic tools such as imperatives and interrogation. These finding are similar to the findings in Kaur et al’s study.

The biggest difference between the two brands was that CoverGirl always had their slogan in the advert as well as the “Cruelty free” tag, to reinforce their collaboration with the Leaping Bunny certificate. Maybelline did not include a slogan or show any signs of how their products are produced. Another difference was that Maybelline used a lot of darker background schemes to appear bolder and going against the stereotypical colors that are used in

advertisements directed towards women. However, both brands negotiated gender in a similar way by using intensifiers and empty adjectives.

Although the usage of makeup could be considered women’s own choice to use for pleasure (Gauntlett, 2008), it can still be argued to impact women negatively. In McCabe et al’s

study (2017), they argue that women who do not use makeup might feel uncomfortable or embarrassed. The brands use this to their advantage by reinforcing that beauty, or ‘perfection’, will be achieved by using their cosmetic products. However, by continuing to use stereotypical displays of women, such as canting, the advertisers are not breaking conventions of gender. Thus, women are still portrayed in a submissive or subordinate position even though the message that the advertisers want to encode is confidence, diversity, and authenticity.

Further research could investigate if there is any difference between how the two brands display ethnicity, as well as the inclusion or exclusion of men in makeup advertising. The first subject would be interesting to investigate to examine if the brands approach ethnicity from different angles. It could also be intriguing to see if the brands are including men in their advertisements as there is a conversation in today’s society about breaking the stereotypical norms surrounding gender. A further study could also examine the relation of synthetic and organic makeup, since the conversation surrounding sustainability is one of the most discussed topics in today’s society.

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Appendices

CoverGirl Appendix

(JCG.1) (JCG.2) (JCG.3)

(JCG.7) (JCG.8)

(JCG.9) (JCG.10)

(JCG.11)

(JCG.14) (JCG.15)

(JCG.16) (JCG.17)

(JCG.18) (JCG.19)

(JCG.20) (JCG.21)

(JCG.22) (JCG.23) (JCG.24)

(JCG.25) (JCG.26) (JCG.27)

(JCG.28) (JCG.28) (JCG.29)

(JCG.30) (JCG.31) (JCG.32)

(JCG.33) (JCG.34) (JCG.35)

(JCG.36) (JCG.37)

(JCG.38) (JCG.39) (JCG.40)

(JCG.44) (JCG.45) (JCG.46)

(JCG.47) (JCG.48) (JCG.49)

(JCG.50) (JCG.51)

(JCG.55) (JCG.56) (JCG.57)

(JCG.58) (JCG.59) (JCG.60)

(JCG.64) (JCG.65)

Maybelline Appendix

(JM.1) (JM.2) (JM.3)

(JM.4) (JM.5)

(JM.6) (JM.7)

(JM.11) (JM.12) (JM.14)

(JM.17) (JM.18)

(JM.19) (JM.20)

(JM.21) (JM.22)

(JM.23) (JM.24) (JM.25)

(JM.29) (JM.30)

(JM.31) (JM.32) (JM.33)

(JM.34) (JM.35) (JM.36)

(JM.37) (JM.38) (JM.39)

(JM.42) (JM.43) (JM.44)

(JM.45) (JM.46) (JM.47)

(JM.48) (JM.49)

(JM.50) (JM.51)

(JM.52) (JM.53) (JM.54)

(JM.55) (JM.56) (JM.57)

(JM.58) (JM.59) (JM.60)

(JM.64) (JM.65) (JM.66)

(JM.67) (JM.68) (JM.69)

(JM.73) (JM.74) (JM.75)

(JM.76) (JM.77) (JM.78)

(JM.82) (JM.83) (JM.84)

(JM.85) (JM.86) (JM.87)

(JM.89) (JM.90) (JM.91)

(JM.92) (JM.93) (JM.94)

(JM.98) (JM.99) (JM.100)

(JM.104) (JM.105) (JM.106)