The Beauty Myth

            This advertisement for Covergirl is a perfect representation of The Beauty Myth as described by Naomi Wolf in The Beauty Myth. According to Wolf what we as a society would consider beautiful is in fact just a cultural myth. In our society women strive to achieve an idealized beauty.  This advertisement for Covergirl featuring Taylor Swift is a good representation of the beauty myth because it covers all facets of the beauty myth. It is a make-up advertisement and it features Taylor Swift, who is young, skinny and beautiful.

            What is considered beautiful in our society today is not the same as what is considered beautiful in the past. Marilyn Monroe who was believed to be one of the most beautiful women in the world would be considered chubby in today’s society. This is evident by comparing Marilyn Monroe to one of the current supermodels Gisele Bundchen. It is evident that being skinny is valued much more in the modern representation of beauty than it was fifty years ago. Wolf stated in The Beauty Myth that “thirty-three thousand American women told researchers that they would rather lose ten to fifteen pounds than achieve any other goal. Knowing this it is obvious why a company attempting to sell a beauty product would choose a skinny woman like Taylor Swift to promote their product.

            Taylor Swift is also young which contributes to her beauty according to the beauty myth. Wolf states that “Youth and (until recently) virginity have been “beautiful” in women since they stand for experiential and sexual ignorance.” Youth and innocence are both a part of Taylor Swift’s public image. She even has released a single which is named Innocent. Wolf believes that “Aging in women is “unbeautiful” since women grow more powerful with time, and since the links between generations of women must always be newly broken: Older women fear younger ones, young women fear old, and the beauty myth truncates for all the female lifespan.” The reason that woman become more powerful as they grow older is the same reason anybody becomes more powerful as they age, they accumulate more money. If you need any more of an indication of how hard women try to fight aging next time you are at the super market take a look at how many anti-aging creams there are in the make-up aisle.

            The biggest reason that this advertisement represents the beauty myth is the fact that it is attempting to sell women beauty products. This advertisement is made to make women believe that if they buy these Covergirl products that they will become more beautiful.  Wolf states that “beauty is a currency system like the gold standard. Like any economy it is determined by politics, and in the modern age in the West it is the last best belief system that keeps male dominance intact.” By saying this Wolf is implying that the beauty myth keeps women from overcoming male dominance because they remain in competition with one another in attempts to become more beautiful.

            Beauty products like the ones featured in this advertisement are hugely important to the success and stability of the United States economy. In The Beauty Myth Naomi Wolf gives figures of the amount of money spent on beauty that are quite astounding “…powerful industries – the $33-billion-a-year diet industry, the $20-billion cosmetics industry, the $300-million cosmetic surgery industry, and the $7-billion dollar pornography industry-have arisen from the capital made out of unconscious anxieties, and are in turn able, through their influence on mass culture, to use, stimulate, and reinforce the hallucination in a rising economic spiral.” The beauty industry and in turn the beauty myth are clearly a part of the back bone of the American economy. If the beauty product industry were to be removed from the economy it would completely collapse. The beauty myth is an important part not only of American culture but of the economy as well.

            The Taylor Swift Covergirl advertisement not only represents the beauty myth but is part of something much larger. This single advertisement is a part of the American identity. It is a part of a billion dollar industry based on improving the way women look and making them feel more beautiful. This Covergirl advertisement is the beauty myth.

Tom Brady Stetson Cologne

            New England Patriots quarter back Tom Brady was recently featured in an advertisement campaign to support Stetson Cologne. In this blog I will be analyzing one of these advertisements. Many facets of this advertisement fit into the stereotypes of gender outlined by Aaron Devor in Gender Role Behaviors and Attitudes.

            In the Stetson advertisement I selected Tom Brady is sitting behind the wheel of a vintage convertible with red interior gazing stoically at the camera with a woman’s arms draped around him. In the background there are trees and what appears to be a country road although it is hard to tell as the camera is focused in the car on Brady. In the advertisement all that is seen of her are her arms and her smile. Brady is wearing a black shirt with the sleeve rolled up and holding on to the steering wheel of the car. Brady has a slight beard as if he hasn’t shaved in a day or two which gives him a more masculine rugged look. In the lower left hand corner the only words in the ad read Stetson Cologne Starring Tom Brady with the Stetson logo Incorporated into it.

            This advertisement makes good use of the stereotypes outlined by Aaron Devor to emphasize the masculinity of Tom Brady. As soon as you look at the advertisement you are immediately drawn to the Stoic Facial expression of Tom Brady. Brady is not smiling in the advertisement according to Devor smiling gives the appearance of femininity. The stubble on Tom Brady’s face adds to the aura of masculinity in this advertisement. Brady’s posture is also very masculine. He is leaning back in the driver’s seat of the car with his arm stretched out over the steering wheel. Brady’s knee is also propped up. Brady is taking up as much space possible which according to Devor makes one appear more masculine. Brady’s upper body is emphasized in this advertisement as the only part of Brady’s lower body that is visible is a small portion of his leg. It appears in this advertisement that Tom Brady is certainly not lacking confidence. He is behind the wheel of a car has a woman draped around him. His facial expression exudes confidence. The dominant figure in this advertisement is definitely Tom Brady. The woman in this advertisement is unrecognizable because all you see of her is her lips and her arms. The fact that Tom Brady is Professional Football player adds to the masculinity of this advertisement. The use of color in the advertisement has a clear effect on the manliness of this advertisement. The advertisement does not feature colors that would be regarded as feminine colors. Brady is wearing a black shirt and driving a car with dark red interior. It is not a coincidence that they chose these colors for the advertisement. For example the advertisement would have a much more feminine feel if Brady was wearing a pink shirt driving a car with a pink interior.

The woman in this advertisement also conforms to the stereotypes and role of gender highlighted by Aaron Devor. The woman in this advertisement appears to be very feminine. The viewer has no idea what the woman is wearing because all you can see of her is her bare arms and a small portion of her face.  From the small portion of her face that we are able to see it is clear that she is smiling. The fact that she is smiling is feminine and a sign of appeasement. The woman appears to be nurturing to Tom Brady although not in a maternal way. She appears to just be there for whatever need or service Brady might want from her. Her arm is draped over and down Brady’s torso and is cut out by the bottom of the advertisement leaving the viewer to wonder where her hand is. I found it interesting that she is in the back seat of the car behind Brady with her arm draped over him opposed to sitting next to him. This positioning makes her appear to be subordinate to him as opposed to being his equal. I also believe that so little of her shown to intentionally make her appear interchangeable. She could easily be switched with another model and it would be difficult for anybody to tell the difference.

            It is clear that this advertisement is targeting men as there audience. Through use of stereotypes about gender this advertisement has a very masculine feel to it. The people at Stetson clearly want to have product associated with masculinity. I feel that Tom Brady was a good choice to represent their product in order to achieve this goal.