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The beauty industry is a multi-billion dollar venture, with women and young girls all over the world identifying themselves as daily make up users. But has anybody stopped to ask what exactly they are putting on their skin? There have been many articles and a lot of research conducted on how harmful chemicals in make up can be, but who has ever stopped to question the names and effect of advertisement of said beauty products?
“Urban Decay” is a top-selling high end make up brand. Let’s consider the name for just a second. Decay…why would anybody want to put something on their skin that is associated with rotting or decomposition??
In addition to the name of the brand, there are some interesting names of the colors. Take a look at some of the names of the individual makeup items here: Perversion, Asphyxia, Ransom, Binge, Corrupt etc. Are these really the kinds of things we want to ingest, in one form another, on a daily basis? You apply them on your skin and not only are you taking in the words as you read them, whether consciously or not, but then in a sense they become a part of you.
If we consider how powerful subliminal messages are to the human mind. Then what exactly are we doing to ourselves? Or if you are a non-makeup wearing man or woman: please take a moment and think about what your mothers, daughters, friends or other family members are doing to themselves.
Illamasqua is another high end make up brand that has questionable names and advertising campaigns. The brand slogan is “Make up for your alter ego”
Earlier this year, they released the “Toxic Nature” collection. Some of the names of colors from this collection were: Torture, Delrium, Hollow, Bacterium, Radium, and Stagnate.
In 2009, Illamasqua released the “Dystopia” collection.
dys·to·pi·a (noun) a society characterized by human misery, as squalor, oppression,disease, and overcrowding
The absurdity of the aforementioned advertising campaigns could only be followed by an even more ridiculous campaign. Since 1994, MAC has sold the VIVA Glam line of lipsticks to benefit their AIDS fund. Every year, they choose the new “Faces” of VIVA Glam, which include current and classic celebrities. For example, last year Lady GaGa was paired up with Cyndi Lauper. This year, the new faces were announced as Nicki Minaj and…..Ricky Martin?
Yes, it only seems strange that they would pick a man to be the face of a lipstick, until you consider that two previous men were faces of VIVA Glam….who happened to be “men” by the name of Elton John and Boy George.
Additionally, the original face of VIVA Glam was RuPaul, who is a celebrity drag queen.
MAC has also had several collections with ad campaigns, which are clearly directed toward young girls, younger than their alleged target age group of women ages 18-30.
Pop quiz: Can you spot the difference here: which is marketed toward young girls and which is marketed toward women?
Okay, I may have given the answer away with the previous MAC ads, but honestly, to most people, any type of Hello Kitty makeup would seemingly be geared toward young children. I have one more example by the brand Too Faced. This also looks like it could be geared toward very young girls.
Similar to MAC, the brand Too Faced has an alleged target sales group are women ages 18-30. Though you would not necessarily think that based on their products. It seems that even very young girls would be keen to buy their products. We must consider the implications involved with this type of marketing towards children. At what point does it stop being innocent fun and begin to directly affect their future choices as consumers. It seems clear that the company has intentions to hook them young, as to maintain brand loyalty when they are older.
I have been a long-time makeup user and have only very recently begun to look at makeup objectively. It is important to question what we are putting on to our skin, though admittedly, this is relatively new territory for me. I have an Urban Decay eye shadow palette, which I have now been using to draw with. The idea came to me, because the makeup was relatively expensive and I felt like it was a waste to just throw it away. However, after contemplating some of the ideas in this article, it also felt strange to continue using them as if nothing had changed. Of course, it is never easy to question our own habits, especially those that we have had for so long. As difficult as it is though, I do know that it is also extremely important. I would much rather spend time re-evaluating thoughts and ideas which were given to me, than to blindly follow them and end up looking like the woman below….and since you are probably wondering: Yes, the image is from an actual MAC ad campaign!
Great job on the article Katherine. For a business that is supposed to sell beauty these images are quite ugly and… sad. I’ve always felt very uncomfortable with the young girls becoming make up obsessed at young ages, even more so when their mothers and aunts encourage their behavior and think its “cute”. Those girls should need to be raised as women, instead they’re thought of and treated as “accessories”. I guess in a culture that regularly objectifies women, starting them early is a good long term plan, for their future owners. As parents and guardians, we need to reclaim the sense of protection we’ve clearly lost.
Hope to see more of your writing in the future.
Hi Michael,
I absolutely agree….all of the images are meant to sell beauty products, but who would want to look like that?? Each image is sick and I don’t understand how they are in any way beautiful. I have also heard many adults refer to young girls with make up as cute, while unintentionally fostering the notion of how women are somehow ‘less than’ without it. Thanks for the comment!
Great article Katherine.
Until you brought this up I had no idea about the squalid depths that make-up has sunk too – esp in reference to grabbing hold of the psyche of little ones – once-upon-a-time girls enjoyed colouring-in books, now they are being taught/marketed into using their own faces – this is so very sick.
Why do these women look like clowns – when clowns are a symbol of death?
Hi Alex,
Yes, the beauty marketing is very disturbing….especially toward young girls. Although this has been going on for quite awhile now, I would imagine that as with many other things, it has only gotten worse with time. Great point that clowns are a symbol of death. I would say that every image I posted has a clown-esque vibe to it.
Thanks
Oh my! Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I had no idea it was this bad out there. Katherine, welcome to Great Minds of Today. I really appreciate you putting this together and hope you can contribute again in the near future. Thanks again
Hi Kyle,
You guys have been doing some great work here and I’m very excited to be a part of this. Thank you!
Thanks so much for the warm welcome to Great Minds Of Today
Accurate observations indicative of the denigration of women, men and society, as a whole while reinforcing hideousness, dehumanization and unattractiveness. A mockery of the beauty of the human face. Remember, “you’re a blank canvas”, not a human being. It’s a multi-pronged attack on many levels. Good work.
Hi Lorraine,
You bring up some great points. Yes, everything about this screams that it is attack on women and society as a whole. We are being mocked and not only accepting it, but paying an absurd amount of money to do so. Love how you phrased that “multi-pronged attack on many levels” well said…and thanks for the feedback!
Fantastic article Katherine. Like Alex and Kyle above, I also didn’t realize how perverse the marketing for make up has become. I’m utterly shocked at the names of some of these products. It’s as if they are openly mocking us all now. What an eye opener. Thanks.
Hello Aaron,
I agree that we are being mocked openly at this point. Most people won’t question the names and the advertisements, while dismissing them or justifying them as being ‘creative’…thank you for the comment.
Thanks for your thoughts on this note, I’ve been considering this for awhile too – I was looking into imagery that abuses women, and noticed how much makeup marketing campaigns blur the line between a woman who has been beaten, and a woman who is wearing too much dark makeup around the eyes.
What’s also worth noting are the metallic and chemical compounds that make up makeup. Not the sorts of things we ought to be absorbing through the eyes, lips, skin – these organs which are so vulnerably exposed to toxic elements to begin with.
Needless to say I gave up on makeup awhile ago too :] And you bring up an interesting stream of thought here – this need we feel as women to paint ourselves. Originally – I think – makeup was meant to imply a flushed, aroused look – you see this pushed to the limit in the mimicry element – but now it’s become this way of dissociation from the self. It’s very disturbing.
I think it’s strange how young makeup is marketed to children as well – it was there when I was little, too. It just wasn’t as whorish :] Rainbows and combinations of bright colors have a very significant role in regards to child marketing as well. It’s all worth a lot more discussion.
Great piece, scary stuff.
Hi Joanne,
What an awesome point you bring up that the dark eye makeup looks like a woman who has beaten. I know exactly what you are talking about, and immediately thought of the “raccoon” look
Yes, I decided not to focus too much on the chemicals in makeup, as I know that there have been previous articles on that topic, but it is definitely worth noting. Especially around the eye area, which is such a sensitive area anyway, or on the lips, where women basically are eating and directly ingesting the lipstick or gloss that they apply.
Glad to hear that you have given up on makeup….I am still taking baby steps to get away from makeup as a whole, but I have made huge leaps in a relatively short amount of time. Thanks so much for the comment.
Welcome to Great Minds Katherine, its very exciting to have a new contributor, and as Kyle has said in the past, we need more Women involved in this conversation.
One of the confounding aspects of this child abuse leading to the destruction of Women, and Men, is how circular the pattern becomes. Looking in, from outside, we can see the habits of childhood becoming the habits of adulthood.
Question any ardent Fan of any product, social group, religion, and they are often at a loss, and get defensive, when you ask HOW and WHEN they started using/doing the actions or products they use/do.
As time goes by, the damaged adult, damages its own offspring, and around we go again.
The Merry-Go-Round seems to be spinning faster in tighter circles now, the road from Childhood innocent to utterly ruined Child is about four years at most? By 4 years a Girl Child in the west has seen TV Violence, Music Video degradation of Women, by five she’s played with makeup. By Six she’s emulated older sisters/neighbors, language and attitudes, by Seven she’s drowning in Disney propaganda and the so-called Teen magazines have a hold of her. At Eight, with her nascent personality suppressed, her mind split, she’s had a Persona Fabricated and grafted onto her precious mind.
At that point, She’s been groomed for inappropriate behavior, suddenly cut-off shorts and whorish makeup are all the rage.
Before you know it her demented parents have installed a Pole for her to dance around.
The Horror, the profound and unmitigated Horror of it, that such a brilliant spark of genuine Humanity could be snuffed out, by Big Media and brainwashed parents, and to have it gone unnoticed by so many for so long.
Humanity has betrayed its children.
Thanks for raising this issue, horrific as it is, and Welcome, Welcome, Welcome.
Hello Fitzy,
Thank you for welcoming me to Great Minds of Today and the great comment!
You bring up a great point that the patterns we develop when we are young, continue to influence our choices and habits as adults. So much has been given to us from the media and then reinforced through society, in our families or at school and through our peers. It is often difficult to look at things objectively, as they have become such a huge part of your own identity.
The merry-go-round effect is an excellent point and I have seen this all too often with children and parents. I have worked in preschools for the past 7 years and seen the effect of the media continue to influence children at an earlier and earlier age. I would say your timeline is relatively accurate, however, most families in the US allow the Disney propaganda to get to their children by 2 or 3 years old. I’ve known many children who know all of the lyrics to “high school musical’ songs by 4 or 5….Perhaps a more accurate title might have been Preschool musical, but since they are typically marketing towards younger ages than what they claim, would they then be gearing that to infants and 1-2 year olds?
Humanity has betrayed its children, but maybe it’s not too late. There are still many people who realize how wrong it is and we have a choice now to just accept it and continue to follow suit, accepting that that is just the way it is…..OR we can start to make a difference by speaking out against it, raising awareness of the issues and making conscious choices to not buy into it. I am hoping that more and more people will do the latter.
fascinating and slightly disturbing.
welcome to the party.
drawing/painting seems to be a better use for these products.
in fact, one of my favorite artists, Ralph Steadman uses various cosmetics to build his color pallets.
Hello Duke,
I have never heard of Ralph Steadman, but plan on looking into some of his work. It sounds interesting, and I have also found makeup to be a really great medium to work with.
Thanks!
katherine, right on, great article and comments. Not to oversimplify but I think what youre talking about is social engineering. Which is good, because the default explanation for these type of “evils” is generally economic or otherwise logical. You dont come out and use the phrase, and I can understand that approach, but I think we should try to get to the heart of the issue. We are in full-on Death Culture, and thats what the “Toxic” (heh) line of products appeals to. I’ve been Tox since I was 12, no matter what there is NO way that you can shield your child from this. So I think the political question is “social engineering: who what where and why?” (We already know the how: SEX) and the philosophical question is “is it right to bring children into this world?” I think Fitzy’s comment illustrates a deep conflict that a lot of us have about this issue. We’re investigating the darkside but we want to completely shield our kids from it until they are 18? or 24? When is it old enough to find out that this world is a sham? Mass media led us all to this path of occult knowledge. It was that corruption that allowed us to comprehend these ideas. I was raised in death culture, my parents know nothing of these things. Most people see all these ads, sickly models, disney, marines, etc, and think nothing of it. In my mind Id rather be a darksider than an idiot sheep pretending to be good. Im not a darksider by the way just deeply conflicted as i mentioned before! Aesthetically the suicide girl thing does not appeal at all, but super-hedonism has always been distasteful to me.
Hello Tox,
I would absolutely say that this is social engineering, to various degrees. You are right, we live in a society which glorifies death and destruction, while distracting and undermining the importance of truly living.
I understand the point you raise about how to effectively parent in today’s society. As you point out there is no way to completely shield our children from these things. Even if we did, they would still be influenced by it from their peers at school, whether that would take the form of them being exposed to different forms of media, or be seen as a social outcast if they deny it.
Seems as though it would be a lose-lose situation and I do not envy the role of the parent in today’s world. I myself do not have any children and I cannot imagine how difficult it must be. It is hard enough to cope with these effects on my own, without being responsible for another human being. I understand your feelings of being deeply conflicted, as I can definitely relate to that. Thanks for the comment!
I can Just see the ads now, “Bukakke by Max Factor…” !
Google it….But be warned.
Hi Phil,
Your comment made me laugh, but I did not google and hope that other people refrained from it as well!
Great show and very nice duet on Star Theory show
Perhaps even the “modern urban art” of Graffiti, has a similarity in the matter of painting off the “dead” pretending them to be alive, emulating the vivid colours of nature. City makeup and people makeup go hand in hand with the ilussion of life. Funerary art for the zombies.”
As posted in his blog, i leave here also my toughts :
“great show kyle
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7sMilQeVHk
Hola Paulo,
Thanks for the comment and link to the Death Becomes Her trailer. I remember watching that movie when I was young and was probably too young to understand the underlying message. I would say there are many people, of all ages, who missed the boat on that at the time!
that way Katherine, “they” cant say they didnt told us
…
Have a Great show later on with miss alex!
I think that, for a very long time now, people have been told that there’s a certain [supposed] glamour to be found within decadence. (We’re living in the “end of days” so why not wear shit that not-so-subtly implies that as well?) I suppose that’s why companies use such atrocious names. It appeals to the consumers who “want something edgy and different”. What they don’t realize is that it’s still the same damn package, only with slightly different wrapping.
Also, we desperately cling to familiar characters. (Really, can you imagine how offended we’d be if someone were to go and say something negative about our childhood heroes?!) That’s another way these companies get us- by appealing to our inner child.
Hi Shane,
Great points! I agree that the advertisers know exactly what they are doing….no doubt they are appealing to our inner child, as well as rubbing in our faces that we are living in the end days. They openly mock us and have the audacity to charge a ridiculous amount of money for the customers who have the privilege of being mocked. It’s disgusting, but it makes you wonder….is it more disgusting that they are doing it, or that we continue to let them do it by continuing to go along with it? Thanks so much for the comment.
Katherine, truly an admirable introductory piece, this. I well recall how when I 1st saw photos of blinded rabbits who had been ‘tested on’ for the safety of L’Oreal eye cosmetics, I felt nauseous. How can women who seek to ‘beautify’ themselves depend on the suffering (or not) of laboratory animals, let alone the gross ingredients that go into some of these products? Sickening.
Funnily enough, though, when I migrated through the milling club masses and had assumed the life style of a Goth, this in the early ’90s, the whole idea of one’s appearance was to resemble the undead, or at least the socially marginalised. What goes around comes around, doesn’t it? Thanks for a very well thought out and eruditely worded essay. More, please.
In the Old Dominion,
Anadae Q. Effro
“Enoshi Ha Shem”
Hello Anadae,
Great point, the horrible conditions under which these beauty products are tested before hitting the sales floor is beyond traumatic. Just another form of suffering that women are unknowingly ingesting. And yes, most beauty products are saturated with chemicals and toxins. Even supposed “organic” brands of makeup still have a ridiculous amount of unnatural ingredients added.
Thank you for the comment and the kind words.