Beauty Unofficial

 

Process Note on "Beauty

 

    The hardest part of doing an ad analysis is getting a magazine to get an ad from. There countless magazines out there, but being able to pick one through which you can find an ad that you can truly relate to is extremely hard. Every weekend that I go home, I stop at my friend's house. One weekend, as I went over her house I saw a magazine and instantaneously saw an ad that intrigued me the vibrant color, radiant shades and my critical mood were all factors in picking this AD. I was able to objectively criticize the ad since is not a good advertisement for the product yet was able to analyze it in a positive light as well. I looked at the ad and found the motif or theme of the ad to be the red carpet, Oscars, and beauty. Then I got to trying to get my ideas out and what came out was my rough draft. Now for my revise draft I tried to make clearer my criticism throughout the piece so the reader can make their own judgments. Also I tried to define a broader concept of beauty following Bernadette's advice who I found out lives in the same building as me. I added another paragraph tried to write as I speak but failed, but I have time to work on that skill so I don't appear phony when I type. The readings my professor supplied me with help me realize the things the ad built on like the Oscars, and the red carpet. This paper I reluctantly admit was fun to write and I work on a skill analyzing advertisements. Right now I want to thank all my teachers, for everything I am because the saw a potential in me, something I forgot. I thank Keith Yu for being there when I needed him, and his flash drive.

 

Beauty

 

    When you hear the word "beauty", what first comes to mind? Splendor, magnificence, attractiveness, ideal are all words that come to mind when trying to define the word that is beauty. When I saw an ad in People Magazine I immediately translated the ad as one that depicted beauty. This ad by L'Oreal Paris defines beauty through makeup. This ad helps perpetuate the false notion that beauty is skin deep and nothing else. The color scheme was quick to grab my attention. The scheme is fairly simple, about 3/4ths of the page is gold, and there seems to be two beams of light intersecting at the top of the page. The other 1/4 of the page is black. The scheme is the same used on an Oscar award L'Oreal placed big white text in the gold part which is "Spotlight on Beauty" and under this text they placed about ten of their products. Since there was room above two of the products L'Oreal decided to put more text which states "Celebrate the glamour of awards season with a red carpet look and free movie ticket". Then L'Oreal describes the one place that facilitates the reader to get a special offer, CVS. In the other parts of the black they add white text that describes the terms and conditions of the special, getting a free movie ticket. Clearly after looking at the ad the reader can tell that the theme of the ad is movies and L'Oreal is wishing to capitalize on award season. They actively try to sell beauty but do so by painting a picture of beauty that is unattainable by the average citizen.     L'Oreal is hoping to build upon the readers' knowledge of some award season events such as the Oscars, and the red carpet. The color scheme of using mostly gold is to signify Oscars, and to transfer all the glamour of the Oscars to this advertisement. They further push the idea of the Oscars by having two spotlights intersect at their brand name L'Oreal and at the text Spotlight on Beauty. The spotlight accentuates the word I, making it the focal point. The word beauty has been misconstrued into something that movie actresses and models more frequently have. The magazine photographers use Photoshop, and the consumer aware that most models in magazines, and pictures aren't really that beautiful. They have been photo shopped or edited. The consumer is also aware that the models and actresses have a team of makeup artists accentuating and increasing the beauty of the women. L'Oreal tries to transfer beauty to their ten makeup products right below the word.

    The ten makeup products are Advanced Revita Lift, Advanced Revita Night, and Superior Preference Fade Defying-Color & Shine System, two colors Riche Lipcolour, Double Extend Beauty Tubes Mascara, Infallible Never Fail Makeup, Superior Preference, True Match Makeup, and Visible Lift Serum inside-Minimizing Makeup. Anyone can plainly see that the products are used for the head and face. This ad perpetuates that beauty is just based on appearance and it helps destroy people's awareness of inner-beauty. They also perpetuate the appearance of women should include makeup to enhance beauty and glamour. This ad plays on society's notion that ties beauty with makeup. This notion makes our culture into liars with makeup it's like Chris Rock said "you're not that pretty you have makeup on". Appearances can deceive people and give a false sense of beauty, hence it's a lie. The reader is growing aware now that too much makeup increases fakeness and that too much does the opposite of enhancing beauty but defiles natural beauty. L'Oreal's marketers try to distract you from questioning their definition of beauty with a special offer.                                 The special offer L'Oreal tries to bribe the reader, to buy one of the products in the ad from CVS, is a free movie ticket, which can take 4-8 weeks to deliver. The offer raises a question if L'Oreal's product is weak, since they have to offer a gimmick for the consumer to buy it. Even though L'Oreal is an established brand it played on the award ceremony theme to promote their products and with their products they are promoting a beautiful and glamorous red carpet lifestyle. The life style that promotes a false sense of beauty, a beauty that is defined as women wearing too much makeup that masks their true appearance. Beauty is hard to describe since it's really in the eye of the beholder. Two types of beauty is inner and outer, inner is more the actions of a person, and their quirks. Outer beauty is the appearance, smile, and confidence of a person. Beauty is what the focal point of the ad was but they didn't transfer it well to their product.         

    A wise girl named Jyoti Aggarwal told me to get feedback about why girls wear makeup. My friend Bernie Mac, real name Bernadette gave a list of ten things, I will share with you. Women wear makeup for a plethora of reasons. Reasons include to impress boys, appear more feminine, and to be more sexually appealing. Secondly women wish to express creativity, to hide what they don't like about themselves, and to accentuate what they like about themselves. Finally women strive to exude themselves as artful, confident, and as eye candy. All in all Women really want a man that sees through the deceit at their inner beauty, they wish to meet their equal who loves them more than God.

    The Marketers at L'Oreal didn't waste any space when developing this advertisement. They used a two tone color scheme that gold mostly dominating to transfer the glamour of the Oscars to their brand, which in turn transfers it to the product. They make beauty and their ten products the focal point of the AD. They promise that their product will give a red carpet look to anyone that uses their product. They are playing on everyone's' ambition to try to be all that they can possibly be. Lastly the Marketers give another reason to buy the product, with an attractive offer, of a free movie ticket worth ten dollars, seems to be a bet honestly. People are always seeking understanding; sadly nothing in life is free yet. My first lesson in economics was given by Mr. Turner he boiled down economics in a sentence:"there is no such thing as a free lunch". The reader is also aware that the beauty L'Oreal is pushing is of the superficial sort. Who believes what L'Oreal is promising? True Beauty cannot be anything that's pleasing to the eye; it is much deeper than that. False Beauty that the marketers are pushing is one of the epidermis sort or outer skin kind. This sense of beauty is a false one so their advertisement is based on an invalid premise. The argument that their product should be bought is extremely weak, their actions betray their words. The marketers while very clever fail at making an effective advertisement. All in All beauty has gone the wrong way, we must reverse the reaction, we must not put on makeup like clowns, and lastly many people are afraid of clowns.