When it comes to advertising, beauty companies tend to have their advertisements down to a formula. Beautiful women parade around in bold lips, smoky eyes and revealing clothing. Their marketing ploy is to play on the insecurities of regular women so they can buy their products in order to look like the photoshopped women in these commercials and magazines. Sometimes, companies like Cover Girl will incorporate a celebrity in order to sell their products by making women feel like they need to use makeup to measure up to societal standards.
What happens when a beauty company uses these strategies but instead focuses on empowering women and changing the beauty industry one shade of foundation at a time?
One company that is stepping out of the box with their advertising is Fenty Beauty by Rihanna. In the commercial for Fenty Beauty, something is shown to be different about this makeup company. At first glance, the viewer can see that this line of beauty products will market to many different people of color. It is easy to notice this within the commercial because there is a vast array of skin tones being portrayed within this ad. This caters to many different people who may not have the makeup in their skin shade, which believe it or not, is a major step towards racial equality in the makeup industry.
The next big thing about Fenty Beauty is that it was launched by the pop singer, Rihanna. She saw the demand for more shades for people of color and made an affordable line of makeup to include women of many different shades, including lighter shades to accommodate people who have paler skin tones as well. The ad also uses women who are all diverse in their ethnicity and body shape. This advertisement brings people together in the beauty industry, which is a really big step in the advertising world. It helps create emotional ties with other people when they compare shades to other cosmetic lines. The response to the diversity in models shows that Rihanna cares about representation, and she wants people everywhere to be represented in her cosmetic line.
The intense music, city scenery and urban clothing designs also go to show that this makeup line is for women who want to be in charge, confident, and proud of their background and culture. In this commercial, there is a woman glowing in her hijab and there are women who have buzz cuts. They all strut with confidence. These are women who are using makeup for themselves and not for the attention of the male gaze. Within the commercial, there is not a single man used or seen. It truly gives the impression that women can be interested in makeup because of how it makes them feel, instead of how it looks to men. Makeup is so wonderful because it can be used as a creative outlet.
As a viewer interested in this product, this commercial does a great job at having an advertisement for the modern day woman. This product can make women feel empowered, beautiful, and fierce by their outward appearance. Fenty Beauty has found a way to revolutionize the makeup industry by marketing towards women with darker and lighter skin tones. Rihanna knew exactly what she was doing when she helped produce the advertisement for her cosmetics line, and from what it looks like it has worked incredibly well. I cannot wait to try these products for myself!
