The Impact of Cosmetic Advertisements in Television: A Study Among College Girl Students Self - Esteem and Beauty

Journal for Studies in Management and Planning
Available at http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/index.php/JSMaP
e-ISSN: 2395-0463
Volume 01 Issue 03
April 2015
The Impact of Cosmetic Advertisements in Television: A

study among college girl students self esteem and Beauty
*Krithika M.R
Dr. S. Nagarathinam Associate Professor and Head, Department of communication, School of
Linguistics and Communication,
Madurai Kamaraj University, Madurai 625 021, Tamil Nadu, India.
E-mail: jrksnow@gmail.com
SUMMARY
The purpose of this study is to investigate
college girl students concepts of social
comparison and beauty as well as the
impact
created
by
the
cosmetic
advertisements in television. The role of
advertisements in television and the
exposure to media are interrelated to attract
a girl who comes across numerous
advertisements in her everyday life.
Exposure to cosmetic advertisements
affects girls self esteem and this research
proves that with the sample of 500 girl
students take from 5 colleges around
Madurai with the age limit of 18 21 years.
In addition there are differences in the
results respective to the age groups based
on the individual subjective preference.
Although the previous studies have
demonstrated the same with reference to
different places around the world, this study
is originally done for the first time in this
particular area. The study also discuss

about the characters played by the cosmetic
commercials and its vital role in the
society, its values and cultures through
content analysis. Statistical tool used to
prove the hypothesis included in this study
which states that the television cosmetic
advertisements
creates
psychological
impact to its consumers. This resulted in
social comparison and the persuasion
created by these advertisements resulted in
rising beauty conscious among college girls
of the mentioned age group. The results
obtained prove that a city like Madurai with
various cultures included is affected by the
cosmetic commercials and their characters
affecting girl students self esteem and
beauty.
Keywords: cosmetic advertising, social
comparison,
self
esteem,
beauty
consciousness, television impact
INTRODUCTION
Advertising
is
the
non
personal
communication of information usually paid
for and usually persuasive in nature about
products, services or ideas by identified
sponsors through the various media.(Bovee,
1992) The word advertising comes from the
latin word advertere meaning to turn the
minds of towards. Advertising in said to be a
form of business communication used to
encourage, persuade, or manipulate an
audience to take some action to buy the
desired product in the market. It drives

consumer behaviour with respect to a
commercial offering.(advertising, 2014).
Advertisement is a non-personal presentation
of an idea or a product acquired great
importance in the modern India characterized
by tough competition in the market and fast
changes in technology, fashion and customers
taste. Its a part of social, cultural and
economic environment and created in just a
way that people will want to adjust
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themselves to and acts as a perfect window to

reflect the different aspects of society and
culture. Every advertisement tries to persuade
the people, in the modern competitive market
each advertiser wants to win over his rivals
by effective advertising. In this process, there
are chances of hiding truth and facts in order
to succeed in increased sales and profit. But
the advertiser has social and moral duty or
obligation towards consumers.
ADVERTISEMENT
VALUES
AND
SOCIETY
Advertising is an art of persuasion, but still

people buy only those goods and services
which they need. What they purchase is the
outcome of the cultural values. The consumer
behaviour is influenced by his family status,
family life cycle, social relations, opinion
leaders, reference groups etc. The value
system is ever changing with the passage of
time. With these changes on value system, the
role of advertising keeps pace with the
changing times. Once a particular set of
values have been accepted by a society, the
advertising as a social and business process
tries to bring all those goods and services
which are made to respect the value system.
COSMETIC COMMERCIALS
The commercials always come out with a
target audience and these target consumers
are unaware of the impact these television
advertisements on an individual. Advertisers
try to manipulate people into buying a way of
life as well as products. The advertisement
industry has a tremendous impact on our
generation girls. What people see on
television, they take for truth? They tell us
what to wear because everyone is wearing it,
what to apply on your face because everyone
is applying it, how to groom up yourself
because everyone is doing it.
The advertisers know how to appeal to our
senses. They use peer pressure very heavily.
"You need to use a face wash regularly
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because the particular celebrity is using it

daily to enhance her beauty and everyone else
is going to wear them. You should do make
over every day as "Everyone is doing it".
They have confused with the difference
between "need" and "want.
The whole purpose of cosmetic advertising is
to create emotion that make a desired reaction
in a potential customer, so in effect,
advertising very much can create public
opinions making some people consumer
zombies. In some cases advertising can cause
headaches. The effectiveness of television
advertisement on college girl students is still a
million dollar question. With all these
beautification products, the image of perfect
women in television is hard for us to realize
just how much of it is fake.
CELEBRITY ADVERTISING
Using a famous person's image to sell
products or services by focusing on the
person's money, popularity, or fame to
promote the products or services become a
new trend in the name of celebrity brand. If
the famous person agrees to allow his or her
image to be used, it is termed a celebrity
endorsement because many consumers are
interested in celebrity activities, they are more
likely to notice your product when a famous
person professes to like and use it.(Amo)The
promotion might be through formal
advertisements in the media, or it might occur
through the famous person displaying the
products by using them or wearing them.
A celebrity who appears sincere can
lend credibility to a product. Consumers are
more likely to believe the statements the
personality makes in the advertisement and
view the product and the brand positively.
Conversely, regard for the brand becomes
negative if it is obvious that the celebrity does
not share the companys values.
A celebritys reputation is tied to that of the
company after appearing in the companys
advertising. If a respected celebrity appears in
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advertising for an imperfect brand, the views

of the brand could improve or the celebritys
reputation could worsen. Also, if the
celebritys reputation suffers, the formerly
positive views of the brand could suffer too.
The market provides an array of competing
choices for a product. The consumer is more
likely to choose a product that is memorable.
Advertising that features celebrities can
ensure this brand recall. It helps a
manufacturer stand out and be more
noticeable.
Mass Media like TV, radio, cinema,
newspapers, magazines and newsletters and
technology such as the Internet and E-mail as
well as other media that may not be as
obvious such as children's comics and
cartoons, theatre, puppetry, dance and song.
The media is a vehicle used to inform as well
as entertain the public. The media is a carrier
Similar types of studies have been conducted
to determine the impact of cosmetic
advertisements in television, this study is
among college girl students self esteem and
beauty but this study relates to the
psychological pressure created by the
cosmetic commercials among girls in
Madurai city. Primary research consists of
original data often undertaken when some
insight is gained into the issue by collecting
secondary data. Even though there are
numerous forms to collect the data the
method used here is pilot study and survey.
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of information, ideas, thoughts and opinions.

It is a powerful force in influencing peoples
perceptions on a variety of issues. The media
can be both positive as well as negative in
terms of the position and views of women as
well as a powerful mechanism for education
and socialisation.
Although the media has played an important
role in highlighting women's issues, it has
also had negative impact, in terms of
perpetrating violence against women through
pornography and images of women as a
female body that can be bought and sold.
Overall, the media treatment of women is
narrow and continually reinforces stereotyped
gender roles and assumptions that women's
functions are that of a wife, mother and
servant of men. This is especially so in
advertising.
METHODS
the survey are modified. The answers
received are framed as objectives on the
newly framed questionnaire of 30 in
numbers. Pilot study conducted made the
new respondents to understand and answer
the easily which in turn resulted fully
satisfied answers.
To reveal and find out the deficiencies in the

design of the survey questionnaire, also to
control the time, pilot study is adopted. In
this pilot study is used to cross check the
hypothesis with the earlier framed
questionnaire and to find out the answers to
the research questions. The earlier
questionnaire consists of 20 open end and 10
close end questions to study the participants
proper understanding over the framed
questions and the options included.
Based on the questionnaire result retrieved
from 20 respondents initial requirements for
In this survey method of research,

participant answer questions administered
through questionnaire and the responses
were mentioned clearly. In order to receive a
valid and reliable response from the survey
the questions were constructed in a proper
manner. To limit the responses from the
participants the questionnaire is designed
with closed ended questions with objective
answers to analyse the answers statistically.
Provided 100 questionnaires per college, 5
colleges involved in this survey namely
Fathima Womens College, Meenakshi
College, Lady Dock, Ambika college and St.
George College. All these colleges are Arts
and Science Colleges especially for
womens. Altogether form 500 samples
from which the entire research takes over a
step ahead.
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This study is designed with 30 questions

framed with 5 objective answers each of
them paired to be similar with subjective
preference to the participant. These 30
questions are grouped under 3 sections in
which the first 10 questions 1 10 represent
the response for the impact of cosmetics
advertisements in television, second set i.e.,
11 20 question refers to the social
comparison among girl students and the final
set from 21 30 explains about the self
esteem of college girls. These questions
decide the mentality of the target audience
towards their selective products.
In addition to the method mentioned above
content analysis is also included to study
thorough and analyse the technique
systematically, identifying the specific
characteristics of a particular message.
According to this the contents of 10
advertisements under 2 famous brands on
television were taken under the same roof of
cosmetic products. The tendency to be used
to analyse non numerical data is said to be
qualitative and so in this research content
analysis has been considered as a form of
qualitative research.
Content analysis is said to a systematic
process to examine communication content.
The current study analysis marketing
communication
content
namely
commercials. The application of content
analysis for studying communication
messages is echoed by Berelson (in
Krippendorff, 2004a:19). This author defines
content analysis as the objective, systematic
and quantitative description of the manifest
content of communication. Holsti (in
Harwood & Garry, 2003:481) states that
content analysis studies objectively
quantify the content of communication
between a sender and a receiver.
The current study focuses on the particular
role television plays in delivering the
message of self confidence and beauty to the
target audience. In this section the study
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employs qualitative content analysis as a

research
method
defined
and
the
requirements for its applications are
described.
Purposive or judgemental sampling which
comes under non - probability sampling is a
method of sampling where the sampler picks
the sample from the entire population solely
based on the researches judgement. The
sampler controls to a very large extend
which elements have a chance of being
selected to be in the sample.
To provide a accurate result based on the
impact of cosmetic commercials in
television, students from various colleges
were taken under study on their selection of
products, the adoption and reception of the
product messages, awareness about the
particular product and the psychological
pressure by the tele commercials. As the
study deals with cosmetics college girls were
taken under study classifying four categories
of age group as 18, 19, 20 &21 respectively.
This study undergoes with 500 samples
taken from five different colleges on a basis
of 100 samples per college. As the study
involves girls students self esteem and
beauty, womens arts and science colleges
are alone taken under consideration for
sampling. These 500 students were classified
under four categories of age group as 18, 19,
20 & 21 respectively from all the five
colleges to find out the difference in result if
any.
This particular study started at the month of
February with a sample questionnaire,
slowly the modifications carried out bought
a new life and an entirely updated
questionnaires framed by the month of
March. Here the study continues for the
entire month.
Chi square is a statistical test commonly
used to compare the observed data with the
data expected to obtain from the particular
research according to a specific hypothesis.
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This test is used to test the null hypothesis,

which states that there is no significant
difference between the expected and
observed result. The formula to calculate chi
()2
square is 2 = . This shows that

the chi square is the sum of the squared
difference between observed (o) and the
expected (e) data, divided by the expected
data in all possible categories.
In this study the age group 18 21 are
divided into two different groups 18 19
one set of group and 20 21 another set of
group. As mentioned earlier these groups are
considered to be the observed data and the
further calculation continues to find the
expected data. This test is applied here to
prove the hypothesis statistically.
SOCIAL COMPARISON THEORY

Every individuals view about themselves is
often made out of social comparison.
Festinger in 1954 framed social comparison
theory explaining how individual compare
their opinions about themselves with others
in order to acquire the result and find their
respective positions. This theory focus on
social comparison as a way of self
enhancement, to a further extends it ends
with upward and downward comparisons.
According to Thorton and Arrowood (1966)
self evaluation and self enhancement are
the two functions of social comparison and
describes how a person engages based on
this. The upward and downward comparison
was introduced by Wills in 1981. Upward
comparison makes an individual to look into
another who is better than the former. This
type of comparison makes an individual feel
good about themselves.
The downward comparison mostly takes
place where people compare themselves
with the less fortunate and console the
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situation with a happy feeling mostly

happens
for
everyone.
Downward
comparison theory emphasizes the positive
effects of comparisons in increasing ones
subjective well-being. In simple terms,
downward social comparisons are more
likely to make us feel better about ourselves,
while upward social comparisons are more
likely to motivate us to achieve more or
reach higher.
Media plays a vital role in social
comparison, in this study it is found that
equal amount of the girls engaged
themselves in upward and downward social
comparison. The majority of the girls have a
daily opportunity to make upward
comparison by measuring themselves
against some social ideal. Some girls made
upward social comparison in a positive
manner to motivate themselves but the
majority never cares about the comparison in
public.
USES AND GRATIFICATION THEORY
This theory clearly explains about the uses
and functions of the media for individuals,
groups and society.
As a reaction to
traditional mass communication research
emphasizing the sender and the receiver the
theory originated in 1970.
As this theory states that individual seek out
the mass media to satisfy their respective
preference. Cosmetic commercials in
television are an outcome of individual
requirement sold out publicly. These
cosmetic commercials educate the particular
individual regarding the product and provide
an option to change the choice of selection
as a plenty of other products are available in
the market. In order to know the motive of
the participants indirect questions on the
same topic raised to understand the
consumer behaviour towards the product.
This research is framed in such a way to
analyse the individual response over a
product or many and how they respond if the
result ends failure.
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LIMITATIONS
1. This study is limited with 500
samples from 5 colleges.
2. Age group not more or less than 18
21.
3. Participants are only girls from 1st
year to 3rd year from the mentioned
colleges.
4. No female participants from outside
the college are involved in this study.
5. No male participants are involved in
the survey.
RESULTS
This chapter starts by presenting the findings
obtained from the result, by setting out the
questionnaire. In order the evaluate the
responses received from the samples chi
square test is applied to those important
questions to prove the hypothesis and its
importance. The whole chapter discuss about
the results collected for the study of the
impact of cosmetic advertisements in
television, a study among college girl
students self esteem and beauty. Based on
this some question seems to be repeated one
but actually its not the same.
they are impressed

advertisements.
by
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the
cosmetic
The result say 50% of the student population

are influenced by the by the brand and the
remaining may not be influenced. Brand
plays a main role in deciding what they
should buy when and it stimulates them at
the right point which confuses the consumer
not to go with a new brand as the familiar
brand is still in the market. The 60% of the
students population accepted that these
advertisements
pressure
them
psychologically which makes them worry
about their skin where as the rest of them are
also affected but rarely.
70% of the students population accepted
that cosmetic commercials do exaggerate
good points to better sell their product and
for the remaining it's not necessary to accept.
A detailed result on how these cosmetic
commercials convince the consumer by
showcasing the competitors product down
by highlighting some of the ingredients not
available in the latter product and available
in the former one. In such case the students
experienced and accepted that the fact is true
on a certain basis and most of them didnt.
In this study the entire set of 30 questions is

divided into 3 categories namely question 1
10 speaks about the impact of cosmetic
commercials in television and the results
were discussed separately, question 11 20
reveals the secret about college girls social
comparison where as the results are handled
with care and finally the last one from 21
30 provides the result for the self esteem and
its level among the girl students in womens
colleges.
It also say 50% of the student population

partially nodded for the acceptance of the
advertisements to force them to use 2
cosmetic items a day to keep their skin fresh
and feel good while the other side people are
partially unconvinced as its not necessary.
80% of the student population accepted that
these television commercials help them find
a numerous item under various brands of
their choice while the rest of them said it
isnt.
IMPACT
OF
COSMETIC
ADVERTISEMENTS IN TELEVISION
SOCIAL
COMPARISON
COLLEGE GIRLS
According to the respondents reply the

students are sometimes influenced by the
commercials shown even though their
influential is sometimes most of the time
This category of questions were taken to

analyse how college going girl students
compare themselves with the equivalent
other or either with the models from the
respective advertisements. In this few
AMONG
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questions are taken for the chi square test to

prove the hypothesis. The section follows
will give clear data define the state of
comparison the students perform.
Most of the cosmetics commercials now a
days comes with a lot of natural ingredients
to attract the target people to encourage
them on buying their product. In such case
the participants showed interest in those
advertisements which promote the sales in
the name of natural ingredients along with a
celebrity to recognize the product by the
consumers and portrayed them as the best
girls ever in the universe to go with the
nature.
According to the respondent they think that
advertisements are a part of media hype
which creates more than it does in real with
some celebrities to even more establish the
particular product. According to most of the
girl students dont have any idea about the
female models but the rest of them said that
it gains the attraction and at some point it
boosts the products sale in the market.
80% of the students are taking well care
about their skin and so they want to improve
their skin appearance but for the remaining
ones its not that necessary. The reason most
of the girls said on buying cosmetics is to
improve their skin tone which comes after
the comparison made with any other of the
same criteria match. This comparison makes
a big rush in the consumers mind to
purchase any cosmetic which comes with the
label of skin protection along with the
promise of improvement in the complexion.
According to that girls who decide to
purchase cosmetics will consider on one
condition to improve their level of
confidence and they believe in that too,
which the advertisements also assures to
give them on their first usage itself.
The advertisement in recent days portrays
any girl with lack of confidence can become
more confident after using the cosmetic of
that particular brand which gives more fame
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than before to improve the thought of being

perfect beauty about their look and makes
the consumer run behind the product until it
shows no difference after the comparison
with the same criteria match people.
The 50% of the student population found
themselves comfortable and beautiful with a
new change in their attitude but the
remaining felt nothing.
SELF ESTEEM AMONG COLLEGE
GIRL STUDENTS
The 70% of the student population are
confident about their appearance but still
want to be over confident with the help of
cosmetics whereas the remaining found
nothing. After the cosmetics came to rule
the beauty world every single girl is worried
about herself that without cosmetics she may
look unattractive. This makes them lose their
confidence and to depend on cosmetics to
give a boon of beautiful face which has
never before as per her thought.
80% of the student population use at least 2
cosmetics daily to the maximum of 6 to
highlight their skin tone and to feel those
good than before. The remaining felt nothing
like the above ones. In recent days the
number of cosmetics decides the beauty
within you to come out. This made college
girls pay more attention on their cosmetics
which is advised by the media professional
through advertisement on how much to
apply and how many times a day to look
them youthful.
It is concluded that when a product fails
while trying for a new product they carefully
find out why it failed what has to be in the
next product to have a better result. So they
check ingredients carefully to know the
product fully along with that they also
consult a beautician to know about their type
of skin and what combination can be used to
repair it.
It is concluded that they never compare
themselves with the product models fully but
partially they compare the kind of attraction
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they get after using the product. The level of

self esteem among girls always depends
upon the comparison they make out of the
best possibilities. Media easily provides a
character of same feel the consumer does
and shows the difference in them which
automatically reaches the target people in no
time.
It is concluded that 90% of the student
population are ready to admire their natural
beauty in the absence of cosmetics and they
can feel themselves original but the
remaining felt nothing.
The survey question 30 says that these
students of 60% from the population tells
that they dont need any of those cosmetics
to beautify themselves as they create
psychological impact on them to compare
themselves with the other and the remaining
found nothing.
ANALYSIS
This research includes content analysis of 2
top most brands to even more explain the
results retrieve through the survey. The two
brands taken for analysis are owned by
Unilever. The first one is Ponds which is a
familiar since 1910 is a brand of beauty and
Dove which entered the market by the year
of 1955. These two provides a numerous
products especially for women and beauty
since the day it launched.
Under these 2 familiar brands for coding 5
cosmetic products from each brand is taken
for analysis. First lets take the brand ponds
in this a product known as ponds white
beauty promises its consumers to give a fair
complexion in 7 days to ensure the stability
of the consumer for a long period of run.
This product has so many sub products with
the same name but different in output.
As a well known brand over the world
population ponds talcum powder gains much
of the attention from the consumer as the
tagline itself says that the start should be
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good always so use ponds powder which can

change the routine. This powder attracts
mainly because theme reaches the public
easily than anything.
This chapter cross checks the research
question to find out the proved hypothesis
for the 3 questions are framed in a purpose
that to analyse the answers based on
hypothesis framed for 3 different categories
in the survey question of 30 in number. Here
the hypothesis proved for each research
question will give you and detailed note on
the results obtained through survey in
respective to the age group.
Research question 1:
What is the
psychological impact does the cosmetics
advertisements create over girl students
social comparison?
To analyse this question the result for the
survey questions 11 30 should be verified.
The result states that all the cosmetic
commercials influence the buyer to perform
a self analysis before purchasing the
product. This proves the H2 - the dominant
influence is predominantly seen in college
girls affecting their social comparison and
rising beauty consciousness.
While
performing self analysis target group find
the problem in their appearance.
To make sure they put themselves under
social comparison which comes out with a
negative response. Receiving upon the
response the advertisements keep on
insisting the area to be repaired in the target
groups physic which makes them worry
about their skin. This results in social
comparison numerous times to make sure
they dont have any issue. The repetition of
the comparison creates psychological issues
which results in the decision of purchasing
the product which pointed their issue. This
way the target populations idea about
beauty reaches its peak resulting in
comparison number of times a day.
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To this question H3 the extend to exposure

of television cosmetic commercials affects
girls
self
esteem
and
pressure
psychologically to purchase the product also
gets proved partially in terms of
psychological pressure the students receive
from the commercials to undergo
comparison to believe what they said is true.
Research question 2: Do the cosmetic
advertisements affect girl students self
esteem?
The proved hypothesis for this question is
H3 - the extend to exposure of television
cosmetic commercials affects girls self
esteem and pressure psychologically to
purchase the product. This hypothesis is
tested on the questions from 21 30 which
says that girls are highly affected by the
commercials lose their self esteem they had
over them for a long time. This happens
because the comparison they make with the
product models makes them believe to have
not exactly but at least a comparative
difference in them. When this fails they go
under pressure to stop using cosmetics.
Students at this age group are showing a
negative sign for self esteem on them when
compared to have on the cosmetics. To them
they can be confident only upon using the
cosmetics for a regular period of time. Even
though they feel good to look natural they
reject it immediately when a brand promises
them to retain their original beauty in a short
period of time on using their product. Hence
this states that there is problem with girls
self esteem after they fall for cosmetics.
Research question 3: How the television
commercials attract their target audience?
This question can be proved with H1
cosmetic advertisements in television play a
dominant role to create an impact among
college girls. The hypothesis stats that to
provide various choices of products makes
the target group get confused. Once the
initial part is done they classify the group
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out of total population into various

categories to reach the consumer with the
decision of purchasing. They start with the
issue the user have or you might have in
future to ensure that they worry about the
consumers skin more than they do.
This type of relation makes them feel better
when the commercials advice them of
natural ways the skin get polluted with daily.
To avoid they will prefer some natural
ingredients which can be either found in or
around the home. When the target group
hears the name of natural items they trust
fully and advertisers stat not all the natural
ingredients can be used to have a better
complexion, but the items used by them are
more valuable as it is a mixture of natural
plus chemical to produce a result in a short
period of time. This makes the target group
to go behind the product until it fails them.
The advertisers first analyse the category
they fall in and based on that they try to win
the heart of their valuable consumers to
maintain a good relationship with the
product to stay in the market for long run.
Hence the research questions proves that the
hypothesis adopted for the survey questions
results that not all the students are affected
by the commercials shown in television but,
most of the students lost their level of
confidence among themselves which results
in social comparison. Its proven along with
the hypothesis.
THEORETICAL COMPARISONS
However, Festinger (1954) considered selfenhancement as a comparison motive briefly
in his original theory by specifying an egoenhancement
function
termed
a
"unidirectional drive upward." Selfenhancement is defined as an individual's
biased attempts to maintain positive views of
him/her to protect or enhance self-esteem.
Thornton and Arrowood (1966), Hakmiller
(1966), and Wheeler (1966) found support
for the existence of a unidirectional drive
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upward, a self-enhancement motive, and

comparison to others who are dissimilar (i.e.
those of superior status) with respect to
personality traits. To determine what
motives are in existence, studies have
generally employed rank-order paradigms.
For example, Thornton and Arrowood
(1966) employed a rank-order paradigm in
which subjects were administered a bogus
personality test described as measuring
either a positive or negative trait. The
subjects received a bogus score on the
personality test and then indicated which
score in the rank ordering they wished to
see. The authors interpreted the results in
terms of self-evaluation and selfenhancement as motives for comparison to
others.
Upward comparisons occur when one makes
comparisons with others who are superior or
better off in some way. Thus, self-evaluation
is served when one evaluates his/herself
against a higher standard. Self enhancement
may also occur by avoiding social
comparison. This study concludes that girls
do compare themselves with the models
portrayed in the commercials. Erikson
(1968) wrote, "The individual judges
himself in light of what he perceives to be
the way others judge him in comparison to
themselves and to a typology significant to
them; while he judges their way of judging
him in light of how he perceives himself in
comparison to them and to types that have
become relevant to him." The idea that
social comparison affects self-esteem was
even implicit in Festinger's (1954) original
conception of social comparison theory.
The result says that the majority of the girls
from the selected population have a daily
opportunity to make upward comparison by
measuring themselves against some social
idea. Even though it can be made in positive
manner many of the girls took this into the
negative manner which motivates them to
proceed for a beautiful, youthful skin for a
long period.
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Evidence for the negative effects of women's

social comparison with media images is
plentiful. Research has found that women
who report frequently comparing themselves
to other women, especially women in the
media, are more likely to show signs of
negative mood and body image disturbance
(Schooler et al., 2004). Tiggemann and
Mcgill (2004) found that women
participants' brief exposure to media images
of females (11 images) led to increased
levels of body dissatisfaction and weight
anxiety. This finding is disturbing because
the number of images used in the study is far
less than what is present in any women's
magazine or shown in most television
programming.
Tiggemann and Slater (2003) found music
television to be a powerful instigator of the
social comparison process in young females.
Their study found that exposing girls to thin
and attractive images of women portrayed in
many music videos led to increased levels of
body image disturbance. In addition, the
study showed that videos portraying the thin
ideal triggered more self-reported social
comparison than control videos that did not
contain such images.
The extent to which females engage in social
comparison processing may be an important
indicator of whether they will be profoundly
impacted by exposure to ultra-thin media
images of women. The level at which a
woman reports comparing herself to other
females seems to be associated with the
level at which she internalizes the thin ideal.
Tiggemann and Mcgill (2004) found that
women who displayed high levels of social
comparison were more likely to be
negatively affected by exposure to different
forms of media. It has been proposed by
many researchers that social comparison
may be the mechanism by which unrealistic
media standards are translated into actual
body image disturbance in an individual.
Women who report higher levels of social
comparison are at greater risk to develop
extreme preoccupation with weight and
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appearance, and are also more likely to

display disordered eating patterns and/or
clinical eating disorders. This finding
suggests that programs aimed at decreasing
females' levels of social comparison may
have some efficacy; women who are taught
to not compare themselves to unrealistic
standards and be critical of images they see
in the media are less likely to internalize and
aspire to an unrealistic standard. Several
programs with such goals have been
researched, and evidence has shown that
such interventions seem to hold some
promise (Tiggemann & Slater, 2003).
climates to make sure the consumers stay

with them all through the year.
Uses and gratification says cosmetics

commercials are an outcome of individual
requirement sold out publicly by explaining
the category of the product users who fall
under various products. These cosmetic
commercials educate the needy about the
product for the first time and provide an
option to change the brand or product based
on the review or output of the product shared
by any media or the experience shared by
another product user.
The results based on Fathima college for

womens says that majority of the students
are affected by the media hype created by
the cosmetic commercials. In terms of social
comparison they make less comparison
unlike others they prefer upward comparison
with the female models. The level of self
esteem for this college girls are high and
they never get down of any product failures,
never worry about their skin. They found
themselves as natural beauty.
In order to know the motive of the consumer

towards the product advertisements comes
up with a lot so similar questions to
understand the behaviour of its target group.
In this research the product users faces direct
questions from the advertisers and are drawn
under the category in the which the
advertisers place them without their
knowledge e.g. lakme is registered in the
mind of consumers as a brand of royalty
where as ponds a brand for anyone who
seeks to be beautiful.
The results for Meenakshi government arts

and science college for womens says that
majority of the students are affected by the
media hype created by the cosmetic
commercials. Here the students irrespective
of age compare themselves with the models
or with the product users to self evaluate
their beauty. They love to buy product with
natural ingredients and gives a royal look.
Their level is self esteem to weak that they
openly agree the psychological pressure
created over them by the cosmetic
commercials.
Apart from this the respondents are taken

under categories of age, appearance, skin
colour and status to well demonstrate the
product which suits them the best. Based on
that they generate a list of items matching
their preference from various brands. The
brands also explain them what to use when
and under what condition should be used.
They even launch products based on
Every individual want to get special

preference in terms of beauty and these
advertises make well use of that. They
identify the requirements of the consumers
for their skin and offer various products to
repair and inhale the freshness of a young
and youthful skin. These are the factors
influence the decision of the buyer or the
target group or the respondents to stay with a
particular product and lose their self
confidence after the product failure.
The results for Ambika college of arts and

science says that majority of the students are
affected by the media hype created by the
cosmetic commercials. Here the students
make upward comparison at least once a day
to make sure they are beauty enough. To
them they trust only branded products in the
market which produces the output in a short
duration of time. There level of self esteem
P a g e | 238

is very low that they break down after the

product failure and lose self confidence in
them to face the real world.
The results of Lady Dock college says that
the majority of the students buying decision
on cosmetics based on the familiar brand
and often they get confused on a variety of
choices available in the market. Their results
say that products with natural ingredients are
highly preferable. They use cosmetics to
increase
social
and
employment
opportunities better than others to gain self
confidence. According to them self esteem
rests with their natural beauty. They never
worry about their skin without cosmetics but
it can be used to create more attraction
among a particular population.
The result based on St. George college says
that the majority of the students are affected
by the media jargon created by the cosmetic
commercials. They feel that the media
provides a numerous choices to make in but
confused with the reliability of the product.
To them cosmetic commercials persuade to
become like that model to gain self
confidence and to be the centre of attraction.
The natural ingredient gets the first
preference. Their level of self esteem is good
enough to try a new product if, the earlier
product fails to result the output claimed.
They can be with and without makeup which
doesnt even worry about them much.
CONCLUSION
The current study offered some meaningful
insights about the relationship between the
media and the consumers. The study started
to find the need of cosmetics in a city like
Madurai. Generally girls are fond of
makeovers and hence the cosmetics came
into the marketplace to sell their product, so
as to enhance womens beauty. After
television became a substitute of radio and
cinema as its said to be the audio visual
medium, it started providing various choice
of products based on the demand of the
consumer.
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As advertising started providing a wide

range of products it kept its viewers depend
on it for any product information. In such
case repetition of same products created an
impact towards the product users and finally
that particular product becomes the best
among the choice list of the consumers. The
television advertisements influence them to
purchase all the cosmetics shown so as to
create confusion. While buying a product the
brand name of a particular company
influences the buyers decision which
resulted in favourable situation.
These advertisements create a psychological
impact among the consumers on keep on
insisting about their skin, appearance, and
complexion makes them to go for a social
comparison with the equivalents. Based on
the results most of the respondents said that
they are under pressure of these
advertisements. To promote their product
which consists of one natural ingredient, it
repeats the same line again and again to
make the consumers believe that it goes with
nature and the usage of that product will not
harm their skin.
Once after a cosmetic advertisement is
shown in the television the buyer goes in
search of the result shared by any other
product user to cross check the output
claimed. But most of the time commercials
over claim their product to be the best in the
market to give a big shot to the consumer to
stay with them. This affects the faith of the
consumer towards the company in terms of
the output result.
Companies now a days comes up with a
short duration of output to attract the buyer.
The promises made by the companies are
blown up in the air after the usage of the
product. Respondents say that no immediate
result is noticed by the consumers as
promised by the advertisements. This itself
fails the product users to use it.
Often the promises made by the cosmetic
commercials, their duration of the product
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output, their target audience are always girls

especially those in between the age of 18
21. This is because a teen girl can always be
in need of a cosmetic to take care of her
because he steps out the school for the first
time and the 21 years old steps out the
college in
search
of employment
opportunity. This is the mantra for any
cosmetic commercial to target those people.
The research tried to find out the what will

be the reaction of the girls whose product
fails to give them the promised result, they
said next time while buying they will check
for the ingredients which now become
familiar after using a lot of brands. Some
said they will consult with a beautician to
find the nature of their skin then to decide
what suits well in them.
Advertisements are divided by the markets

into multiple categories to reach exactly the
user designed for their product. These users
are identified by the class group they fall
under due to socio economic status, colour,
appearance, physic, and finally the heat to
purchase the product. Based on these
categories only the target companys work
on the target population.
The very interesting part of this research is

how the girls compare themselves with the
models show in the cosmetic commercials.
They said that the direct comparison takes
place after the particular duration given by
the product is over. If no results come out
they go for the second level of comparison
attraction.
Most of the results based on the survey say

that people consider cosmetic commercials
as a media hype which makes the worse best
and the best worse. The valid point is many
of the respondents are clear in their need and
they never believe the advertisement to be
true but yes it persuades them for a moment
to get hold of that item. There is always an
objective behind every commercial e.g.
ponds want its customers to feel like a
family so that the adoption of the product in
that family becomes easier.
Recent day girls are less confident if its
about their skin. They always need a skin
specialist to explain and repair the damage
caused by the products. Especially when
their product fails they come to conclusion
that they should never use cosmetics to stay
away
from
negative
results.
The
immediately lose their self confidence and
start worrying about the side effects caused
by the failure product. They never want to
stay natural without cosmetics but can stay
with the side effects.
Very few girls
responded that they will definitely try for a
new product for a better result. After all its
just cosmetics not some internal damage.
Girls always needs some kind of attraction

to show off they are noticeable in a
population. They admire the same characters
to appear in their life to make it more
realistic to the advertisements seen like vivel
soap portrays a girl named dull divya who in
turn becomes dool after using vivel soap.
This kind of noticeable reaction they expect
from others.
Therefore the study concludes that in every
walk of life a girl crosses so many
advertisements irrespective to the subject.
By nature she develops the imagination
power and makes comparison from the
childhood. The development occurs when
she exposed to the advertisements and
realises it. The exposure to these
advertisements creates an influence in the
buying decision of the product user by
offering various products. The user after
trying every product expects to be the
perfect beauty, but in real there is no such
thing. So when the product fails
automatically a comparison arise in the mind
of the user.
When the user compares themselves socially
with the other then social comparison takes
place. They compare and the result found
makes them lose their level of confidence
P a g e | 240

resulting in lack of self esteem regarding

their beauty.
DISCUSSION
Lau et al. (2006), in his article mentioned
that there were seven factors that influenced
consumers brand loyalty towards certain
brands. The factors were brand name which
is in the market for a long period of time and
well know to the consumers, product quality
which depends upon the duration of the
output which companies in a competition
gives short period of time for a long impact
in the quality of the product, price decides
the quality of the product as per the
consumer good products are priced highly
well non branded products are low priced,
Design is the main factor which attracts the
user to decide whether to buy or not and
even makes a strong mark in the users mind
that whenever the decision of buying occur
they will remind the design of the product,
store environment play a important role in
placing the right product at the right place to
gain the consumer attention, promotion of a
product informs the consumer that this is the
right thing for which they searched for a
long time and finally the service quality and
the promise made by the company should be
maintained to get hold of the valued
consumer.
According to Kohli and Thakor (1997),
brand name is the creation of an image or
the development of a brand identity and is an
expensive and time consuming process. As
the consumer reminds a brand first with its
easy brand name and the correlation of that
brand with anything he would love to hear or
watch. It helps in developing a brand image
among the target population to remind the
name of the brand before it reaches the
market make the use wait to buy that.
According to Cash & Cash (1982), the
womens use of cosmetics was found to be
the public self consciousness which is
positively related with the use of cosmetics
regularly. Because for most of the women
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who lack self esteem are made to be self

conscious through cosmetics. He also states
that the adornments are used to blend into a
world of beauty these self-conscious women
do not fit into. So he concludes that a big
market around these womens and girls
where they are trapped to be inside to serve
the orders raised by the cosmetic companies.
Womens are more easily attracted to the
advertisements portraying girls are confident
enough any tough thing in the world. These
powerful tools of media provide them with
numerous choices to fulfil their purchase.
This is actually a reflection of the society
where all types of people live together, in
such case the culture of one people can be
easily copied by the other on being
impressive. This is how the media plays with
the general public in reality. The mass
media television, internet, radio,
newspapers, magazines and film is part of
our
everyday life. It is a powerful tool that
provides us with information and
entertainment. It
reflects our society and it influences the way
we think. (women and media, 2014).
The advertisements creates a measure which
can never be done by any normal girl in her
life time that she can become fair, wrinkle
free and confident in a very short duration.
A cosmetic company insists every girl to
make a routine of looking into the mirror to
check what kind of improvement she had
after using cosmetics or what she dont have
for which she seeks out the help of
cosmetics.For the most part, what a woman
observes in the mirror is what she uses as a
measure of her worth as a human being
(Lerner, Karabenick, & Stuart, 1973).
Girl in between the age of 18 21 are
considered to be the best target people to
make a try of any cosmetic products which
can provide them with better result. So girls
at this stage are said to be less confident
about themselves and go for a hunt to catch
P a g e | 241

up the thing which can add up their

confidence level to the next stage. The
qualitative data also indicated that women at
midlife did not seem to have higher levels of
self-esteem when they were in college than
contemporary young women. (Fritton,
2009).
Our society is made up of so many cultures
which always provide you a chance of
changing your preference to live with. This
is applicable for cosmetic commercials also,
as it deals with the culture their target people
are one among any one of the cultures in the
world. To gain their attention is to move
with the cultural background. According to
consumers while selecting cosmetics, culture
influences their selection. Cosmetics are
selected in the framework of personal
culture and rituals performed. Along with
that the language and symbol on the package
influences their selection. (Patil, 2012)
A cosmetic commercial mostly creates
psychological pressure among the girls to
feel that they are less confident without the
use of cosmetics. The commercials come up
with an idea beauty concept which no girl
can compete with in her entire life which
didnt even exist in the universe. When they
find this appearance to be impossible they
get down on themselves and begin to feel
inadequate, just as the model Britney felt.
For many girls depressed from the exposure
to the ultra thin air brushed pictures need to
be informed of the measures that are taken
to alter many images in advertisements in
order to clarify that humans do not naturally
look like those illustrations, therefore they
shouldnt compare their bodies with these
photo-shopped illusions of perfection (An
Intervention for the Negative Influence of
Media on Body Esteem, Haas et. al, 3).
Cosmetics are traditionally been confined to
the target population to feel the comfort
from an external thing, female consumers,
cosmetics have been traditionally used by
women to control their physical appearance
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and,
presumably,
their
physical
attractiveness. Although, the literature is by
no means voluminous, several researchers
have examined the psychological correlates
and consequences of cosmetic use (Cash
and Cash, 1982), (Miller and Cox, 1982),
(Graham and Kligman, 1985) (Cash et al.,
1985), ( Cox and Glick, 1986), ( Etcoff,
1999).
Cash (1980), reviewed some of the available
research evidence and, from a selfpresentational perspective, argued that
cosmetics use specifically and grooming
behaviours in general function to manage
and control not only social impressions but
also self-image (for example, body image
which differs from every single girl to the
other, self-perceptions, and mood states that
they are ready for a try on a new product).
According to Kashima (2000) Core values of
any country shape its national culture.
Culture can be conceptualized as dynamic
production and reproduction of meaning by
concrete individuals activities in particular
contexts. To maintain a culture is like
proving the one to be in the nation where all
follow one rule to survive.
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The Impact of Cosmetic Advertisements in Television: A Study Among College Girl Students Self - Esteem and Beauty

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