Encyclopedia of Women in

Today's World The Multimedia

Encyclopedia of Women in
Today's World
Cosmetics Industry

Contributors: Julie E. Dowsett

Edited by: Mary Zeiss Stange, Carol K. Oyster & Jane E. Sloan
Book Title: Encyclopedia of Women in Today's World The Multimedia Encyclopedia
of Women in Today's World
Chapter Title: "Cosmetics Industry"
Pub. Date: 2011
Access Date: February 27, 2016
Publishing Company: SAGE Publications, Inc.
City: Thousand Oaks
Print ISBN: 9781412976855
Online ISBN: 9781412995962
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781412995962.n181
Print pages: 346-348
 ©2011 SAGE Publications, Inc.. All Rights Reserved.
This PDF has been generated from SAGE Knowledge. Please note that the
pagination of the online version will vary from the pagination of the print book.
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Copyright © 2011 by SAGE Publications, Inc.

Women in Poland examine their options in the cosmetic department. According

to research, beauty and personal care in Poland were resistant to the economic
slowdown with total sales showing a growth in 2009.

The cosmetics industry sells products designed to temporarily change a person's

appearance. A growing segment of the industry, “cosmeceuticals” (a blend of
cosmetics and pharmaceuticals), promise longer-lasting changes. Whether fleeting or
more enduring, the changes the industry promises tend to correspond to prevailing
standards of beauty, that is, youthful, thin, and quite often white. Cosmetics are a
multibillion-dollar industry in the United States and worth $45 billion globally. Women
around the world are marketed a wide array of cosmetic products and remain the
largest consumer group, although in recent years an increasing number of cosmetic
products have been marketed to and consumed by men. Feminism has long been
associated with a critical view of the cosmetics industry.

Today, there are a range of feminist perspectives on cosmetics, and many

contemporary feminists call attention to the relationship between cosmetics and
identity. Indeed, the cosmetics industry is important because whether or not women
identify as feminists, for those with access to cosmetics, the use, manner of use, or
nonuse of cosmetics is a statement. There are several issues related to the global
cosmetics industry: first, the vast scope of products sold to women and men; second,
the mass marketing of cosmetics and critiques of “hucksterism” (the claiming that a
product will evoke changes that it could not possibly accomplish) that persistently dog
the industry; and finally, critiques of racism in that products are often designed to make
the consumer more closely resemble a white or European ideal. The industry's
response to the various critiques will also be examined.

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Cosmetic and “Cosmeceutical” Products

Today, there is a vast scope of cosmetic products sold to women and men around the
world. Cosmetic products sold to women include those associated with skin (such as
creams, lotions and skin lightening products), hair (shampoos, conditioners, mousse,
hair spray, hair dyes, permanent wave solutions, and hair straightening products), nails
(nail polish and artificial nails), bathing (bath oils and bubble baths), in addition to the
variety of face paints and powders known as “makeup” (lipstick, eyeliner, mascara,
concealer, foundation, face powder, blush, and eye shadow). Cosmetic products sold
to men (which also have women's versions) have until recently been limited to hair
products, fragrances, deodorants, shaving products, mouthwashes, and sunscreens.

However, with changing conceptions of masculinity in the 2000s (such as the rise of the
“metrosexual” man in urban North America and Europe who takes great care with his
appearance) products sold to men today include eye gel, exfoliating facial scrubs, and
even face paints and powders such as brow and eyelash gel, eye shadow, eyeliner, lip
gloss, and concealer. To avoid unduly blurring prevailing conceptions of gender
difference (and the reduced appeal to many male consumers such blurring might
entail), these products are usually marketed as “skin care” or “grooming products”
rather than cosmetics or makeup. Although some of the above products for women and
men are used for bodily cleanliness, soap itself is not considered a cosmetic. In
addition to selling more products to men, the cosmetics industry has expanded in
recent years by offering an increasingly wide scope of products dubbed
“cosmeceuticals.”

Cosmeceuticals as a marketing term, along with most cosmeceutical products, first

appeared in the United States in the 1990s. Today, cosmeceuticals are sold in an
increasing number of countries. Some products that would today be classified as
cosmeceuticals predate the 1990s, such as baldness treatments for men and skin-
lightening products for women. Cosmeceuticals contain biologically active ingredients
that claim to evoke longer-lasting changes to “problems” (for example, wrinkles, stretch
marks, cellulite, acne, mild scarring, and uneven pigmentation) that cosmetics only
temporarily conceal. In a similar manner to cosmetics more generally, cosmeceuticals
in the 2000s are not only sold to women but increasingly to men as well. Such products
include antiwrinkle and other “antiaging” creams, microdermabrasion products (which
contain an abrasive substance to “sand down” the outer layer of the skin), and mild
chemical peels (chemical solutions that cause dead skin to fall or peel off are mixed
into facial washes and creams). The latter two products involve processes more
commonly done by doctors and aestheticians; however, weaker forms of
microdermabrasion and chemical peels are increasingly available for home use.
Although cosmetic and cosmeceutical products continue to be produced and sold by
small local manufacturers and merchants, the expansion of the global cosmetics
industry in the 21st century has much to do with the large multinational corporations
spending vast amounts of money on marketing to reach both mass and specialized
markets.

Marketing and Critiques of Hucksterism

The use of cosmetics has a long history, and with advent of mass marketing, a set of
diverse cultural practices became a global industry. The history of the use of cosmetics
dates back 40,000 years, that is, for as long as people have adorned their faces and

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bodies. Many cultures around the world have made extensive use of cosmetics. Some
cosmetics have contained dangerous ingredients, such as lead, which the ancient
Romans, ancient Egyptians, and Elizabethan English slathered on their faces.
Cosmetics became common among the European upper classes by the 18th century.
The greatest expansion of cosmetics use (to include more than the wealthy) occurred in
the 20th century with the development of modern marketing techniques.

By the 1920s, marketing techniques for cosmetics were developed that continue to be
used today: namely, appealing to women's feelings of insecurity (about their bodies,
financial situation and relationship or marital status), utilizing popular actresses to sell
products, and equating cosmetics with women's liberation (originally through the image
of the liberated flapper). Advertising cosmetic products, including skin-lightening
cream, as a form of female empowerment is done more often than not today. Critics
would understand such marketing as serving to diffuse well-known feminist critiques of
the beauty industry, such as that of the author Naomi Wolf. The industry contends
marketers are merely keeping up with the changing roles of women in contemporary
society.

The use of cosmeceuticals has a short history that does not predate the marketers of
modern multinational corporations. The development and marketing of products that
obscure the differences between cosmetics and pharmaceuticals are a result of
mergers and acquisitions across the previously separate biotechnology, cosmetics,
and pharmaceutical industries. Before the advent of cosmeceuticals, cosmetic
products were understood to involve temporary changes to one's appearance (such as
covering liver spots on the skin), while more permanent changes (such as removing
these spots entirely) would be classified as a drug. Cosmeceuticals create regulatory
difficulties for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the United States and similar
government agencies in other countries because it is unclear whether cosmeceuticals
are cosmetics or drugs. Although, the term cosmeceuticals was invented by marketers
in the industry, they continue to insist that cosmeceuticals are cosmetics, as cosmetics
are subject to less strenuous testing and regulation than pharmaceuticals. The
cosmetics industry has a vested interest in keeping cosmeceuticals subject to less
regulation. Today, the global market for thigh creams alone, the effectiveness of which
is questionable, is worth $90 million.

The cosmetics industry is often associated with hucksterism. In her history of

cosmetics, Teresa Riordan notes that this is not a new phenomenon. For example, a
variety of breast creams were sold in the late 19th century with the claim that regular
use would increase size. The cosmetics industry has been associated with hucksterism
not only because of promises not kept, but because they have proven harmful to
women. Women have died for beauty, and much more recently than those who spread
lead and mercury on their faces in preindustrial Europe.

For example, the United States Congress only began to regulate the cosmetics industry
in 1938 after several cases of deaths, disfigurations, and blindness that were directly
attributed to cosmetics. Today, most cosmetics are fairly safe for people without
allergies (with some exceptions, including skin-lightening creams containing mercury).
Most cosmetics have far too little biologically active ingredients to be harmful, but at the
same time, many have far too little to be effective. “Angel dusting” is a common
contemporary form of hucksterism. This practice involves including a tiny amount of an
active ingredient so the cosmetic can be marketed as containing that ingredient;

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however, the amount is insufficient to cause any measurable impact. Products are
marketed using scientific-sounding language and images that suggest long-lasting
results. However, the language is rarely definite: products are marketed as changing
the “appearance of” or “look of” “imperfections” such as wrinkles. Marketers are careful
to avoid stating that the product actually contains enough of the active ingredient to
produce such results; that is to be assumed by the purchaser.

Products for Women of Color and Critiques of Racism

Racist constructions of beauty that privilege whiteness and “European” facial features
date back to European colonialism, and continue to be profitable for the cosmetics
industry today. British colonialists in India believed there to be different “races” of
Indians and thought those with lighter-colored skin were evolutionarily superior and
more beautiful. Similarly, American cartoons during and after slavery portrayed
exaggerated characteristics of African Americans to promote white supremacy.

The impact of colonialism can be seen in cosmetic products designed to help women
of color strive for a white European ideal. These products include skin bleaching and
lightening products and hair straightening products. For example, in the United States
from the late 1900s to the 1950s, skin bleaching and hair straighteners were advertised
with names such as No Kink, Imperial Whitener, Mme. Turner's Mystic Face Bleach,
and Black Skin Remover. Although these products have been severely criticized, they
are not a thing of the past in the United States or elsewhere (including Mexico, Peru,
Bolivia, Venezuela, Nigeria, Mali, Zimbabwe, South Africa, India, the Philippines,
Japan, China, and Korea). The global market for skin-lightening products has exploded
in the 21st century, and constitutes a multibillion-dollar industry. Although, some of these
products are sold by smaller regional corporations, most are sold by multinational
corporations. As such, skin-lightening products are not only a legacy of colonialism but
also a consequence of the expansion of multinational corporations and Western
consumer culture.

In a similar manner to the white face paints of the ancients and the early modern
Europeans, many modern skin-lightening products contain toxic ingredients including
mercury. Many of the products containing mercury sold in Africa are manufactured in the
European Union, with the most production happening in Ireland and Italy. It is legal to
produce such products as long as they are not sold in the European Union (although
many African shops in Dublin and other European cities carry them). Similarly, Mexican
-manufactured products containing mercury have caused outbreaks of mercury
poisoning in American states (where mercury products are illegal) including Texas,
New Mexico, Arizona, and California.

The cosmetics industry offers two responses to critiques of racism. First, they point to
the many cosmetic products made for women of color are not designed to lighten skin
or straighten hair. In fact, African American beauty products have provided
opportunities for African American entrepreneurs, many of whom are women, and many
of whom have refused to sell these products. Second, those in the industry that do sell
these products tend to use the language of choice and aesthetic preference. Whether
or not such language obscures the issue that what women do with their bodies is highly
informed by a culture that values youth and the slender body and devalues bodies of
color continues to be a matter of debate.

• cosmetics

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• skin
• mercury
• hair
• industry
• skin cream
• products (marketing)

Julie E. Dowsett York University

http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781412995962.n181
See Also:

• Advertising Aimed at Women

• Advertising, Portrayal of Women in
• Beauty Standards, Cross-Cultural
• Body Image
• Cosmetic Surgery
• “Femininity,” Social Construction of
• Feminism
• Representation of Women
• Stereotypes of Women
• Women's Magazines.

Further Readings
Berry, Bonnie Beauty Bias: Discrimination and Social Power. Westport, CT: Praeger,
2007.
Glenn, E. N. “Yearning for Lightness: Transnational Circuits in the Marketing and
Consumption of Skin Lighteners.” Gender & Society v.22/3 (2008).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0891243208316089
Riordan, Teresa Inventing Beauty. New York: Broadway Books, 2004.
Wolf, Naomi The Beauty Myth. New York: Vintage, 1997.

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