The Cosmetic Industry: Selling Illusion

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The Cosmetic Industry: Selling Illusion

The makeup industry is booming these days. With the ability to make skin appear smoother, eyelashes look longer, and make lips a different color, makeup continues to create a distorted reality for people around the world. The cosmetic industry is still going strong because our culture continues to promote its use. For example, women are expected to wear makeup for certain occasions. They are expected to wear makeup at work, when they go out to eat, and nearly every other situation that involves an appearance in public. If a woman is seen not wearing makeup in public, then she is considered a deviant, and others look down on her.

The entire makeup market, the value of eye, lip, nail and face makeup, was $23.7 billion in 1998. This market has also experienced a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.7 percent from 1994 to 1998. (Bucalo) One obvious explanation for this large value of the industry is that makeup is extremely appealing to consumers. It is a great way to cover up the imperfections in one's appearance. The "need" to cover the imperfections in our face and skin is magnified by the importance that is placed on looking beautiful. It is sad, but many times people are judged by their appearance. People realize this and strive to improve themselves with makeup. They feel it is necessary to put on a mask when presenting themselves to the public because they fear that they may be inaccurately judged if they do not.

Makeup has other uses, too. There are some circumstances that call for the distortion of reality, such as movies. An actor can represent a character much better with a little distortion of his true appearance. Sometimes the story line takes place over an extended period of time. An actor may need to change their appearance from young to old throughout the course of the movie. Makeup can also make it easier for a movie to seem more realistic. Can you imagine how lame Star Wars or Dracula would have been if the actors had played the parts without change from their natural appearance?

Clowns also seem to have a convincing argument that makeup is useful in their line of work. In fact, the makeup that a clown wears is characteristic of their job description. A clown without makeup is like a fish out of water. Makeup is so useful for clowns because an unchanging mood can be put on their face.

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