Make up your mind about makeup
The use of makeup originally started because of hygiene and evolved as one of many methods used to enhance beauty. Today, it is a multi-billion-dollar business. As sad as it is, more and more people think they’re just not beautiful without it. Is advertising responsible for this? Or should we all blame Cleopatra?
In my years of existence, I’ve discovered that girls who wear makeup become younger and younger. I once was a preschool teacher and I had a 5-year-old student who would often tell me what makeup she’s wearing that day. There was a pinch in my heart when she answered my question as to why she wears make-up: “because I don’t look pretty without it.” This girl would also tell me she’s on a diet and showed me her collection of pre-teen magazines with her favourite child models in them.
Let’s debunk this situation, shall we? She’s a beautiful 5-year-old girl who’s straight up insecure and she already has a collection of magazines with other girls she wants to look like. If you’ve read “Advertising: A source of insecurity”, you’d know that advertising did affect me when I was younger. Can we say the same for makeup advertisers? But makeup has been there long before people began to advertise and commercialise it.
It’s become another thing that doesn’t need to be advertised because a lot of people would buy makeup regardless of its price, the harm it may cause to the skin, whether it’s been tested on animals or not, and so on. But the advertising message that is put out regarding makeup is the idea that you will look like a certain model or celebrity if you use these products – ensuring that you’ll be worthy to be on the cover of magazines, with millions of likes and followers on social media, and all that jazz.
Don’t get me wrong, I know a lot of people who enjoy it, are passionate for it, and treat the face as a canvas but what I want to tell you today is with or without makeup – YOU ARE A MASTERPIECE! You were born into a society that emphasises face value, and you now live in a world full of advertising that profits from this. But the question is, does society dictate what companies are allowed to advertise or do we look at advertisements and set it as the standard for modern day beauty?
Make-up isn’t a quick fix for insecurity. Insecurity is something every one of us should deal with, admit, and hopefully one day let go of.
At the end of the day, you still get to choose what to believe – and what I believe is we all have something good about ourselves. Being the only you in a world with billions of people, being unique is such beautiful thing. So why do we need to conform? Looking beyond what society and advertising dictates is a bold move that I think everyone should embrace.
