Speaking and writing about the one dimensional beauty industry agenda revolves around the bombardment of images that constantly tell us that we are not good enough until we buy their products. Using a “anti-aging” advertisement, we can even see a clear distinct alteration to the photo that is make it most obviously computer generated and now inherently fake. Yet we continue to buy these snake oil merchandises in the hopes that we will see benefits like the make believe images that portray them.
Taking a look at another anti aging advertisement, we can notice a connection between cultural beauty and obvious physical age. An older look is portrayed with a dull and grayish tone, as seen in the first image posted, while the younger looking image is bright and the color white is used extraordinarily persuasively for the images that mean to be appealing towards the consumer.
This ageism attitude towards beauty gives a fleeting and decaying currency the means to provide women with status in Western culture (Clarke, 2017). For example, one of the most prestigious women featured in monthly magazines is Jennifer Aniston. This actress seemed to have defied aging and therefore, defied the decay of her class status as other actress who’s careers started at the same level at the same time have all but crashed and burned. In fact, women in general are hardly ever held to such a high regard as when they are pretty.
When “famous american women” is put into google, more than 90% of the results are either young and attractive actresses, athletes, or musicians and half the time they aren’t even ranked by their talent. Looking at a timeline of the development of these attitudes, we are living at an all time high of sexist cultural attitudes towards the sexualization of women, which I think is perpetuated by females. This perpetuation does have links, however, to the image bombardment of beauty culture.
Whether women, and men, realize it or not, they are constantly being conditioned to foster attitudes that are dependent on the beauty product suppliers. A revenue based, brainwashing war has been waged on American society by people who have doctorates in human sociology and psychology and an almost limitless supply of funding. A resistance in needed in everyone’s mind to fight and destroy these destructive attitudes and images that weasel their way into our thoughts and subconscious.
Clarke, L. H. (2017). Women, Aging, and Beauty Culture: Navigating the Social Perils of Looking Old. Generations, 41(4), 104-108.