Different Cultures Of Cosmetics Across The World And Their Meaning (Essay Sample)

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Cosmetics culture
Cosmetics are also referred to as make-ups. They are mainly used to enhance looks and appearances. Some may be natural products, but most are synthetic. Over the years, cosmetic products have gained widespread popularity and are now a multi-billion dollar company. Cosmetics date way back in History more than 5000 years ago, and there is evidence of ancient Sumerians of both sexes wearing Lipstick. Between 3000 and 1500 BC women from the Indus Valley have been recorded to wear colored lipstick to enhance their beauty. Cosmetics culture is very popular in our society today and is even considered as a form of art these days. Through it, people can express themselves especially their ideas and opinions. Human behavior, attitude and opinions towards cosmetics largely show someone's values, cultural and religious affiliations, societal status and relations within society. This indicates that the culture of cosmetics has slowly interwoven itself into our society and is now a part and parcel of it.
Globally, the Cosmetics Industry is made up of six different categories of products, and skincare f make the largest one amongst them. Skin care products include body lotions and facial makeup amongst others. Skin care products alone account for about 35.3% of the industry as a whole. In the Cosmetics market, five principal actors generally dominate the industry, and they include; L'Oreal, Unilever, Procter and Gamble, Estee Lauder and Shiseido. New markets such a Japan in Asia and several African countries and players regarding companies are also being experienced across the globe. The consumers of cosmetic products are mainly women but also recently men seem to be embracing the use of make-up. The age group that makes up most of the consumers is mainly comprised of people that have already hit puberty. Because of this reason, some researchers have come up with the idea that people most of the reasons why people use cosmetics are emotional either to boost their self-esteem or to seek appreciation from those they relate with on a daily basis. Looking at the consumption of cosmetic products, it is evident that people wear cosmetics because looking good is imperative to them especially facial care and appearance. (Journal of Social and Development Science, 2013). Imperatively, it comes to consumption of cosmetic products; there is a very strong relationship between age group and types of cosmetics used. There is also a strong correlation between influencing factors and types of products used. Fairness cream, for example, is a popular among teens and adolescents while anti-aging creams are popular among older citizens especially Cosmetics Culture-Advertising, consumption and Contemporary Culture
That come from well-to-do backgrounds because most of these products are not necessarily cheap and would require one to have a reasonable amount of disposable income.
Cosmetic advertising basically refers to the general promotion of cosmetics in order to increase popularity and awareness amongst the target audience. The primary purpose of advertising cosmetic products is to increase sales. The cosmetics industry is very competitive, and this is why the main players in this industry often heavily invest in product advertisements. Advertisement for cosmetics is usually very sensitive to cultural and ethnic ideals and carefully crafted and created to suit the targeted consumers. A good example is that advertisements for a cosmetic product in America would be quite different from the one that would be used in South East Asia. Those advertisements that are highly adaptive to local culture are the ones that are more likely to generate more income through sales. Media plays a very enormous and fundamental role when it comes to advertisements for cosmetic products. The media is known to idolize a particular type of beauty, one that is perfect and it continuously feeds these ideas of perfection in women and with increasing expenditure by large enterprises on an advertisement, an increase in purchases is also seen. This is because women are pressured to meet the set standards of beauty. This is also where the question of ethics and cosmetics advertisements comes in. More often than not, cosmetic advertisements make women feel less beautiful and dissatisfied with their appearances because the images portrayed on adverts, billboards, magazines are beyond perfection hence the pressure to keep buying these products with a hope of improving their looks to achieve the idealized standards. There have been cases concerning the beauty brought about by cosmetics. It is reported that a husband sued his wife for not having make-up because since he met her he had never seen her without make-up and this made her look different and ugly to him. He claimed to have been fooled by her artificial look .make up should have standards and applied with the right measure. However, these standards are mostly unrealistic and unachievable in reality. Despite increasing cosmetic use, most of these adverts do not bring into public knowledge scientific information regarding their products and it is paramount for clients and customers to take time and look at the scientific information, allergens and other chemicals found in these products. (Van Thompson, 2016)
The art of beauty and cosmetics has evolved with culture and different times have experienced different ideas of what the ideal cosmetic look should be. When taking a look back at History, this phenomenon is very evident. Cleopatra vii, who was from the Ptolemy’s is known for having a milk bath and is even credited with having a book of Beauty secrets. The Egyptians are widely recognized for their art of facial makeup especially eye makeup. The Greeks are known to have had concepts of beauty enhancement in their cultures. In the 19th century, Queen Victoria's reign as Queen of England saw makeup evolve into being formal, respected and decorous. This evolution has been evident over the years, and it is not about to stop. Contemporary culture basically refers to the common themes of art, literature, political, ideological and religious views in the present. In our society today, cosmetic and the ideas of makeup and beauty are a huge part of the contemporary culture of our society. Hence, it is very important to look at how they are related. Cosmetic products are often used to mask flaws such as zits, pimples, and uneven skin tones. This has rapidly led to the popularization of foundations and concealers that hide flaws. Cosmetics today are also widely accepted across the world to people from different ethnic backgrounds and products are being constantly created to suit each one of them with their di...