Cosmopolitan was NOT Playboy

Helen Gurley Brown is quoted as saying; "A guy reading Playboy can say, 'Hey, That's me.' I want my girl to be able to say the same thing." She claimed that she wanted her readers to see themselves as "upwardly mobile sexual agents," and imagined that she created a new place for her readers outside of the "male-oriented American Dream," but Brown actually perpetuated the social standard that a woman must marry and be supported by a man.

Brown's claim about Playboy struck me more than any of the similarities I saw between Brown's Cosmopolitan and the modern one. Did she really believe that the magazine was the equivalent of Playboy for a female reader? Was she simply deluded as to the end that her magazine achieved?

Playboy was leading the "male revolt," telling men that they did not need to share their success, but rather to lead licentious lives of excess. Cosmopolitan did not tell women that they could be independent of men and lead their own lives. Instead it was completely focused on how to "lure" the most "eligible" men. Granted, the magazine gave women unprecedented sexual license, however, that freedom was to be used to eventually snag a husband.

Cosmo's superficial attempts at presenting a Playboy image.

Gendering Roles in Clinique Advertising

Kirkham and Weller’s article, Cosmetic:s A Clinique Case Study, examines the gendering of Clinique toiletry for men and women and how advertising affects the gendering coding of the products. There are a variety of factors , from product packaging to the informative text, that play a significant role in the breakdown of distinguishing male an d female advertising. One of the significant factors in the presentation of products for both men and women are the use of colour in the advertisements. “Cosmetic advertisements frequently use colour as an ‘objective correlation,’ that is, the colour of a product and its surroundings are used to link and enhance the qualities and style of that product. Not surprisingly, therefore, colour plays an important role in the gender differentiation of Clinique products”(269). The packagings for men are mostly dark colors. The grays, midnight blues, blacks, dark greens are the dominant colours that we see on the bottles or tubes. These colors are associated with the seriousness and “matter of fact” tone that underlies masculinity. In comparison, the packaging for women are presented in transparent bottles with colours than vary in pastel and softer colours including baby pinks, yellows, creams, and light blues. These colours are chosen to enhance the feelings of gentleness, softness, elegance, purity, and other female attributes that define “femininity.” The advertising conventions are not limited to the packaging but are equally affirmed in the product itself. “The flat cake of ‘male’ soap is ivory whereas the rounder, softer-shaped bar of ‘women’s’ soap is more yellow” (269). Cosmetics are created in a way to offer simplicity yet an attractive appearance for women; because women want to be perceived as “beautiful, charming, sensitive to the touch, glowing, and radiant.” Kirkham and Weller model the effectiveness advertising has on both men and women.

Gender Marketing

In Pat Kirkham and Alex Wellers article, Cosmetics - A Clinque Case Study they touch on the advertisement tactics of gender marketing. In this article Kirkham and Wellers discuss the ways in which companies, and in this case, CLINQUE, use gender marketing to target their intended audience. They use tactics such as color choice – products directed towards woman generally use softer colors and overall are more aesthetically pleasing. Kirkman and Wellers write, “The products look as beautiful and feminine as the beauty and femininity they promise the beholder/purchaser” (269). In this quote they are saying that by using the beautiful and feminine looking products will bring those traits just by using the products. As woman want to buy products that are “pretty” and “soft” men pretty much want the exact opposite. Maybe because of the stereotype that says that men shouldn’t be buying cosmetic products, they are more prone to buying products that are “manly” and ones, which don’t sound too much like their using “make up” or cosmetics.

It is interesting in this CLINQUE advertisement the portrayal of the “everyday” person wearing CLINQUE perfume/cologne, male and females. Not only does this advertisement portray that the everyday person wears this product but also that you will be “happy” if you wear it, considering the name of the product is Happy. Both females and males are in the ad portraying that the product is directed toward both audiences, being happy perfume and happy cologne.

In conclusion it is very interesting reading about the tactics companies, and especially toiletries companies use to target males and females. Kirkman and Wellers make a valid point/observation, “The woman reader can equate the beauty, sexuality, or pleasure she will achieve with the aesthetics and attributes of the product; with the sexuality of the (beautifully photographed) full, red lipstick and with the softness of the baby-pink blusher (271). It is amazing how woman think that buying beautiful products will make them beautiful. While woman buy products to make them “beautiful” men buy products to make them “manly” which is why companies use masculine colors for their products.

Gender Coding

Kirkham and Weller’s article “Cosmetics: A Clinique Case Study”, exhibits the different gendering techniques of companies who have toiletry products on the market for both men and women. They argue that “the differences between advertisements for male toiletries and female toiletries are marked and, to a certain degree, conform to certain binary oppositions which are generally accepted to relate to men and women” (269). For example, there are extreme differences in the advertisements for the popular brand Nivea, which has skin care products for both genders. To begin with, you wouldn’t even know these two advertisements came from the same company. In contrast, the snapshot of the welcome page for Nivea Men is exploding with action, whereas an ad for Nivea body lotion for women is much more out of focus and bland. True to the article, the women’s ad has little copy, as opposed to the men’s where even the products have a specific name and there is a long description at the bottom of the page. With the women’s ad, “the product becomes the signifier of feeling through conventions such as color, [and] light…which evoke a series of affective responses including freshness and pleasure” (271). It is also important to note that the copy of the men’s Nivea ad empowers them stating that “men understand that looking their best is crucial to conquering life’s everyday challenges and that Nivea for Men can help them achieve success” as opposed to the Nivea ad for cream where the copy is subjective to women “touch and be touched”.