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Defense of Master’s Thesis:
Part I:
Findings on Why the Marketing to Women of
an Unattainable Ideal is So Successful
Part II:
What we can do About It:
The Social Marketing Challenge
By
Iris Jumbe
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Krems a.d. Donau
2/19
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This presentation will explore:
Part I
• The problem with the current beauty ideal
• Key findings among women based on thesis research and secondary data
Part II
• How women can reclaim the definition of beauty
• The 5 P’s: product, place, price, promotion and politics!
• Takeaway & Conclusion
3/19
Part I:
Findings on Why the Marketing to Women of an Unattainable
Ideal is So Successful
4/19
The Problem with the Current Beauty Ideal
Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuN4KB1xzDU&feature=g-hist
Literature Review
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The Effectiveness of Traditionally And Realistically Attractive Models In Fashion And
Beauty Advertising?
Buyology: An Analysis Of Why And How We Buy
Beauty and Consumer-Generated Advertising
Beauty and Feminism
The Beauty Mirage
Age and the Pursuit of Beauty
The Influence of the Herd
How Advertising and the Media Depict Women
The Role of Men
The Business and Homogenization of Beauty
Regulating Cosmetics Advertising
Beauty and Race
6/19
Self-Image, Habits and Current Memory
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Maintaining an attractive appearance through enhancement is a regular and immovable part of
women’s lives
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Women get internal and external benefits from beauty
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As women age, the value of B&PC products takes on a more abstract, but equally important,
meaning
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When some non-white women picture archetypical beauty, they picture women of a race
different to their own
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Race and age affect women’s self-image.
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Attitudes
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There are some very dramatic statistics which show how some women are held hostage by the idea of
beauty.
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Women are fully aware of the unrealistic idea portrayed by advertising and they disagree with digital
manipulation
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This condemnation of manipulation of images does not extend to a change in purchasing behaviors.
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Most women consider themselves immune to advertising.
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While women do want more regulation of beauty ads, they do not want the promotion of unrealistic
beauty curtailed.
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Motivations, Needs & Values
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Women use B&PC products to achieve multiple aims
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They are driven by different factors to start and stop using certain brands
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There is a gap between expectation of beauty products and satisfaction with it
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Women still perceive beauty and personal care as a gender-specific domain.
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The use of TAMs works because it feeds into wish fulfillment.
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Race and age are the areas where women would like to see more diversity.
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Perceptions, Beliefs, Knowledge and The Role of Men
When women perceive beauty, they see through the male gaze
Women today are both wary and weary of feminism.
Fashion
Industry
Plastic
Surgeon
s
Romantic
Interests
B&PC
Co’s
Media
10/19
Who’s to Blame?
Blame the media. They promote
and reinforce unattainable ideals
that lower self-satisfaction and can
have other harmful psychosocial
effects
Blame society. The media is only
depicting what our tastes are. In the
same way that high prices reflect high
demand for products and services,
unrealistic media portrayals of beauty
reflect the consumer’s own desires.
11/19
12/19
Part II:
What we can do About It
The Social Marketing Challenge
“Social Marketing is the application of commercial marketing concepts and tools to
influence the voluntary behavior of target audiences to improve their lives or the
society of which they are a part.”
—Alan Andreasen, Marketing Professor, McDonough School of Business, Georgetown, 2011
13/19
Women Must Change The Way They Perceive Beauty!
The exact same product
can be viewed in a
totally different context
– by choice!
How can this be achieved?
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If they are unaware…
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If they are aware but not doing anything to change…
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If they are aware but do not want to change…
Education
Social Marketing
Law
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Social Marketing:
A Model for Interventions that Facilitate Change
What is the
health problem?
What actions
could reduce the
problem?
WHY THEY
WANT TO DO IT
WHO MUST
ACT TO
RESOLVE
PROBLEM
HOW YOU TELL ABT
THE WHAT, WHY, WHERE,
AND HOW
Price
Promotion
WHERE (HOW)
THEY CAN
DO BEHAVIOR
Place
WHAT ACTION
MUST BE TAKEN
Product or Behavior
POLICY/RULES THAT
INFLUENCE THE ACTION
Policy, rules, legislation
Social Marketing as a Model for Interventions that Facilitate Change
Susan D. Kirby, 1995
15/19
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A greater sense of wellbeing
A louder voice in the dialog on beauty
A wider diversity of beauty in society
Higher confidence and self-esteem for
young girls, teenagers and grown
women
Policies should be put in place
that invite voluntary change – not
force it. E.g. Schools that initiate
and promote healthy lifestyles
can get more funding
Product
Politics
Price
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Magazine covers
Via a celebrity’s social
media account.
Informal discussion at
home
Group discussion at
school
At the doctor’s
Point of purchase displays
Promotion
Internal recalibration
Narrower range of products
No high end brands for a while
A feeling of downgrading
Place
Every single socialization
channel – family, friends,
school, media, culture
A New Definition of Beauty!
Anything that emphasizes one
specific type of body shape,
height, breast size, age, eye
color, hair color, hip-to-waist
ratio etc.
Takeaway and Conclusion
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Society places too much value on beauty as defined through a single, very limited
standard
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This ideal costs women a lot: economically, emotionally and in terms of physical
health
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Having half a population straining under this single standard has its own
socioeconomic costs
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The change has to start with the consumer – as individuals and as groups