English A: Language and Literature Miranda Garcia Avila

Session: May 2016 Candidate No. 04690 0009

How and why is a social group represented in a particular way?

Throughout the first decade of the 1900’s, Woodbury’s Facial Soap sales only seemed to
decrease each year. This changed in May, 1910 with a new advertising campaign directed
by Helen Lansdowne which used as its slogan “A skin you love to touch”. The sensuality
contained in the slogan could go unnoticed in comparison to today’s role of sex in
advertising but this campaign is considered to be the first one to use sexual appeal as a
selling point. Woodbury’s soap advertisement “A skin you love to touch”, portrays women
who buy the product with characteristics related to modernity and sensuality as well as the
perpetuated ideal of beauty in order to appeal to female public desires and persuade them
to buy the product.

The advertisement portrays aspirational models for women in order for them to relate
buying the product with reaching a particular beauty standard or attaining a certain social
status and sexual power. The title of the advertisement reads “A skin you love to touch can
be yours when you understand the skin and its needs”, which is stated directly to the
consumers and focuses on their desires. The statement emphasizes the possibility of
obtaining “A skin you love to touch”, but the text is complemented by the visual elements in
the advertisement. The Eurocentric ideal of beauty had already been stablished long
before women started playing a role in advertising industry but it was mostly perpetuated
because the main target audience of the magazines in which most of the beauty products
advertisements appeared was mainly formed by middle-class, white women1. It might
appear rather contradictory that this ideal of beauty (which was almost entirely focused on
what men desired) was presented as a mayor priority and perpetuated in this
advertisement, given that most of the women in the Women’s Editorial Department had
been part of the suffrage movement. Considering however that advertising was a male-
dominated industry, in order to appeal to great masses, the advertisements had to appeal
to traditional and accepted social constructs.

1 Sutton, D. H. (2009). Globalizing ideal beauty: How female copywriters of the J. Walter Thompson Advertising Agency
redefined beauty for the twentieth century. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
English A: Language and Literature Miranda Garcia Avila
Session: May 2016 Candidate No. 04690 0009

One of the main characteristics of advertising from the 1900’s to the 1920’s was
acknowledging the consumer’s needs and offering solutions2. In this sense, the main
objective of the advertisement was to present the product as a solution for not having the
ideal skin. Apart from beauty standards representation, from the way the woman in the
picture is dressed, it can be derived that she has a comfortable economic position or even
just her participating on social events which serves as yet another aspirational model.
Social status as an aspirational element is important, however in the beginning the 20th
century, challenging some of the stablished gender norms was considered to be the
essence of a modern woman3. The advertisement somewhat acknowledges women’s
sexuality since it shows a woman who likes being desired which can be noticed in her
expression. And although it is acknowledged, in my opinion this is almost justified not as a
purely sexual behavior but as the means of obtaining the male protection which is present
in the way the man is embracing the woman, giving the sensation of both protection and
sensuality.

Probably one key characteristic for the success of the advertisement was the use of a
scientific explanation in order to legitimize the effectiveness of the product. Despite of the
traditionally restrictive elements used in the advertisement, including a scientific
explanation directed to the female consumers reinforced the fact that women were
becoming financially independent and aimed to persuade the consumer not merely by
triggering their emotions but also by offering a rational explanation. This appears to me as
one of the most revolutionary element in the advertisement since it rejects the traditional
conception that women are more emotionally oriented and men are more rationally
oriented. In addition to that, many technological advances took place in the 20th century
and it was now being transferred to the more practical uses for both men and women. This
can be observed in the way the advertisement explains how to use the product in a rather
technical style which could be considered unappealing but it certainly sports the scientific
explanation.

It can be seen in Woodbury’s Facial Soap advertisement that the women who use the
product are portrayed in light of the ideals of beauty, acknowledgment of sexuality and the

2Dalton, A., Poulsen, H., Berret, J., & Llewelyn, K. (n.d.). The Language of Cosmetic Advertising. Brigham Young
University.

3 Pope, D. (n.d.). Making Sense of Advertisements. Retrieved from http://historymatters.gmu.edu/mse/ads/ads.pdf

English A: Language and Literature Miranda Garcia Avila
Session: May 2016 Candidate No. 04690 0009

attributes of a modern woman, in order to appeal to women’s desires for them to buy the
product. An important element to achieve this is the visual representation of aspirational
models and ideals of beauty through the woman in the painting. The slogan is another
important element since it proposes sexual appeal as one of women’s desires thus
partially acknowledging female sexuality. Finally, the text in the advertisement refers to the
scientific explanation tot eh effectiveness of the product. Using a scientific explanation and
adding technical details of how to use the product can be attributed to the recognition of
women becoming financially independent and the rejection to the traditional conception of
women being more emotional and men being more rational.

Word Count: 844 words

References

Sutton, D. H. (2009). Globalizing ideal beauty: How female copywriters of the J. Walter Thompson
Advertising Agency redefined beauty for the twentieth century. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Pope, D. (n.d.). Making Sense of Advertisements. Retrieved from http://historymatters.gmu.edu/

mse/ads/ads.pdf

Kaur, K., Arumugam, N., & Yunus, N. M. (2013). Beauty Product Advertisements: A Critical
Discourse Analysis. Asian Social Science ASS, 9(3).

Dalton, A., Poulsen, H., Berret, J., & Llewelyn, K. (n.d.). The Language of Cosmetic Advertising.
Brigham Young University.