Australis Make-up

This Australis Paparazzi Perfect Make-Up advertisement accentuates the importance the media places on looking perfect. The advert represents teenage girls as shallow yet beautiful people who only care about looking good in pictures.

From a young age, girls are taught that beauty is essential and that they must do everything in their power to enhance their beauty. The media has created an idea of what beauty is and how to achieve it, and encourages teenagers to be as beautiful as possible. They have exposed girls to the idea that with beauty comes popularity, acceptance and success; attributes nearly all of them want to possess. The media then provides them with advice, clothing and products to help 'normal' girls  become beautiful, just like the cover-girls, actresses and models, who adorn the pages of their magazines, grace the screens with their presence, and look down on them from their billboards.

Make-Up is considered a crucial aspect of being beautiful as it helps create a flawless persona. A huge part of teenager's lives revolve around social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram and Tumblr. Therefore, looking good in photos is essential. Brands such as Australis take advantage of the importance of flawlessness to teen girls, in order to encourage them to purchase their products. This advertisement in particular uses different features to help emphasise their representation of girls, and to give teens the message that their make-up is vital when it comes to being beautiful.

The dark background of the advert gives the feel of a nightclub, a place associated with attractive and lively people, and that carries connotations of night time, mystery and sexiness. The lighting in the backgrounds of the photos also adds to the night time feel, accentuating how young, fun and flirty the models are while wearing this make-up. The hot pink text adds a feminine touch to the advert and immediately aims the products at women. All three models have white or tanned skin, white teeth, long silky hair and seductive facial expression and body positions. In one of the pictures, two of the models are dancing together, in another the third model is pouting with a finger to her lips. Their appearances and actions are immediately associated with characters like playboy bunnies and barbie. Society and teen girls know these characters are beautiful yet superficial and ditzy. The models are laughing, dancing and hugging while wearing the make-up, implying that the only way to have a great time is by using Australis's products. As many teen girls love the idea of partying and looking great, they trust in the images Australis has put before them, and consequently buy their products. The slogans on the advert also target girls' needs to look good in pictures because of social networking sites.

"Be paparazzi ready!"

"PUT A STOP TO BAD PHOTOS!"

These slogans are effective as they remind girls how important it is for them to look good in photos and how 'bad' photos must be stopped. All of these aspects enforce Australis's representation of teen girls as beautiful yet shallow. They communicate the idea that as long as you look good in photos and are having fun, nothing else matters.

Another interesting aspect of the advert is the lack of men. There are no males in the pictures, only women, sending the message that it is only women who need to look good in photos and that its only women who need to be 'paparazzi ready!' This enforces the age old stereotype that women have to look good for their men, and that its their duty to be beautiful.

This 1930's soap advert forces the idea that its beauty that men want, not intelligence.

Although the messages in the adverts are similar, the adverts themselves couldn't be more different. Australis's Paparazzi Perfect make-up advert has minimal words, big photos and bright colours. In contrast to this, the 1930's Palmolive soap advert has a large quantity of text, painted illustrations and pastel colours. The huge difference in the presentation of the adverts clearly demonstrates how far the media industry has developed in how they target their audiences. The interesting exception to this rule is the message the adverts portray. Both adverts put emphasis on looking good, and tell their audiences that by buying their product, they will be pretty or beautiful. The fact that these messages haven't changed in over 70 years is a clear indication of how society has been influenced and show how deeply ingrained stereotypes concerning women are. 

The Australis advert, just like the Palmolive one above, affects teenage girls as it gives them the message that they have to look good, all the time, in order for people to like them. Being accepted is a basic human need; its no surprise that girls go out of their way trying to achieve a certain look because they believe it will make them more likable. Teen girls are vulnerable; they're at a time in their lives when they're figuring out who they are. When it comes to differentiating between reality and the world portrayed by the media, they can often become confused as to what really matters. They are given talks and sessions at school where they are told to be themselves and have confidence in their uniqueness, but at the same time, they're constantly exposed to the media, who tells them they won't fit in unless they look the way models do. It comforts adults to think that their children, the youth of today, are listening to inspirational speeches about staying true to themselves, but the reality is far from this ideal. Because of how much girls are exposed to the media's perception of beauty, it isn't possible for talks and speeches at school to neutralise the effects the media's messages have on teen girls. Girls suffer both mentally and physically at the hands of the media, as it's messages and ideals influence their daily lives. The pressure to look and act a certain way affects teen girls in different ways. Although some girls will ignore the media's messages, there are others who will be tormented by them and change themselves in order to fit its image of beauty. As mentioned in previous posts, eating disorders, depression, lack in self-confidence, loss in motivation and the break down of relationships are all possible consequences of the media's influence on teen girls. 

These damaging effects also influence society. As girls grow up feeling insecure and apprehensive about their appearances, they have less confidence in themselves. Eventually our society will be full of women who feel they aren't good enough simply, because of the medias unreachable idea of beauty.  This could lead to people not fulfilling their potentials and missing out on great opportunities simply because of their lack of confidence when it comes to their appearances. Ideally, society would take a stand about how women are represented in the media, but we have become so used to seeing these images, many of us don't realise the damage they do. 

Dionne Bromfield's music video, 'Mama Said'

The teenage girls in Dionne Bromfield’s ‘Mama Says’ music video are represented as natural and ordinary, a true contrast from many of the music industries video’s today.

In the video, features such as setting, costume and performance are used to present Dionne and her two friends to the audience. The three girls are seen shopping, trying on crazy outfits and laughing together. Everyday teens can relate to these activities as they spend their free time in similar ways. All three girls wear casual clothing and have little make-up on, accentuating their youth and naturalness. They're not shown to be 'perfect' and there are no allusions as to their appearances; what you see is what you get, and they're happy with who they are.

There is hardly any difference between the representations of teen girls in Dionne’s music video, and how girls are in reality, making Dionne’s representation true and correct.

This accurate representation encourages girls to enjoy the process of growing up and not worry about the nitty-gritty of life. Dionne tries on outfits that aren’t fashionable yet laughs about it – this gives everyday girls the message that it’s okay not to look perfect all the time and that being yourself is what matters. They wear neutral colours; no reds or black which have connotations of sexiness. When they sit down their legs are closed or crossed, a position which gives a classy impression as apposed to the spread legs of the models in the media. This positively contradicts the adverts and messages teens are exposed to in the modern world as many of them insist that to fit in and be beautiful you have to look a certain way. 

Another key difference between Dionne's music video and other videos in the industry is the colour of her skin. Dionne and one of her friends have dark skin, an attribute not common in the media's portrayal of beauty. In many magazines, movies and adverts society sees blonde, white women. The fact that Dionne and her friend are black, clearly demonstrates their disregard for the media's perceptions of beauty. It also accentuates the message that life isn't about being perfect or beautiful by somebody else's standards. It proves to girls that you don't have to fit a certain image for people to like you. Dionne has dark hair, dark eyes and dark skin; the complete opposite of the media's idea of 'beautiful' yet is happy with the way she is, and that is what matters. 

In the music video, Dionne’s is struggling because it seems everyone but her has a boyfriend;

"My eyes are wide open

But all that I can see is

chapel bells are callin for everyone but-a me"

Instead of changing herself to ensure she gets a boyfriend and fits in with her friends, she listens to her Mama's advice;

"but I don't worry cause...Mama said there'll be days like this

There'll be days like this Mama said..."

"And then she said someone will look at me

like I'm looking at you one day

then I might find

I don't want it any old way"

Her Mama's words imply that Dionne shouldn't worry about the little things as everything will change in the future. This idea puts value on self-respect, self-confidence and perseverance... It teaches teen girls how important it is to have confidence in yourself, as on the bad days, they need to have enough self-belief, to know that the important thing is their happiness - not the opinions of others.

'Mama Says" contrasts hugely to other music videos such as, Justin Beiber’s ‘Beauty And A Beat’ ft. Nicki Minaj:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ys7-6_t7OEQ

In this music video, girls are negatively represented as objects. Justin does a tour around the set, showing off an array of half-naked, dancing girls. The girls in the music video are there to make him seem masculine and powerful. This sends the message that the beautiful women are simply there to please him. This is a negative representation of girls as it causes real teen girls, who idolise Justin, to believe that someone attractive, popular or famous (like him) will only like them if they dress and act like the girls in the music video. 

However women can be both powerful and seductive; they don’t have to worship men to get their attention. There are other characteristics, besides sexiness, which can attract a guy. Nowadays, intelligence and self-confidence matter just as much attractiveness, but unlike Dionne's music video, Justin's video focuses mainly on the sex appeal of these women. As these other characteristics are omitted from the video, Justin’s ‘Beauty And A Beat’ fails to communicate this modern day reality as it only emphasises the girls’ sexual appeal.

Unfortunately, music videos like Dionne's are rare. Many forms of media focus on representations like those presented in Justin's music video. As society is mainly exposed to the negative representations, these are the ones they believe and accept. Even though "Mama Says" communicates positive messages, these are out-shined by the shear quantity of negative messages portrayed through the media. As stated by Joesph Goebbels "“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it." This quote precisely illustrates the reasons why society believes in the media's ideas and perceptions of beauty and women. They have been exposed to it over such a long time that they don't know any different. 

Teen Girl Magazines; Cleo

Cleo is a magazine aimed at girls aged 15-19. It aims to give them all the information they need about growing into the media's idea of beautiful women. Other magazines similar to Cleo include Girlfriend, Dolly and Cosmo, and although the age of the target audience varies for each magazine, the majority of of them have the same focus; perfection.

The name Cleo is associated with the famous Egyptian Queen, Cleopatra. Cleopatra is well-known for her  feminism, elegance and majesty. The legendary woman represents the idea of beauty. Beauty is such a huge part of the modern world that it is intertwined with every aspect of life. Even as a teenager, people are exposed to magazines like Cleo, who offer readers the chance to be beautiful, just like Cleopatra. The models in the magazines are presented as feminine, thin, flawless, sexy, and effortlessly perfect. There are huge differences between the models and real teens as the pictures of the models in the magazines are photo shopped and altered to help create an unattainable and unrealistic image of how teen girls should be. Any sign of imperfection is erased from their models; each picture is slaved over for hours until it looks ‘perfect’. The end result is a completely different picture from the original, but it is this end result that sells the magazine. 

The majority of girls love the idea of being beautiful and they see the media's definition of beautiful on the covers of Cleo. Girls are immediately attracted to the idea, that by acting on the magazine's suggestions, they can become beautiful like the models. The magazine implies that natural isn't beautiful.  Consequently, this leads to real teenage girls being represented as improvable and imperfect, as they don't look like the models.

The way the magazines presents its models as real girls causes allusions around how girls should look. Society has fallen in love with the idea of perfection and since the magazine tells them that perfection is achievable, they start to trust that girls have no excuse for not looking like the models. Because of the media they are exposed to, society believes in a representation of teenage girls that is far from the truth. Social expectations around appearance and beauty emerge meaning girls constantly have to prove themselves. They're forced to aim for a standard of beauty that's unreachable. Unless scientists develop a way to photo shop real people, not just pictures, girls have no way of being as beautiful as the models in magazines. Sadly society has been conditioned by the media to believe that their standard of beauty is attainable for real girls, and this can have devastating effects.  

This fake representation of teen girls can be harmful and dangerous to real girls’ self-esteem and confidence. Society expects them to be like the models in the magazines and since this is impossible, girls fall short of expectations. In some cases, being exposed to this beauty and not realising its impossible to achievable can have a detrimental effect on teen girls. In their attempts to become society’s idea of beautiful, they forget about their own health. Some girls suffer from eating disorders because of how unhappy they are with their own bodies. They feel they aren’t beautiful simply because they don’t fit the image of beauty that magazines and the media portray. Some lose self-esteem, self-confidence and self-belief; this can affect all aspects of their lives as they feel they aren’t good enough to participate in activities, conversations and relationships. Others become obsessed with looking a certain way and their values and morals are compromised, for example they might put perfecting their appearance before school work. Consequently, girls risk their own well-being in attempts to meet society’s expectations, and become a type of ‘beautiful’ that is impossible to be.

It's ironic that the magazines who caused these problems, are the ones who also offer solutions to them. Magazines like Cleo cause girls to believe that the perfection that they see on the pages of the magazine is easily achievable. Of course it isn't, and when the girls lose hope, its the magazines who come to the rescue. They makes the girls believe that hope isn't lost and that by buying and reading their magazine, they still have the chance to be beautiful. Girls buy into this idea because they believe the magazines can help them reach the ideal appearance that’s expected of them. This communicates the message that if girls aren’t doing what the magazine advises, they just aren’t trying hard enough... The girls in the magazines are beautiful because they supposedly do as the magazine suggests, therefore real girls have no excuses. Consequently, girls purchase the magazines in the hopes they can become more beautiful, popular and confident, and live up to society’s expectations.

The covers of magazines like Cleo are essential to selling the product. The cover-girls are the role-models when it comes to perfection; they are often famous or well-known in the teen community and are beautiful, sexy and ‘perfect’. They wear little clothing or have skin exposed, showing of their slender and toned bodies. They are sexually appealing yet have an air of grace and beauty about them. The colours and fonts are eye-catching. The colours are often quite girly and warm; oranges, pinks and reds. This helps present the magazine as feminine, friendly and welcoming. The fonts are bold, confident and powerful and grab the reader’s attention. The stories, advice, tips and quizzes splashed over the cover advertise the key to perfection the magazine holds inside...

“Make good sex GREAT!”

“Sexy hair in four easy steps!”

“Why Miranda Kerr is just like us!”

“Look hotter than ever!”

The statements attract girls as they promise insightful ways to improve a person’s self and become like the cover-girl celebrities and models whom they look up to.

The articles inside the magazine revolve around beauty, boys and fashion. A huge proportion of the articles are focused on clothing and make-up; they are either advertising products or instructing girls on how to use them products. Boys are also interwoven in the magazine; interviews asking what boys want in a girlfriend, what the find attractive in a girl and what qualities their dream girl would possess. Often these boys are famous or well-known so the teen readers trust their opinions. The magazine presents girls as people who only focus on beauty, fashion and boys, enforcing the stereotype that all girls are girlie-girls; ditzy and flowery. 

The portrayal of beauty in Cleo is unrealistic and the steps and products they claim make a person beautiful, are inaccessible. Most magazines provide girls with ‘the look’ they need to be classed as ‘fashionable’ yet the clothes they insist girls wear are hundreds of dollars and completely out of price range, hence making them unable to be ‘fashionable’. The makeup the models wear is airbrushed before the photo is published,. This means that when the girls purchase the makeup, in order to have the same flawless complexion, they never quite get the same results. Even if the real girls spent the money, revamped their wardrobe and applied the makeup, the effect is not the same.

The beauty Cleo tempts its readers with has to be unattainable so that readers keep buying the magazine. Cleo gives its readers a sense hope and convinces them they have the ability to be beautiful. The problem is that the guidelines of being beautiful change so fast, girls have no chance of keeping up.

Mean Girls

“Where you sit in the cafeteria is crucial because you got everybody there. You got your Freshmen, Preps, JV Jocks, Asian Nerds, Cool Asians, Varsity Jocks, Unfriendly Black Hotties, Girls Who Eat Their Feelings, Girls Who Don't Eat Anything, Desperate Wannabes, Burnouts, Sexually Active Band Geeks, The Greatest People You Will Ever Meet, and The Worst. Beware of The Plastics.”

The film ‘Mean Girls’ directed by Mark Waters is set in a classic American High school and clearly depicts the social order of the attending students. The film follows the lives of several teenage girls and uses different codes to represent the different cliques such as the Plastics.

In the film, the Plastics are the most popular girls in the school; they are the ‘Queenbees’ and rule over the other students. They are represented as slutty, bitchy and fake yet have a silky charisma which makes other students either love or hate them. Most High school students can associate with the idea of a small group of people being ‘cooler’ than everyone else which enables the audience to relate to the characters in the film.

In the film, features such as costume and dialogue are used to accentuate stereotypical traits of this group. When Cady joins Regina, Gretchen and Karen, the three original Plastics, the four girls define the word ‘popular’. They wear short, tight skirts and revealing clothing. The amount of leg and cleavage the girls have on show represents their sexual appeal. All four Plastics have perfect hair and makeup, set the fashion trends and have strict rules as to what colours and articles of clothing are allowed to be worn when.

Dialogue is used to help represent the Plastics. One aspect that is interesting for the audience is the idea that you either love or hate the Plastics, there is no in-between. Janis Ian is one character who has suffered Regina’s wrath; consequently, she hates the Plastics as she feels people don’t see them for the mean girls they really are. This is demonstrated when she tells Cady that “Regina George is not sweet! She's a scum-sucking road whore, she ruined my life!”. On the other hand, the audience sees girls like the Wannabees, who worship everything the Plastics do. They are so obsessed with the idea of perfection which these elite teens represent, that they don’t care about the mean things they say or do. The Plastics' dialogue is self-focused and reinforces their belief that they are superior to other students. The codes dialogue and costume are essential when it comes to creating stereotypes about each clique and dictating how each clique is represented.

 

This Wannabee teen loves Regina so much, shes prepared to tolerate physical violence.

Plastic Gretchen blowing her own trumpet. 

The way that Mean Girls represents the Plastics is powerful as it is only a slight exaggeration of how some popular girls act in reality. Therefore its easy for real teenage girls to relate to the characters in the film. The effects the Plastics in Mean Girls have on the other students is very similar to reality. The small but powerful group of girls are the Queenbees, everyone wants to be like them, yet they're terrifying at the same time. The Plastics have the ability to control a person’s life through intimidation and sarcasm, they easily manipulate situations to make other girls feel embarrassed or uncomfortable, enabling them to protect their social status'. Although the Platsics are represented as shallow, Regina is smart enough to recognise Cady as a potential threat to the group. She invites Cady to join the Plastics so she can keep an eye on her, as the old saying goes; keep your friends close but your enemies closer.

While watching Mean Girls, most teenage girls could identify with the stereotypes formed about the cliques. They would recognize that although some of the characteristics of these cliques are exaggerated, there is a truth behind the way the girls have been represented. It brings to their attention how mixed up their world can be, especially when it comes to friends, school and boys. It also gives girls an insight into and an understanding of, cliques different from their own. For example; girls are able to understand what it is that makes a person ‘plastic’. This can have negative repercussions as teens use these characters as role models, in an attempt to achieve the same social status as depicted in the film. The social cognitive theory proposes that the more the audience (in this case; teenage girls) relates with characters in a film, the more prone they are to take on attitudes, beliefs and behaviours shown by these characters. This means that because real teen girls are able to relate so well to the characters in Mean Girls, there is a higher chance of them imitating the actions and behaviours of these characters. This could mean that girls start dressing in revealing clothes, having crazy parties and talking behind others’ backs simply because it is how the Plastics act. Some potential consequences include confusion and poor decision making in relation to morals, priorities and values. Ultimately this could result in girls compromising their true selves in order to be as popular and pretty as the Plastics.

One of the film's key concepts is the importance of 'fitting in', a reality for all teens. Every girl wants to be accepted and who better to be accepted by, then the Queenbees. The omission and selection of clique characteristics creates allusions as to how real teens should be. The film’s goal is to clearly define each clique and emphasis specific traits associated with them. For example, by making Regina seem snobby, proud and superior, the Plastics are represented as girls who only care about themselves. In reality, the popular girls aren’t always hard and fierce; most of them have a softer side.  Also, the absence of academic intelligence in the original plastic group represents the idea that you can’t be ‘cool’ as well as being good at school. This idea is displayed perfectly when Cady becomes part of the Plastics, she’s shamed into not joining the Mathletes, her grades fall and so the audience are lead to believe that its impossible to combine clever and cool. An implication of the omission and selection of specific characteristics is that it reinforces negative stereotypes.

In general, society stereotypes teenagers as immature, awkward and belligerent. The representation of teen girls in the film enforces this stereotype and suggests their actions are linked to those of their parents. We see this when two families are compared; Cady's and Regina's. Cady's parents have rules, morals and expectations which show through in the end when Cady does the right thing and apologizes to everyone she's hurt while being Plastic. In contrast to this, Regina's mum is portrayed as an older version of a Plastic, whose priorities are beauty, fashion and status. Her influence results in Regina being encouraged to focus on herself regardless of others.

The film emphasises the ridiculousness of girl world and highlights some of their bad decisions, for example, Cady's secret party. However in the end, the film does suggest to society that there's more than one side to a teenage girl. Sometimes when the pressure of High school gets too much, girls go into survival mode. They forget about their morals and disregard others feelings, but in the end, most of them are able to recognise their mistakes and rectify them. Therefore the film does encourage the audience to think about the reasons behind girls' actions, and to have a considerate attitude toward teens.

What is a Stereotype?

The Oxford Dictionary says that a stereotype is a 'widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing'. But if we looker deeper, it's more our way of ensuring everyone has a place. As a race, we like to know we're in control and do this by labeling groups of people, to ensure everyone has a place in society, whether that be lower or higher than ourselves. A stereotype is a loose description of the group being stereotyped and often leaves out many of the groups attributes, or will only apply to some members of the group. This gives the wider society a false impression of what the group is really like. Unfortunately not many people have the courage to stand against the flow and so negative stereotyping occurs as well as positive. For example society stereotypes Indians as people who simply eat curry and own dairies. This idea reflects only a small percentage of the Indian population and is therefore inaccurate. This, is a stereotype.


The fact that labeling groups of people is so easy for us indicates just how normalized stereotyping in our society is. The fact that we stereotype some groups as 'cooler' than others show how much the idea of 'perfect' intrigues us; everyone wants to be perfect and by stereotyping one group as perfect, we are giving everyone else the idea that if they're not in this group, they're not.



The media use stereotyping as a way of selling their products/services to a certain type of people. Because society is so influenced by the media, the media is able to shape and alter stereotypes, making some groups seem better than others. They then use this concept to sell things. By putting the prettiest girl on the front of a magazine, girls are automatically attracted to it, as the magazine is not only selling itself, but the idea of being perfect, like the girl on the cover. This is something many young girls aspire to be.