Research Report – HDS Exemplar

The Language of Covergirl Cosmetic Advertisements

How are words used in Covergirl ads and what are their effects?

Across Covergirl ads the reader finds a number of coined terms, or words made up by the
advertiser. This can be seen in the construction of the words “Wetslicks”, “Naturluxe” and
“Eyelights”. The intended effect seems to be to make the product seem more innovative by
connecting it to a new noun. This also suggests that the advertiser is looking to play on the
reader’s desire for innovation. New, or coined, terms suggest uniqueness and innovation. I
think the reason this is seen over and over again is because there is a need within this
particular industry to stand out from the rest of the market. This is particularly important in
an industry where the product is being sold as something that will make the buyer stand
out. By using coined terms, the advertiser is able to effectively stand out from the crowd by
using a term no other company can, while also embodying the concept of uniqueness that
the intended buyer desires.

The manipulation of the reader’s desire for uniqueness or individuality can also be seen in
the frequent use of direct address. Every ad makes use of the personal pronoun “you” or
“your” in order to directly address the reader. The effect here is to create a relationship
between the speaker and the reader. By using the personal pronoun, the distance between
the speaker and the reader is reduced and the sensation of a one-to-one relationship is
produced. I feel as though the advertiser is using this language in order to make the
intended reader feel special by creating this more intimate connection with them. The
effectively makes the product seem less a part of a large corporate machine and instead
gives it some humanity, almost personifying the product as it speaks intimately with the
reader.

This idea is further reinforced through the use of cliché and emotive language. Cliché can
be seen when one ad makes use of the term “one of a kind” combined with the emotive
verb “individualise”. Both of these examples suggest that the product will allow the intended
buyer to become more unique and will allow them to stand out from the rest of society. I
think the advertiser is using this language in order to play on the insecurities of the intended
reader. The focus on individuality suggests a concern with being ordinary or commonplace
and so this conscious use of language allows the advertiser to manipulate this underlying
fear by attempting to infuse their product with the connotations of uniqueness that are
present in both “one of a kind” and “individualise”.

Across all of these ads there is a focus on developing a sense of uniqueness for the
product and for the target audience. By making use of coinage, personal pronoun, direct
address, cliché and emotive language the company successfully emphasises a desire to
stand out amongst one’s peers. What this suggests is that there is paranoia within the
target market of young women around their ability to stand out. Covergirl seem to be
extending this stereotype and furthering this concern amongst young women that success
and individuality are linked.
What similarities and differences can be seen across Covergirl ads and what might
the implications of this be?
The most striking similarity across all of the ads is the focus on and repetition of concrete
nouns. “Lips”, “lashes” and “eyes” are repeated over and again, to the point that the word
“eyes” is repeated seven times within a single 30 second mascara ad. What this suggests is
an emphasis on outer appearances. This is not surprising for a make-up ad. However, it
does seem to suggest that the exterior is being privileged over the interior and that beauty
as a concept is explicitly linked with exterior appearance over and above traits such as
emotional integrity or intellectual ability. The repetition of these concrete nouns and the
associated emphasis on external beauty implies that the target market needs to be primarily
concerned about their exterior beauty. While this might be connected to giving young
women confidence, I think the fact that it is something seen across all the ads means that
the stereotype of women as appearance minded is being seen as more important than
other elements of beauty such as intellect and emotional maturity within our society.

Another similarity that can be seen across the ads is the frequent use of imperative
statements. The “Lipperfection” lipstick ad demands readers to “get beautiful colour now”.
The statement implies that the reader doesn’t already have lips that are a beautiful colour.
This demands the reader question their own concept of what is beautiful by comparing it to
what Covergirl are suggesting and making decisions about how they compare. This type of
imperative can be seen again in the “Naturluxe” TV ad where the audience is told to “join
the beauty movement”. This imperative again suggests that the intended audience is
inferior, this time because they are not actively advocating for beauty. I think the advertisers
use this technique to play on the audience’s sense of sisterhood, but making them feel
guilty that they are not doing all they can for womankind. Across the ads, imperatives are
used to make young women feel inferior. They work to suggest that the target audience
lacks something important that they need and that Covergirl can meet that need. The use of
language here seems to play into the traditional attitude that women are inferior in society.
By using their imperatives to draw on this stereotype, the advertisers are able to appear to
be helping women improve or find themselves, whereas they simply furthering the
stereotype.

A significant difference across the collections of ads is that some of the ads make a
concerted effort to connect themselves to natural and naturally occurring products. This can
be seen through the use of simile in the Naturluxe TV ad’s use of “light as air feel” and
through a number of vocabulary choices such as the adjective choice in Lipperfection’s “silk
therapy” and the noun choice in Naturluxe’s print ad where they say “light touch of
cucumber”. Each usage connects the product to the natural world either by saying the
product directly incorporates something from the natural world or by suggesting that the use
of the product will give you a ‘natural world’ sensation. I believe the desire to connect to
nature, as seen in these language choices, comes from the advertiser wanting to challenge
the idea that make-up products are synthetic or unnatural by offering them as naturally
occurring and therefore natural to be worn. These ads stand out as different because they
are more concerned with connecting to the healthy connotations of these elements in
nature. By doing this, these particular ads seem to target society’s growing scepticism of
the necessity of make-up, challenging this by trying to illustrate that it is indeed a natural
process – as natural as the ingredients used to create the product.
To what extent are these ads successful and why might that be?

The ads do a great job of expressing inferiority in the natural appearance of women. This is
initially seen in the Naturluxe ad where the advertiser explains to the reader that “Naturluxe
ups your beautiful”. This makes a direct connection between physical modification and true
beauty. The way the phrase is constructed implies that the level of beauty that the reader
has is inferior and that the product will allow them to exist with more adequate amounts of
beauty. This style of phrasing simply seems to reinforce the social stereotype that a ‘made
up’ face is of superior value to a natural face when it comes to women. This idea is
reinforced in the 2010 ad that suggests by buying Covergirl products the consumer is
“taking beautiful back”. Once again, the phrasing here implies that the reader does not
already have access to beauty – indeed, the idea of taking back suggests that the reader
somehow lost their beauty and that Covergirl can return it to them. These examples
suggests a social belief that a natural woman is an inferior woman and that their natural
appearance demands improvement. By constructing phrases that play on this social
stereotype that flawless equals beautiful, the advertisers are able to effectively withhold
beauty from the target audience and then sell it back to them.

Further to this, the ads are very effective in turning beauty into a commodity. This further
reinforces the idea that women cannot have beauty because the advertisers are suggesting
that it is something that must be purchased. The “Lipperfection” ad suggests “that there is
such a thing as perfection”, a phrase which draws heavily on the connotations of perfection
as being the ultimate end point in the quest for beauty. This style of phrasing again
suggests though that perfection is something that only Covergirl owns and understands and
which must be purchased off them, particularly well expressed in the Naturluxe phrase
“Covergirl introduces the next generation of beautiful”. This really plays into the modern
idea that beauty is a commodity that can be bought and sold. The language used across
the ads connects the physical object with an abstract concept and suggests that through
the purchase of the product the buyer will receive perfection. This suggests that modern
society is very a material based culture that finds spiritual fulfilment in material objects. The
language implies that we seem to believe that the objects we buy determine our identities.
The Covergirl advertisers understand this use their language to play upon this modern
notion in order to withhold beauty from women.

Finally, these ads are successful because they make judgement about the body seem
natural. Exact Eyelights says “Green eyes, here’s a look for you”, the 2010 campaign ad
tells the reader to “get extreme lashes”, while the Naturluxe print ad tells the reader to
“discover the flawless finish”. In a similar way to what’s been seen above, each of these
examples naturalises a concern with physical appearance. By combining specific concrete
nouns with imperative statements the advertisers are successfully able to make the reader
consider what they don’t have. It draws the reader’s attention their own eyelashes, skin, etc.
and gets them to compare them to the adjectives chosen. This is an unnatural sense of
judgement because ideas like “extreme” and “flawless” are unrealistic; however, the
repetition of these kinds of adjectives naturalises this kind of judgement and begins to affect
the values and attitudes society has towards beauty. By following this same pattern over
and again, as is seen throughout the collection of ads I’ve compiled, the advertisers are
able make self-judgement on physical appearance a value of our society and their
continued use of this style of advertising simply reinforces this value within our society.