The myths of beauty, age, and marriage: femvertising by masstige cosmetic brands in the Chinese market

The purpose of this research is to decrypt the connotative and ideological meaning of beauty ideals, age, and marriage in the femvertising campaigns launched by masstige cosmetic brands, through the lens of social semiotics. Drawn upon theories of feminism, female empowerment and gender stereotypes, we systematically analyzed the visual and verbal cues in Marriage Market Takeover, a 4 min 16 s documentary functioning as a centerpiece of SK-II's global campaign focusing on Chinese leftover women. The findings show that the visual signs in the film largely resemble stereotypical images of women. Although some verbal signs attempt to deliver messages about independence or freedom, their strength is significantly dwarfed by the visual signs which always comply with the stereotypes of women's beauty, age, and gender roles. Under the disguise of female empowerment, the gender stereotypes a femvertising is expected to challenge are actually reinforced. Our study suggests that the lack of genuineness in advocating women's empowerment in femvertisings launched by cosmetic brands is ultimately subject to the conservative, persistent and stereotypical traditions of gender roles in the Chinese society.

Automated summary

This research decrypts the connotative and ideological meaning of beauty ideals, age, and marriage in femvertising campaigns through a social semiotic lens. The analysis of SK-II's documentary reveals that visual signs in the film reinforce stereotypical images of women, despite attempts to convey messages of independence. The lack of genuineness in advocating women's empowerment in femvertising is ultimately subject to traditional gender roles in Chinese society.