46 Reflection + Rhetorical Analysis: “The Oversexualization of Women in Makeup Advertisements”

Growing up, I was what you would call a “girly girl.” I loved the color pink and dressing up, but my all-time favorite activity was watching people put on makeup. I remember staying up all night watching hundreds of makeup tutorials, thinking that when I grew older, I would wear fantastic makeup and be just as talented as the girls I watched. I didn’t start wearing makeup until high school, and as I was shopping for it, I didn’t realize how sexualized makeup advertisements were. I vividly remember how embarrassed I’d get when I looked at a seemingly innocent clear lip gloss, and the name would be something like “Oh C*m On.” That was when I realized why the sixteen-or seventeen-year-old-girls in the makeup tutorials I watched always just said the brand name instead of the brand and the product name.

It’s no secret that women and our products are “regularly subjected to over-sexualization” (Baten 1) in everything from toys to clothes, especially how women and girls are depicted in the media. Specifically, media advertisements have oversexualized women to sell things like beer, sports, and even Diet Coke (How to Write an Advertisement). In both masculine and feminine advertisements women are always on the front line of being objectified. Why do women want to buy sexualized products? Why does sexy have to be the default of confidence? What about women’s intelligence, kindness, or strength? Are we teaching young girls that sexiness is where all their value comes from?

The industry that oversexualizes women the most is the beauty industry, specifically the makeup industry. Marketing teams know that bad attention is still attention. If they can get people to talk about and review their products, that is all that matters. As a consequence, a lot of companies are willing to make their products very sexual because they know this catches the attention of a lot of people. Why even wear makeup to look sexier? If this is about the male gaze, many men don’t care or like that women wear makeup. Many men claim that women “don’t need it” and prefer “natural beauty.” If this is the case, this circles back to sex equaling confidence for women, and sex appeal is tied to our beauty ideals.

I was scrolling through TikTok when I first saw the ad below. The camera zoomed in on the lips first, making it seem like the girls were about to kiss, but an ice cube stopped them. When the camera zoomed out on the women’s faces, I recognized the company’s name, Buxom, a popular cosmetic brand known for “BIG, BOLD, SEXY” makeup. I asked myself why they would make an ad that was so hypersexual and did not even display what the product looked like. After that day, I felt like I saw that ad every time I opened my phone. After a couple of days, I soon started seeing more people review Buxom products, and that’s when I noticed their marketing tactics. Sex sells. It’s the number one attention grabber. No matter if the feedback is positive or negative, sex is one of the many topics that is guaranteed to start a conversation. So it was no surprise that after releasing this ad, there was a lot of attention towards it, both positive and negative. I decided to compare two ads, one sex-selling, and one logic-selling.

The first two images are the Buxom ad that I just described. The ad below, Fenty Beauty by Rihanna, is more simple and straight to the point. Here you can see the display of products and their wide variety. Unlike Buxom’s “BOLD SEXY BEAUTIFUL” makeup, Rihanna’s goal with her company was to make “Beauty For All.” She wanted to create products with an inclusive shade range so that there’s something for every complexion and skin tone. This is how they’ve become so popular. Fenty Beauty has quickly become a very popular makeup brand. It is a staple in many people’s makeup collections due to its high quality and wide range of inclusivity. Although these brands sell similar products, they are marketed differently to appeal to different audiences. The first advertisement uses pathos by having the two women look like they are about to embrace each other. This ad gives off a sensual appeal, and some argue that it appeals to the male gaze by promiscuously portraying the two women. This could also make women feel like they have to live up to these beauty standards and how they have to portray themselves to be seen as desirable. This also affects men by making them believe all women should be depicted over-sexually, and anything less than that isn’t seen as attractive. On the contrary, others say that this ad makes them feel bold, sexy, and empowered. Many women I’ve seen reviewing this product went on and on about how confident and beautiful it made them feel.

The second advertisement uses logos by showing the different types of lip glosses Fenty sells and by stating their different formulas and wide shade range. Again, the ad wants its viewers to feel included. Most of my family and friends use Fenty Beauty, and we all believe it is one of the best and most inclusive makeup brands on the market. When Rihanna created her brand, she aimed to make everything as inclusive as possible. She wanted her brand to include “women of all shades, personalities, attitudes, cultures, and races. I wanted everyone to feel included” (Fenty Beauty Mission analysis). She knows that most makeup brands have very limited options for people of color. Rihanna didn’t want her customers to “compromise on their choice of foundation or other makeup products for the lack of availability” (Fenty Beauty Mission analysis).

When I chose my ads, I asked ten of my friends which company they would buy from and their thoughts on each ad and the company. Half of everyone I asked about the Buxom ad said they didn’t even know what Buxom was selling because of how over-sexualized the ad was, but at the same time, they would rather shop at Buxom because their ad seemed more exciting, making my friends want to learn more about what they sell. The other half said that the Fenty ad was simple and straight to the point, and they could tell Fenty had a wide variety of products, so they wanted to shop there. I also read reviews about each brand, and many people had similar opinions.

I noticed two things as I looked at both brands’ websites and products. First, they were similar in price range and had a wide shade range. So, why is Fenty known as an all-inclusive brand and Buxom as a more hypersexual brand? This all goes back to the brand’s marketing. The Oxford Dictionary defines “buxom” as “(of a woman) plump, especially with large breasts.” This makes sense for the brand because its best-selling product is plumping lipgloss. Their goal with their products is to make their customers feel sexy and have an unapologetic attitude when it comes to everything we (women) do. They believe they can achieve this through sensuality, which “stimulates your senses and amplifies what you love most about yourself so you can feel even sexier in your skin” (“About Us.”). Clearly, their target audience is adults, but my biggest concern is that younger girls aged 10-17 will see advertisements like this and think they need to feel “sexier” to feel confident.

Women have long been sexualized in marketing products designed for them, and makeup is no different. In fact, brands like Buxom have even made it their namesake. I appreciate Rihanna’s strategy of making products with inclusivity in mind. As a woman of color and makeup enthusiast, I know firsthand how difficult it can be trying to find the perfect shade to match your skin tone. While I understand the ideals behind marketing and selling, it feels good to know that when I buy certain brands, I am not just feeding into the stereotype that I am supposed to look a certain way to be accepted. While I’ve been praising Rihanna’s marketing and her striving for inclusivity, I must say that the names of some of her products have a lot of sexual innuendos. I know that these products are meant for adults, but I also know that young girls are seeing and buying these products and that subliminally, over time, we’re sending messages to young girls that to feel beautiful, they need to be sexy.

Marketing teams should be mindful of the impact that their marketing has on younger audiences that looking sexy equals looking beautiful and the pressure to feel sexy at a young age can cause longer term damage to one’s self esteem. Instead, how can we make young girls feel confident without the pressure of feeling sexier? Why can’t advertisements empower their minds? On the Fenty website, Rihanna states that “Makeup is there for you to play with. It’s there for you to have fun with. It should never feel like pressure, and it should never feel like a uniform.” We can’t control marketing strategies, but we can control how we engage with younger audiences about this subject by emphasizing that you don’t need to be “sexy” to be beautiful.

Works Cited

“About Us.” About Us | BUXOM Cosmetics https://www.buxomcosmetics.com/discover/about-us.html.

Baten, Jasmine. “Makeup Brands ‘Oversexualize’ Names of Products.” The Observer, 20 Apr. 2016,

https://www.thechurchillobserver.com/opinions/2016/04/19/makeup-brands-need- to-stop- oversexualizing-the-names-of-their-products/#:~:text=According%20to%20a%20 NARS %20blog,when%20names%20become%20too%20suggestive.

“Fenty-Beauty Mission and Vision Statement Analysis.” Edrawsoft, 2022, https://www.edrawmind.com/article/fenty-beauty-mission-and-vision-statement-an html#:~:text=Mission%20Statement%20of%20Fenty%2DBeauty&text=The%20mi ssion%20statement%20for%20the,attitudes%2C%20cultures%2C%20and%20ra ces.

How to Write an Advertisement: A Complete Guide for Students and Teachers, 2023, https://literacyideas.com/how-to-write-advertisements/

Milled. “Buxom Cosmetics.” Milled, 2024, milled.com/buxom/love-this-look-heres-how-we-did-it-t5JwcuoWlmqjsSPJ.

Rihanna. “About Fenty Beauty.” Fenty Beauty, fentybeauty.com/pages/about-fenty-beauty. Accessed 25 Jan. 2024.

“The Gloss Gang.” Fenty Beauty, Fenty Beauty, fentybeauty.com/collections/gloss-bomb. Accessed 25 Jan. 2024.