A Look at Make-Up Infomercials
Using a variety of female celebrities, infomercial producers
have once again created a huge market where none existed. That's
not to say that make up products didn't exist. They did. And
they were a multibillion dollar industry long before anybody
ever thought of infomercials.
Starting in the early twentieth century with the advent of
movies and their subsequent side affect - beautiful stars! -
make up companies have been designing products to make average
looking women look better. Or at least think they look better.
Make up has been a staple of upscale department stores and high
priced boutiques right from the very beginning of the retail
business. Even in the early days, make up products had their own
departments. Salesgirls were hired who exhibited a youthful,
sparkling appearance. They would grab women by the hand, lead
them to the sales counter, apply a bit of this, a dab of that
and a puff of something else for free and then make the sale.
Early products were marketed in the usual manner - for their
value in improving your appearance and their price.
The first make up celebrities in the pre-infomercial era were
not the stars that women were trying to emulate but the heads of
the Hollywood make up departments who made the stars look so
glamorous. And so the likes of Max Factor, make up master to
countless female celebrities (and men too, by the way) and the
most successful line of make up products were born. Later on the
celebrities themselves, sensing a huge cash return for the use
of their face, put themselves on various lines of make up
products available in stores. When their looks faded, when their
careers stopped humming along, the make up products disappeared
as well.
And then came infomercials. All of a sudden there was a way to
get women interested in buying make up products over their TV
sets and was it ever successful! Sensing right from the outset
that the products had to be celebrity driven, producers came up
with a way to market their products to women all over the world
via the TV set. Faded and fading stars from the music business,
movie business and TV business jumped on the bandwagon to sell
make up and other beauty supplies to American women by the
truckload. Here's the hook that they used: the make up
infomercial and the products were not completely celebrity
driven. The celebrity was merely there to endorse the products
supposedly used on her over the years to keep her looking
younger and more beautiful. But the product itself was created
by, bore the name of and was demonstrated by the make up artist
who had labored for years applying make up to countless
beautiful celebrities. The make up artist was not a beauty
herself but a "regular" woman who merely worked on celebrities.
Hence, the housewife watching in Des Moines, or Chicago or
anywhere was not made to feel ugly or less than glamorous.
In fact the celebrity was usually somewhat demeaned on make up
infomercials as they would often appear on the show without any
make up on. You would be channel surfing and a close up shot of
a celebrity you know would appear on the screen and you'd stop,
you'd notice she didn't look so good. You'd wonder what happened
and you'd start watching the infomercial. And you'd hear her
talking endlessly about how her appearance, her look, her beauty
was predominately the successful work of the artist and her line
of amazing products while the artist was applying make up to her
face and transforming her right before your very eyes.
And furthermore, YOU!, Miss American Average Woman, could have
these same products that celebrities have been using for years
to make movie magic happen, the secret stuff known only to
Hollywood insiders, delivered right to your door in a few days
for the low, low price of...well you get the idea. What a
concept! Don't get the beautiful celebrity, with the face of an
angel, to sell the product. Have the average looking make up
artist sell the product while the beautiful celebrity is
transformed from average looking to gorgeous right before your
eyes! And of course, the celebrity was an equal or even majority
partner in the profits from the line, picking up millions along
the way for a days work, sitting in a comfortable chair, in air
conditioned splendor, having make up applied to their faces. As
the man said - Only in America!