A new study by marketing planning agency PHD has identified the prime times during the week when beauty marketers should sell products to women. Surprisingly (or perhaps, unsurprisingly), they say that beauty ads are the most effective when women feel the least secure about their looks. Wait, ads that feed on personal insecurities? You don’t say!
The findings of the “study,” created from survey results, basically show the schedule of women’s attitudes towards their appearance, documenting when women feel the best (Friday nights) and the worst (Monday mornings). Take a peek at this infographic from Adweek if you want to see more of what they found.
Taking an exploitative approach, PHD recommends that advertisers peddle their products during the start of the week. As described by Bustle.com, it’s an “Encourage/Empower” approach — encourage the use of that new lipstick, praise them when they buy it. As explicitly stated in the press release,
Monday becomes the day to encourage the beauty product consumer to get going and feel beautiful again, so marketing messages should focus on feeling smart, instant beauty/fashion fixes, and getting things planned and done. Concentrate media during prime vulnerability moments, aligning with content involving tips and tricks, instant beauty rescues, dressing for the success, getting organized for the week and empowering stories.
Though the study isn’t exactly ground-breaking (because, let’s be honest, who feels good on Monday mornings?), the simple fact that marketers are being encouraged to use this information to effectively prey on a woman’s negative self-attitude is alarming and problematic, especially in a society where a hyperrealistic standard of beauty has become the ideal.
Because beyond just selling a lipstick or concealer, what beauty marketers are attempting to sell is a supposed means to gain a larger sense of self-worth. And that, in and of itself, is not empowering in the least bit.
