The Message Behind the Rose

Advertising influences virtually every aspect of the consumer industry. Advertisers create a feeling of need for a product and consumers buy in order to enhance their appearances,lifestyles, or careers. Invading all spaces of public announcements from billboards to magazines and television commercials, advertisements practically dictate what is popular and what is not. In the attached Lancome cosmetics ad found in a teen fashion magazine, the model is portrayed directly opposite a rose. I received two responses from the women that I interviewed regarding Lancome curling mascara. The two responses that the Lancome curling mascara elicited from the women that I interviewed were that the mascara could make them beautiful and desirable and that this hidden message was conveyed by the presence of a rose in the advertisement.

I presented the Lancome ad to six different people. I decided to approach people that I felt the ad was attempting to target the product at. I interviewed adolescent as well as adult females about the product. The responses that I received were all very similar. The picture features a young model in black feathers on the left hand side of the advertisement and a beautiful rose on the right hand side of the advertisement. In the center of the two images, the product, curling mascara, is pictured. Above the pictures the title of the cosmetics company, Lancome, may be found in bold print. Below the pictures, a brief description of the product and where it may be purchased is typed. All six interviewees responded that the ad gave a feeling of mystique because the colors of the ad are primarily black and white, the model looks exotic and is in feathers, and that the name of the company is French. To all the interviewees a feeling of glamour, classic beauty, and desirability was conveyed. One interviewee, a fifteen year old girl named Jennifer, said that she wishes she was as pretty as the model. Another interviewee, a thirty-three year old housewife named Jacquie, responded that she would give anything to have the long eyelashes of the model. A twelve year old student named Marie found that the rose featured opposite of the model was very strategic in suggesting that the mascara made the model as beautiful as a rose.

Nearly all the women interviewed quickly found the hidden message of the rose. One interviewee explained to me the significance of the use of the rose. Charlene told me that "the rose is a symbol of flawless beauty and love. By comparing the model to a rose, the advertisers indicate that the product is what has made her a rare and eye-catching beauty." Another interviewee, a forty-year old physician named Lorie, said that the advertisement made her feel ugly and that she would purchase the product just to see if it would enhance her facial features. Another interviewee, a twenty year old college student named Panta, said that the product was worth a try and that she would probably purchase it just to see the results. Therefore the presence of the rose in the ad suggests that the product could make anyone as beautiful as a rose. All the women that I interviewed told me that they would give anything including the cost of the mascara to acquire the look of the model. Indeed the advertisers have successfully done their job; they have sold Lancome's curling mascara to their "target" consumers.

Clearly advertisers spend money in correctly identifying the needs and desires of the group of consumers that they target. In identifying their needs, advertisers are then able to create the feeling that causes a consumer to note the product's name and purchase it the next time they are out and shopping. The general public is ready to buy if they are under the impression that it will enhance their lives. The Lancome ad conveyed to the women that I interviewed a feeling of desirability and rare beauty. The hidden message of the rose found in Lancome's ad is a good example of how advertisers use ideal images of beauty to convince consumers to buy. As long as advertisers target and create the desired images, consumers will purchase their products.