It's advertisements like these that push the idea that women need to strive for beauty because who they are naturally is not good enough in the eyes of society. Magazine ads with weight loss campaigns, giving insight on how to look in order to be beautiful, and the promotion of cosmetics to encourage women everywhere to alter their appearance in the name of beauty. However, slogans such as these degrade women more than most.
The slogan's phrasing itself calls for it's own critique, "Maybe she's born with it, maybe it's Maybelline." This gives all the credit to the cosmetic brand for the woman's beauty. Sure she could be naturally born with these astounding good looks without the help of any synthesized product, but probably not. In today's society, the beauty of women is constantly being put to the test in not looking and feeling self satisfied, but to be pleasing to the eye of the beholder. In order for a woman to be considered good in appearance, she must receive the attention from those around her. This idea of social acceptance has even increased to the point of practice of hostile culture in which woman are being portrayed as hypersexualized as well as rape and or sexual assault can be laughed about. Young girls are growing up learning that to be beautiful and satisfied with themselves that they need to self-improve with advertisements like these leading the way.
Maybelline is not the only perpetrator to this ongoing campaign against natural beauty. There are other cosmetic lines as well as dieting pills and programs, and even something as small and unnoticeable as the hair dyes in the shampoo isle. Women are always being told that they should change themselves for their own benefit. Can we really be born with natural beauty? With so many outlets in the media continuously targeting women with "new and improved" products, solutions, and routes to becoming a "better you" there's no way to tell who a woman really is. So many new ways to change your physical appearance that we may as well be wet clay that is constantly being molded by the hegemonic society that we live in. I for one have fallen into the need to wear makeup in order to feel like I can show my face to the world. On the rare occasions that I decide to brave the days without any trace of makeup on my face, I later regret it as I soon receive feedback from those around me that I look 'tired' or sometimes even 'ill'. Although the cosmetic industry is not the only campaign against women's natural selves, it is one of the most powerful.
Maybe she's born with it, but it's probably Maybelline along with some other way of self improvement just to satisfy the judgmental eye of society. Chances are, looking around you, there won't be many girls and or women near you without any trace of makeup usage. Cover-up, mascara, lip gloss, lip stick, and eyeliner all ways to "gain" beauty that women never had. After all, it couldn't have been her own natural beauty, it must have been Maybelline.
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