Using a variety of female celebrities, infomercial producers have once again created a huge market where none existed. That’s not to say that makeup 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! – makeup 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, makeup 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 the master to countless female celebrities (and men too, by the way) and the most successful line of makeup products was born. Later on, the celebrities themselves, sensing a huge cash return for the use of their face, put themselves on various lines of makeup 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 makeup 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 makeup and other beauty supplies to American women by the truckload. Here’s the hook that they used: the makeup 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 to make up to countless beautiful celebrities. The makeup 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 makeup 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 makeup 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 day's work, sitting in a comfortable chair, in air-conditioned splendor, having to make up applied to their faces. As the man said – Only in America!
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