The rise in candy from around the world reflects people's growing adventurous palates and the role of social media in introducing new foods globally.
History has significantly influenced what various cultures consider beautiful. Major economic and political events, along with shifts in the cultural zeitgeist, have all played a crucial part in shaping ideal beauty standards.
For instance, colonialism radically shifted beauty ideals in many Asian and African countries. Features that didn’t fit with Eurocentric beauty ideals, like deeper skin tones, smaller eye shapes and textured hair, were deemed undesirable, introducing a social hierarchy that is still being unraveled today.
In modern society, the rise of the Internet and social media has been a transformative force in shaping beauty standards. Asian beauty techniques and products have spread to the West and entered the mainstream, while Western influencer and celebrity culture has permeated globally. The conversation around beauty has become increasingly diverse and inclusive, celebrating a wider range of features and styles.
These evolving perspectives on beauty have led to the emergence of new practices, which are prominently reflected in modern advertising. Using our AI-powered Ad Evaluation App, we analyzed beauty advertisements from the 1990s and 2000s by the same brands across five different markets - the US, China, India, Japan, and Brazil. Our goal was to observe their transformation over time and identify any movements between these markets.
Previous Archetypes and Values: Sensual, Intimate, Passionate
New Archetypes and Values: Sensual, Intimate, Passionate, Inspiration, Glamorous
Brazil boasts one of the world’s most diverse cultures, but its beauty standards haven't always reflected that. L’Oreal’s earlier ads featured a light-skinned American model, which is not representative of the country's diversity. While the preferences for glamour and sensuality have remained central, modern ads now showcase a nuanced version of beauty, highlighting different ethnicities and genders. This bolder approach contrasts with the seemingly self-effacing ad of the past, redefining and embracing what beauty looks like in Brazil.
Previous Archetypes and Values: Supportive, Down-to-Earth
New Archetypes and Values: Strong, Brave, Determined
Estee Lauder's 2002 ad in China features Caucasian model Hilary Rhoda as the ambassador, dubbed in Mandarin. This ad may have been a reflection of the period's idealization of foreign beauty and a lack of strong Chinese identity in the beauty industry at the time. More than two decades later, the 2024 ad we analyzed showcases Zhang Weili, a professional MMA fighter, training in a boxing ring. This shift indicates a move away from the consumption of imported beauty standards towards the creation of a homegrown ideal. The new standard of beauty emphasizes strength and health, qualities that Chinese consumers admire and aspire to, and see in themselves.
Previous Archetypes and Values: Powerful, Charismatic, Visionary
New Archetype and Values: Playful, Carefree, Fun-Loving, Glamorous
The two L’Oreal India advertisements featuring long-time brand ambassador Aishwarya Rai illustrate a shift in marketing strategy over the last decade. In the earlier ad, Aishwarya embodies the quintessential beautiful Indian woman, dressed-up and perfectly coiffed. This portrayal emphasizes an idealized and somewhat unattainable standard of beauty.The updated ad presents a more casual and relatable image of the actress, which suggests an attitudinal shift among Indian consumers. While she remains glamorous, the ad focuses on portraying her in a more accessible light, thus positioning her as someone who wants to help other women feel beautiful too.
Previous Archetypes and Values: Innocent, Humble, Optimistic
New Archetypes and Values: Warm, Compassionate, Generous, Nurturing, Inspirational
Shiseido's ads reflect the evolving reality of Japanese women over the past 30 years. The 1992 ad depicts a woman at home, where women typically spent most of their time. The modern ad, however, shows Japanese celebrity Hiromi Nagasaku in various aspects of her life—at work and with her family—showcasing the joy she feels. She appears more confident and assertive, reflecting contemporary Japanese views on beauty. In the past, beauty was associated with cleanliness, but now it encompasses a woman living her life fully and enjoying every moment, illustrating that beauty comes from within rather than just external appearances.
Previous Archetypes and Values: Expressive, Imaginative, Sensuality
New Archetypes and Values: Playful, Fun-loving, Glamorous, Entertaining
Both Maybelline ads share a similar concept, creating a fantasy world that doesn't take itself too seriously. Beauty is meant to be fun, and the 2023 version feels like a modern update of the earlier ad's playful message. The latest ad features the unexpected pairing of Bretman Rock and Martha Stewart, and utilizes both their brand personas. This shift showcases a growing consumer desire for inclusivity and authenticity in advertising, challenging traditional notions of beauty and expanding the idea of who gets to wear makeup.
Our analysis of ads from these five markets reveals three key ways ideas have traveled, highlighting the shift from one-dimensional to multidimensional beauty. The meaning of this shift varies across cultures.
Many modern ads demonstrate a shift in the relationship and power dynamics between beauty brands and consumers. In the past, the beauty industry focused on highlighting imperfections and promoting unattainable standards that could only be achieved through their products. Today, consumers are more empowered and seek brands that affirm their beauty and support them in their journey to become the best version of themselves.
Markets Demostrating this Theme: USA. Brazil, Japan.
Modern beauty ads seem to share a common thread: beauty is about play and passion. It’s meant to be fun and accessible to everyone who wants to take part in it. It's believed that happiness and fulfillment in life radiate outwardly. When you feel content and satisfied, it enhances your external appearance.Brands need to promote the idea that their products are a means to explore, have fun, and express joy, reinforcing where true beauty comes from.
Markets Demostrating this Theme: USA, Brazil, China, Japan, India.
Seeing yourself on screen is more important than ever before. Consumers are demanding to see people who not only look like them but also reflect the unique interpretations of beauty in their respective countries. They want to see individuals who mirror their ideals and lifestyles and with whom they can emotionally connect.
The expectation is for brands to understand them on a far deeper level and cater to their beauty standards, rather than setting the standards for them.
Markets Demostrating this Theme: USA, Brazil, China, Japan.
Candy remains a favorite in ASMR eating videos due to its visual appeal and sound when chewed. Recently, popular candies with crunchy and sludgy sounds have become especially soothing.
Consumers' tastes now favor sharper, tangier flavors. Sour candy offers a refreshing contrast to sweetness and stimulates dopamine release. It is also believed to be a quick antidote for anxiety, as it distracts the brain from negative emotions and focuses it on the tingly sensation in the mouth.
Nostalgia has hit the candy market, with 90s and 00s favorites like Ring Pops, Airheads, and Nerds topping Amazon’s Best Sellers list, indicating consumers’ craving for childhood snacks.
.png)
Write to [email protected] to learn about AI-powered market research and the latest consumer trends.
As beauty standards become more inclusive and diverse, it is clear that consumers are driving a transformative shift in media and advertising, seeking representations that are authentic, empowering, and reflective of their true selves.
If you are interested to learn more, sign up for our product newsletter or reach out to us at [email protected].
Remember Pepsi’s infamous Live For Now ad that seemingly trivialized ground up movements for Black Lives Matter and against police brutality?
How about Dove’s unintentional diversity backfire that sparked accusations of racial insensitivity?
Advertising cringe fests and controversies come and go quickly in this age of media ephemerality. But the ubiquity and speed of social media means that negative backlash hits brands harder than before and a single misstep can quickly snowball into a global PR disaster.
Ad testing helps companies avoid such mistakes by identifying potential issues before the ad is released or even while it’s airing. Brands can get critical feedback on how their content will be perceived by audiences and refine their assets according to what works and what doesn’t.
The downsides to traditional ad testing
Traditionally, ad testing is done through focus groups, surveys, or in-person workshops where a sample of the target audience is shown the ads and asked for their opinions. But as you can imagine, this takes a significant amount of time, effort and resources.
Survey respondents have to be recruited and incentivized, moderators hired, surveys written, locations booked, responses compiled, cleaned, and analyzed. The entire process can take up to a month or more, depending on the complexity of testing and number of assets being tested.
Response bias adds another stumbling block to the process and can hinder the accuracy of your findings. Answers from respondents may not fully reflect their actual perceptions if they have preconceived notions of a brand, product or other factor.
They may also respond with what they believe to be socially desirable answers when asked leading questions or about sensitive topics like religion, health and alcohol consumption.
Using AI-based creative testing instead of traditional surveys avoids the problems mentioned and automates a month-long process with the click of a button.
Sphere’s Ad Evaluation app harnesses the power of the internet and crowdsources mass opinions for an objective picture of how creative content will be received. Using machine learning, it determines if a brand’s messaging aligns with its desired values and provides the insights needed to avoid marketing mishaps.
Here’s how it’s a step up from conventional testing:
1. Speed
The app analyzes multiple pieces of creative material in as little as 5 minutes, giving instant insights in the form of user-friendly data visualizations.
Instead of taking weeks or months to ad test and risk releasing outdated content, Ad Evaluation allows brands to quickly analyze their strategy and make informed decisions.
2. Scale
The app is designed to test large volumes of content — whether it’s every single asset a brand creates, or doing a comparison analysis of all competitor content.
Instead of using a small sample of consumers to evaluate campaigns, the large scale AI model is able to computationally use the amount of information available on the Internet today. This gives brands the largest sample size they can tap into with convenience and cost-efficiency.
3. Reliability
Another advantage of the Ad Evaluation app is its lack of preconceived notions of brands or concepts. Unlike focus groups who may have biases based on personal experiences, the app gathers opinions from a diverse and impartial audience that provides a clearer understanding of how content will be received in the real world. People are more truthful in online discourse than in surveys and focus groups where social norms and basic decency come into play.
Human culture is built on a unique series of associations between images and words. Instead of using a small sample of consumers to evaluate campaigns, we wanted to tap into the entire digital society of human experience to do so.
The AI model behind Ad Evaluation was trained on nearly half a billion image and meaning associations to understand how we see the world. For example, a balloon or a smile may represent happiness.
By using training data from a vast array of digital mediums from historical books to stock imagery to Reddit threads, we built a new communication testing technology that takes into account cultural and generational nuances from any cohort.
Ad Evaluation is able to analyze each video frame, image, or text and calculate the proximity of these assets to the contextual meanings they represent. The results are a thorough analysis of brand values that come through in an advertisement and how closely each frame conveys a particular value.
With an average person receiving 10,000 brand messages a day, your branding needs to stand out to create an impression in a crowded market.
This app helps you to:
1. Optimize advertising materials to best convey specific values
See all images in the ads that signal each brand value. Discover the types of objects, backdrops, colors and symbols that represent different values.
2. Analyze high performing videos to see what drives viewsAnalyzing Competitor’s Top 4 high performing assets, we can distill what drives views across countries.
Eccentricity, sensorial product shots, and daytime urban scenes may work well in Mexico, for example. Meanwhile, American viewers may prefer slice of life scenes, urban nightscapes, and aspirational imagery.
1. Select Data Source: Choose to analyze video commercials or short brand clips
2. Enter Ads to Analyze: Link multiple videos to compare across campaigns
3. Define Your Brand Values: Put in your own brand values or let Sphere’s AI detect relevant values
1. Get a sense of how much each ad signals different brand values
2. Explore how brand values are expressed in each video frame
3. See all images in each ad that signal the respective brand values
4. Learn about the personality archetype that your brand represents and the traits that the ad conveys to audiences
synthesizing vast data into actionable insights that reflect each market's unique cultural and economic backdrop
grasping the distinct consumer perspectives that these diverse regions offer
Curated digital profiles:
-Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok (US)
-Weibo and Douyin (China)
Pulled 400 million unique searches to estimate the growth of each segment
Used Quilt.AI’s Sphere language and image capabilities to categorise lifestyle areas into specific segments
These consumers are confident, bold, and comfortable with modern masculinity. They also often turn to social media to express their personal style and interests.
.png)
Actionable Insight: Collaborate with high-profile fashion influencers to create vibrant, trend-setting campaigns that resonate with this segment's desire for attention and admiration.
Highly image-driven, these individuals often seek validation through their appearance and are likely to engage heavily with both grooming and fashion products.
Actionable Insight:Leverage digital marketing strategies that feature before-and-after visuals and testimonials that showcase the transformative power of the products
These men aim to be recognized as modern, open-minded, and sensitive – embodying the image of "the woke good guy" in today's society by actively participating in movements related to activism and gender equality.
Actionable Insight:Design marketing campaigns that highlight their participation in these movements, showcasing products that enable them to express and amplify their desired social identities.
They value beauty while still maintaining traditional masculine ideals of what it means to be good-looking. These men also tend to seek out methods of maintaining their youthful appearances.
Actionable Insight:Market products that boost physical appeal and suit active lifestyles, and focus on dynamic marketing that highlights masculine elegance.
Despite seeing gender in traditionally binary terms, these men aren’t afraid of behaving in more feminine manners. They own their uniqueness and tend to be deeply loyal to brands that affirm their identity.
Actionable Insight:Focusing on brand narratives that celebrate individuality and personal expression will better engage this segment. Brands can also offer personalized services to maintain their commitment.
As consumers who value knowledge, they embrace technology and innovation that enhances their lives. Wanting to stay ahead of the curve, they prefer brands that offer cutting-edge solutions that reflect their own mentality.
Actionable Insight:Market products to this segment by emphasizing innovation, utility, and exclusivity. Brands can focus on how their products integrate the latest technology and engage these men through intelligent content that speaks to their curiosity.
.svg)
.png)
