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].
Although the Internet has in many ways shrunk the world into a global village, culture is still closely linked to geography. Real-world places are central to human experience and identity, and continue to hold profound associations and meaning for us. Discourse varies widely by country and by region. It is no surprise that comparing and analyzing trends and conversations by location reveals important cultural and demographic insights.
When gathering data from online platforms, we often want to “filter by location” — that is, restrict our search to a city, region or country. In this article, we discuss the problem of location filtering for online data. We focus on a scenario where a creator platform (e.g. Twitter or Youtube) holds user-generated content tagged with location metadata and is queried for content that conforms to some location criterion. There are three interrelated considerations:
When a content item is created on a platform, the platform captures its origin location either automatically or via manual input. Automatic capture uses either the “home location” of the user or the location from which the content item was posted (if the user’s device shares this information); manual input allows the user to specify a “geo-tag”. Most platforms including Twitter and Instagram capture location automatically but also allow the user to specify it manually. Youtube and Tiktok support manual geo-tagging.
In order to represent this origin location, platforms use two broad methods which we will call the “place” method and the “point” method. The “place” method specifies a general location associated with the content item, either as a text string or as a polygon that frames the location using latitude/longitude coordinates. Of course, there are always several place descriptors associated with a given location — Paris, France, and the Champ de Mars are all valid place descriptors for the Eiffel Tower. The platform typically stores a mapping of such overlapping place descriptors (e.g. Paris is in France, France is in Europe) and either stores all possible descriptor strings in the location tag, or uses the mapping at query time to ensure that content tagged with ‘Paris’ is also returned for a search for ‘France’.
The “point” method, on the other hand, specifies the exact location associated with the content item as a single latitude/longitude pair. While this is a more precise and compact representation, it usually requires the creator to use a GPS-enabled device that returns an exact GPS location.
Search queries submitted to content platforms can, in general, specify a location criterion using a country code, a place string, a point-radius scheme, or a bounding-box scheme. Country codes and place strings can be used to filter via straightforward lookup when the representation uses the place method. The point-radius scheme is useful for specifying arbitrary circular regions, but we note that insightful searches often use country- or region-wise filters — and a moment’s consideration shows that approximating countries by large circular regions is limiting at best and entirely misleading at worst (consider the shape of countries such as Chile or Vietnam). Bounding boxes can be a better fit for country shapes; in fact, compilations of country bounding boxes are widely available in the public domain. There is even a Python library to facilitate working with country coordinates and bounding boxes.
The Twitter API offers all of the above methods for API queries: country code, place string, point-radius, and bounding-box. Other APIs such as Pytrends and the Youtube API are more limited. Youtube offers only the point-radius method limited to a maximum radius of 1000 km — this does not actually span many large countries and, as stated above, introduces inaccuracies when querying country-wise. City-level filtering is, however, reasonably accurate when using a point-radius scheme. Pytrends — the unofficial Google Trends API — allows an API query to specify a country code but allows neither place strings nor arbitrary point-radius/bounding-box regions.
As a common workaround to the complexities of location support, many content creators use manual hashtag annotations to specify location. This has the advantage of allowing arbitrarily precise location descriptions (e.g. #johnsbakery). Most social platforms use hashtags to funnel search queries, allowing targeted searches to easily return tagged content. A query can, as a proxy for an actual location, request for all content that uses a location hashtag.
While support for location and location-based queries varies significantly across content creation platforms, it remains vital to consider the location factor when analyzing online data. Interests and concerns are shaped by physical environments and proximity; an analysis that does not take location into account may miss valuable insights.
At Quilt.AI, we use location-based search and machine learning to uncover cultural meaning in Internet data. Reach out to us at [email protected] for more information!
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)
