Consumerism , Commodification , and Beauty : Shiseido and the Rise of Japanese Beauty Culture

This research focuses on the development of advertising in interwar period Japan (between World War I and World War II) and the growing prevalence of the Modem Girl. As women with a certain aesthetic were popularized through advertisement campaigns, this aesthetic was disseminated to a wider audience and incited cultural change. For the purposes of this research, the rosmetics company Shiseido and its advertisements will be used, in order to illustrate the effeas of one major Japanese company on the spread of the Modem Girl throughout Japan and the sum,unding regions. Advertisements from an MIT database were examined from the period, and are analyzed in the following work. I have attempted to gauge the prominence of the Modem Girl figure, her appearance, and various other visual factors. After conducting this project, I have concluded that Shiseido played an integral role in the rise of fapanese beauty culture and in the spread of the Modem Girl phenomenon.