Evaluation Essay Sample on Aesop: Quality Hair, Skin, and Body Care Since 1987

Introduction

Aesop is a company that deals with skin, hair, and body care formulations, which are created with meticulous attention to the details and efficiency at mind. The company was established in 1987 with its headquarters in Melbourne. Over the years, the company has opened stores in different locations all over the world intending to create hair, skin, and body care products, which of the best quality to their customers. The company has made a significant investment in investigating and sourcing plants -based and laboratory-based ingredients to ensure high quality.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

The company maintains a proven record of efficiency and safety of products in different stores all over the world. Since the company establishment in 1987, it has been producing high quality and plant-based hair, skin, and body care products for people of all genders. The company does not engage in the normal branding and advertising practice; rather, they tell their story directly to their customers through the superb and unique environmental design and aromatic experience. They also provide superior blended products and a philosophy of unselling, which is maintained in their different stores all over the world.

Their website gives an insight into the architecture and design of the firm. At the same time, their brand name has been maintained by a high level of consistency in providing quality products that satisfy the customers. The company maintains four critical aspects which help differentiate it from the rest by making their customer's fee different. First, the company maintains a philosophy of unselling, which prevents the company from advertising what they cannot deliver, thus maintaining a high level of honesty to the customers. The brand focuses on critical aspects of their product. Second, they adapt to the environment where each store is created by blending with the culture of people in that location. Third, they hire people who love their products; thus, their employees are the best brand ambassadors for the company products. Finally, they have perfected their craft through hard work, commitment, and passion.

What Makes the Advertisement Fit the Gender Functionality Role?

First, Aesop's website design has taken a neutral color to both genders. Had the websites been in colors such as pink, it would have been generally advertising products for females. The color of the site is greyish, a very gender-neutral color which is neither associated with males, females of the transgender. Second, the wording of the advertisement does not include any gender-sensitive words. The company has opted to play right in the middle by describing the company objective as "formulating skin, hair and body care products of the finest quality by combining plant-based and laboratory-based ingredients to deliver record proven efficient and safe products." The objective of the company does not in any way hint that the company aims to create products for any particular gender, which makes it highly gender binary.

It is a common practice that most body care products drift to either gender in an attempt to maximize their market potential. However, Aesop has completely ignored this and concentrated on creating gender binary products that can be used by anyone who associates themselves as male, female, or transgender (BBC Radio 4, 2015). Their website and advertisement platform reflect on their ideals. For instance, the unique design of their stores in different parts of the world do not take any form of gender-sensitive design. The company rather opted to keep the store neutral by focusing on the community as a source of inspiration for its design. Most stores associated with the sale of body, hair, and skin products are designed in a particular way to attract the female gender. That is because females have been known to be the largest consumers of these products in the world. Thus, the company has gone out of its way to make it feel good for a man to walk into their store and buy their products without feeling absurd or shy about it. Their unique design gives a sign that everyone, be it male, female or transgender is welcome to check out their stores and their products

Another aspect of their advertisement is the product. The design of the product is not in any way, gender-biased. The product does not contain any image on the containers. That is an awesome move by the company because using a persons' image means that the company has to choose the gender of the person in the image. If a male image is put on the product, then the female gender will feel left out and vice-versa. Therefore, the company opted to remain neutral by creating a product that does not have an image. Also, the product is not specified as male or female. The company deals with skin, hair, and body care products, which are binary. Thus their products can be used by all genders regardless.

Gender Role Messages

The advertisement does not contain gender role messages, and it cuts in the middle without addressing any particular gender. The messages contained in the advertisement do not present any form of stereotype-based on any gender. The producer of the advert believes in creating better skincare products by combining the lab and plant-based ingredients.

Relevant Sociology Terms

Feminism is a range of movements (social and political) and ideologies that aim to achieve equality of sexes by considering personal, political, economic, and social aspects. The ideal looks at how different societies tend to prioritize male ideologies over those of females and focuses on how to bring about equality and fairness by breaking off the hardcoded stereotypes by promoting education and professional opportunities for women similar to those offered to men.

References

BBC Radio 4. (2015). Erving Goffman and the Performed Self [Image]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Z0XS-QLDWM

Wade, L., & Ferree, M. M. (2015). Gender: Ideas, interactions, institutions (p. 432). WW Norton.