Article | ReVista: Harvard Review of Latin America | Spring 2017

Globalizing Latin American Beauty

by G. Jones

Abstract

This article discusses the growth over time of the beauty industry in Latin America and its bias towards celebrating whiter rather than darker skin. Although alleged Latin American fascination with beauty is regularly ascribed to culture, Latin sensuousness, and machismo attitudes, this article shows that the growth of the industry was historically contingent. It was shaped by corporations, especially Avon and Colgate, that transferred marketing capabilities from the United States and Europe. The industry also grew as the means out of poverty for many women who worked as sales consultants and in salons. Winning beauty contests became the equivalent to winning a lottery. In this respect, the impact of the beauty industry was positive. However it also, as elsewhere, imposed restrictive notions of beauty on generations of women and created cultures in which breast implants and buttocks injections became the societal norm. The industry intensified rather than challenged the deep racism of the region.

Keywords: Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Latin America; race and ethnicity; Globalization; Race; Ethnicity; Prejudice and Bias; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Latin America;

Format: Print Read Now

Citation:

Jones, G. "Globalizing Latin American Beauty." ReVista: Harvard Review of Latin America 16, no. 3 (Spring 2017): 10–14.

About the Author

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Geoffrey G. Jones
Isidor Straus Professor of Business History
General Management

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