Ethos Comparison of Dorothy Gray Salon Anti-Aging Products Advertisement to The Feminine Mystique and "You Don't Own Me"

While the excerpt from Betty Friedan’s book, The Feminine Mystique, and Lesley Gore’s song, “You Don’t Own Me” related to the growing discontentment of American women in order to empower them, the writers of the Dorothy Gray cosmetics advertisement manipulated their audience by establishing a false sense of reliability and misleading women into thinking that they must please men in order to be happy. In terms of extrinsic ethos, Dorothy Gray was one of the three most successful cosmetic companies in the United States at the time. Their success was attributed to extensive advertising that projected an American outlook synonymous with being modern and trustworthy to post-war American consumers. One of their corporate taglines was “Trust Dorothy Gray.” Thus, they seemingly offered an honest solution to women’s insecurities which, unlike Gore’s song and Friedan’s book, placed emphasis on being attractive for their husbands rather than working to create an identity for themselves. In an attempt to boost their credibility, the Dorothy Gray advertisement referenced “noted specialists,” claiming that the specialists "have proved that estrogenic hormones applied to the skin can help women look younger… [and] counteract the effects of the gradual loss of [their] own beautifying hormones.” This statement is next to a photo of a man in a white lab coat. Naive women may have fallen prey to the pseudoscientific jargon and the intelligent appearance of the unknown specialist in the photo, all of which are purposefully and deceitfully used to make the product appear reliable. Similar to how Friedan reassured women that countless others shared the frustration veining through American society, the Dorothy Gray advertisement claimed that "happy results [were] reported by women everywhere” since their cream would seem to be more trustworthy with the assumption that many more people were using it. The difference between this text and the excerpt from The Feminine Mystique (as well as “You Don’t Own Me”) is that the former's intentions expressed genuine concern for women throughout America who were too afraid to break away from the feminine stereotypes. The Dorothy Gray cosmetics advertisement, on the other hand, was manipulative and avaricious when establishing ethos and took advantage of the stereotypes.

- Anjali Ravi

Logical Fallacies of Dorothy Gray Salon Anti-Aging Products Ad and Comparison to "You Don't Own Me" and The Feminine Mystique

This advertisement definitely encompasses one of the problems the feminist movement was fighting against in the 1960’s. This ad contains so many unfortunate stereotypes and logical fallacies, where does one even begin. The ad states that women must not look “tragically older than their husband.” This, right off the bat, is a rather creepy sentiment that doesn’t make any logical sense, yet is still present in our society today in film and media. Why must the woman in a relationship look young and perfect, while the man can be fifty-something with wrinkles and graying hair? This advertisement, like most, uses hasty generalizations, appeals to false authorities, appeals to ignorance, and overall vagueness in attempt to sell their product. The ad states that “noted specialists” have proved that the product is great, without providing any real information on why, or even mentioning whom these mysterious, all-knowing specialists are. The ad also generalizes peoples’ reactions to the product; it just says that “thousands of women” love it, and gives an example review the marketers wrote, instead of a real review from an actual customer. But again, the most flawed part about this add is its overall theory. Its whole argument is based on this false idea that women must look younger than their husbands. That’s an appeal to ignorance because before the feminist movement, most women didn’t know that not everything they did had to be for the pleasure of men. 

This advertisement can be directly applied to “The Feminine Mystique” excerpt. This is exactly the kind of sexism Betty Friedan was explaining to women and arguing against, the unconscious acceptance of the idea that women were objects of men, of the house, of the family. She explained in her book that this was not a full life, it was a concentration camp. This ad also applies to the song “You Don’t Own Me” by Lesley Gore, just not as directly. Gore states in her song that men do not own her and informs them that they cannot tell her what to do. While this ad is not specifically a man telling women they need to look younger than their husband (it is just a cultural bias), Gore’s song could still be used as a way of saying that women do not need to please men and do not need to look younger for them if they do not want to. This advertisement is the opposite of Gore’s song and Friedan’s book. It attempts to achieve its goal of selling products by degrading women, whereas Gore and Friedan’s goal was to help and empower women.

-Ryan Young

Pathos Comparison of Dorothy Gray Salon Anti-Aging Products Ad to "You Don't Own Me" and The Feminine Mystique

Even though the Dorothy Gray Cellogen Cream ad (1951) was created not far before The Feminine Mystique (1963) and “You Don’t Own Me” by Lesley Gore (1963), their pathos appeals to the audience varies. While the song focuses on the injustices women endure and the excerpt focuses on women not finding fulfillment, the ad focuses on women’s insecurities. At first glance, the audience can see a large picture of a woman who looks distressed. Then the audience may wonder why does she look distraught by the other couple in the background. This image immediately plays with a woman’s insecurity of possibly not being good enough. When the audience goes on to read the ad, they can then connect that the woman is distressed because she looks older then her actual age. Now back in 1951 after reading this part of the ad, the women might have pondered if they too look older then their actual age. This sudden insecurity of looking older instantly makes a woman feel despondent about herself and her appearance, breaking down her self-confidence.

The author of this ad also played with women’s emotions because they go on to say that the aging of men doesn’t weigh into their attractiveness. Although the author said this was “unfair,” they still pointed it out which could maybe relate to the injustices women felt when hearing Lesley Gore’s song. Not being able to be viewed the same way as men is an injustice to women and this statement definitely makes a women almost feel pity for herself.

The audience, however most likely noticed the title first because of its demeaning context. The author asks “Does your husband look younger than you do” which immediately makes a woman question her appearance and her confidence about herself. Appealing to a woman’s insecurities about her appearance, the author makes a woman feel apprehensive about how she looks. No woman wants to question if she looks attractive or not which is why this ad was probably successful because after making the woman feel bad about herself, they provided her with a solution. However this question could guilt women into wanting to use this product because they want to look beautiful for their husbands. It seemed that looking beautiful was a requirement, by men, for women.

-Casey Tarman

Logos of “You Don’t Own Me”

The logos of the song “You Don’t Own Me” are established through simple but incisive lyrics. By telling a story of a girl fighting for her independence against her boyfriend, the lyrics present the inequality between men and women at that time period. The singer claimed that women are not objects that can be showed off and throw away when not needed. Both men and women are human beings and therefore they should be treated equally. The lyrics,” I don't tell you what to say/ I don't tell you what to do/ So just let me be myself” appeal to logic and empathy. The male audience understands that if he does not want to be treated in some way, he should not treat others in that way either. The repeating pattern of the lyrics also forces audience to consider the claims made in the song again and again. As a result, the supporters of equality would reassert themselves, while people against feminism might find the song persuasive and switch their mind.

- Pei-Jo

Audience Comparison of Dorothy Gray Salon Anti-Aging Products Advertisement (1951) to The Feminine Mystique and "You Don't Own Me"

Although they came from the same general time period, the Dorothy Gray Salon product advertisement for various anti-aging cream and lotions targeted a very different audience than The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan and the song "You Don't Own Me" by Lesley Gore. Although all three rhetorical texts were aimed at women unhappy in their current state, the Dorothy Gray Salon advertisement targeted women who were insecure and felt inferior to their husbands in terms of their appearance. By exploiting the insecurities of a large population of women, much like beauty ads today, the Dorothy Gray Salon advertisment was able to sell products that promised these women not just a more youthful appearance, but also renewed interest from their husbands. Women who were less exposed to the feminist movement, which encouraged women to worry less about their appearance and to value less superficial elements of themselves, most likely fell prey to the ideas in the advertisement. The Feminine Mystique, although also intended for women who were in some way aware of their unhappiness as a housewife, was directed more at women who understood that there was more in the world for them than a youthful glow and less wrinkles. Similarly, the song "You Don't Own Me", was aimed at women and girls to make them aware of the possibility of autonomy from men. In summary, all three texts targeted generally the same group of women, but offered unique solutions to feminine discontent.

-Taylor Rezeppa

Ethos in The Feminine Mystique

Betty Friedan (far left) shown leading a women's rights protest

In addition to her appeal to pathos, the most important aspect of the excerpt from Betty Friedan’s book, The Feminine Mystique, may have been her establishment of ethos. Friedan, a leading figure in the women’s movement, had herself experienced dissatisfaction with her life in the household. Her empathy strengthened her reputation as a feminist. By repetitively depicting the “ideal” woman of American society—a woman who remained in the household and took care of children—as someone who felt frustrated and guilty at her discontentment, Friedan was able to make her argument more relatable and believable for most American women. After Friedan described how she came to realize that this problem was shared by other women, she switched to speaking in the first person, as if she was saying, “I am able to recognize that the repression of women’s capacities is an issue, so I am no longer a part of the feminine stereotype.” She established credibility by making herself distinct from other women who may have been more oblivious to the problem. On the other hand, she also reassured the women that were not aware of the “countless women in America” who shared this discontentment that they were not alone in the way they felt. This bandwagon sort of approach to her argument made Friedan's words more compelling and deepened her connection with the audience. In order to identify with her audience through a sense of community, Friedan emphasized the idea of “American women,” not simply anyone, enduring these struggles together. 

- Anjali Ravi

Stasis Theory of "You Don't Own Me"

Applying stasis theory to Lesley Gore’s song “You Don’t Own Me” begins with the fact and definition category. Gore’s song can be defined as a feminist song stating, not arguing, that women are individual people who are not controlled by men. The causes and effects of this song are fairly clear. Women were not being treated equally in the 60’s, and with the feminist movement growing women were starting to speak up and demand fair treatment. The song can be speculated to have had a pretty significant impact on the Women’s Right’s Movement. It was one of earlier songs of a woman demanding her rights, and it definitely helped fuel the feminist movement. On a smaller scale, it was probably one of the first times young girls were hearing someone they looked up to tell them that they deserved respect. The value of this song is already related to some of the consequences mentioned. Most people would agree the idea that women are equal is a positive thing, and that is what this song attempted to convey through a very popular medium. It was a widespread attempt at raising public awareness of issues in the current society, which would likely classify as an honorable goal. Since this is a song from the past, the action category of stasis theory is a little harder to apply. Examining this song in the past, it could be argued that the feminist movement and the passing of the Equal Rights Amendment, as well as overall positive change in public opinion, could be actions responding to the issues addressed in the song. Looking at the action category in a modern perspective, this song can highlight gender issues still present in society that could be addressed by protests, legal changes, and overall changes in public perception. Finally, the jurisdiction category of stasis theory questions who has the right to act on the issues brought up in “You Don’t Own Me.” This is a relatively open-ended question. However, one could argue that all people in general should be responsible for dealing with these issues, males and females alike, especially in the current day. Since this issue is about women, they should likely have the authority over what is the ‘right’ way to work on resolving these problems. Despite this, it is every human being’s duty to try to fix discrepancies between genders and strive to create equality in whatever way they can. 

-Ryan Young