The moral underpinnings of beauty: A meaning-based explanation for light and dark complexions in advertising

Sociological work on taste relates aesthetic preferences to other social forces. In this paper I examine taste in one particular dimension of personal appearance—complexion, specifically lightness and darkness of complexion. In a content analysis of 2133 individuals appearing in print advertisements in 2003–2004, and in an additional sample of print advertisements from 1970, I find that women are portrayed as having fairer complexions on average than men of the same race. I address possible biological interpretations of this difference and find them wanting. I develop an alternative explanation for the findings and argue that complexion ideals are related to dominant attitudes toward gender roles and to larger cultural meanings given to lightness and darkness. This meaning-based explanation to understanding aesthetics asserts that the dominant meanings of lightness and darkness in our culture are considered more ideally feminine and masculine, respectively. My explanation is supported through a detailed analysis of the ways that white female models with the lightest and darkest complexions are portrayed in a subset of 100 advertisements. Darker complected white female models are more frequently and more overtly sexualized than lighter complected white female models.