Paris Envy: Influential Marketing

Perhaps part of the reason the French were so successful was their uncanny ability to market "image over substance".  Photography, developed in France, went a long way in convincing modern women that images were powerful, that the "look" could convey wealth and status.  Roland Barthes has commented that clothing serves three functions:  "protection, purdeur, et parure," (protection, decency, ornament) but that the third was taking over.   Writing in the mid-1940s, John Kenneth Galbraith agreed that fashion had become less about function and more about ornament.  He argues that, "For many women and some men, clothing has ceased to be related to protection from exposure and has become like plumage, almost exclusively erotic".

It should be acknowledged that French marketing at the turn of the twentieth century extended into many areas beyond clothing.  One of the ways French products infiltrated the lives of American women was through their kitchens.  Peter Sterns notes that the "idea of fine foods, (what the French call gastronomy) was led by the French".  The French were eager to impart their sensibility for food to American women.  Once again, advertising was the way the French succeeded.  Daniel Delis Hill argues that "of all the historical images used in advertising, the most prolific has been that of La Belle Chocolataière, which has appeared in the packaging and advertising of Baker's Chocolate since 1825" and is still on the packaging today.  La Belle Chocolataière is the image of a young aproned and behatted young lass, sweetly holding aloft a piece of her confection.   Even if a woman could not bake tempting treats herself, all was not lost.  "For those able to afford the expense," says Lori Ann Loeb, "nougat de fondants, Montelimart aux Pistaches...French fondants...bon-bons...dragèes and pasteils...could be delivered".  Of course, one could find out where to purchase these delicacies in magazines.

If an American woman was able to win her man's heart by way of his stomach, she might well find a Parisian diamond placed on her finger.  The gems were beautiful, true, but the real allure may have been in the marketing.  Advertisements for the Parisian Diamond Company perpetuated the myth of France to American consumers, promising them a "future where industry will have wedded art".  Purchasing a Parisian diamond, therefore, would give one a sense of something beyond the norm.  Not only women were the beneficiaries of Parisian jewelry; men could also be the recipients of a woman's largess.  A well-to-do American woman might find the advertisements for Cartier watches appealing and purchase one as a wedding gift for her new husband ("Cartier"). 

The French have long sought to market "class."  In her article, "Culture de masse et divisions socials:  Le cas de l'industrie americaine des cosmètique," Kathy Peiss claims that "(l)e marché de class corresspond à des produits coûteux, fabriqués dans le pays ou importés, et qui connotent des idées de distinction  et de stat social privlége".  Translated "Mass Culture and Social Divisions:  The Case of American Cosmetics Industry," Kathy Peiss claims that in America, "class corresponds to the ability to buy expensive products, whether manufactured in the country or imported; expensive products connotes ideas of distinction and social privilege." 
 

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