摘要：Throughout the late nineteenth century, manufacturers actively
solicited testimonials from popular actresses for products ranging
from cosmetics and corsets to pianos and patent medicine. By the
turn of the century, however, the use of testimonials as a general
advertising practice had fallen into disfavor, and while they never
completely disappeared, celebrity testimonials were noticeably
absent from the pages of most women’s magazines for almost a
decade. For this reason, the subsequent resurgence of actresses’
testimonials in cosmetics advertising of the 1910s raises important
questions about the use and desirability of actresses as endorsers,
and offers new insight into the cosmetics industry’s efforts to alter
preconceptions about the use of cosmetics as a social practice. By
1910, actresses had gained a more respectable position within
society and were widely recognized as fashion leaders, often
appearing in the pages of Vogue and Harper’s Bazar dressed in
their latest stage clothes. For emerging cosmetics specialists such
as Forrest D. Pullen and Helena Rubenstein, as well as for
established beauty product manufacturers like the Pond’s Extract
Company, an association with fashionable actresses was an
effective way to promote their product line and, more important,
the cosmetics industry as a whole.
