The aim of this paper is to analyze the ideal beauty and lifestyles of Japanese women represented in the MAQuillAGE advertising of lipsticks from 2005 to 2011. Shiseido, founded in 1872, is the oldest and largest cosmetics company in Japan, and sells six major lines in the area of hair care and cosmetics. MAQuillAGE covers a full-line makeup products of a middle price range for women in their twenties. Using a semiotic approach, the paper traces how the brand messages connoted in the MAQuillAGE lipsticks ads have changed before and after the economic downturn precipitated by the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy in 2008.
