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This thesis is a study of magazine advertisements for beauty products in Canada between 1901 and 1941. It looks at the use of cosmetics and the growth of advertising in the context of the development of North American consumer culture, highlighting the role of gender in that culture. The period studied is divided in two by the mid-1920s to reflect changes in advertisers' views of consumers--from rational decision-makers to irrational creatures driven by their emotions--and in ideals of feminine beauty, as the use of cosmetics became an essential part of the ideal perpetuated by advertising. The thesis attempts to show the link between business history and cultural history by demonstrating how marketing professionals co-opted cultural trends in order to create effective advertising, and how traditional relationships and values were modified by the purchase and use of mass-marketed goods.