1940’s vintage Chap Stick displays pragmatic durability along with visual exquisiteness through classical design treatment. The “soothing” lip balm is contained in a cylinder metal tube. The functional parts of the stick are differentiated by colors, with the rounded-head lid being white and the main body being black. Golden color articulates the brand, “Fleet’s Chap Stick,” in sans-serif and display fonts respectively, without any superfluous design elements. This sleek lip balm tube bears a close resemblance to modern products in size, similar to that of the index finger. Yet a rotator is not added to complete the form in function as modern manufacturers would do. This product was released in 1940, and available mainly in local drug stores within the United States.
War brought masculinity back in the social center. With cowboys’ traditional imagery of manhood, Chap Stick attempted to acknowledge and amplify masculinity for male users by establishing the tight linkage with American cowboys and applying neutral design treatment to cold tone materials. The targeting act to unisex audience might be viewed as commercial gesture or humane care responding to the war background, which admittedly also showed forth societal consideration. Lip care as a unisex need unfortunately favors female users over male counterpart. Statistically, male users are few, and tend to be more secretive when applying lip balm in public. Whether due to laziness or shyness, this unreasonable mental stress projects current gender inequality, which a designer is able and obligated to address. For further research, the following concerns and questions might need to be responded to: For what reasons Chap Stick came up this marketing strategy under that social circumstance? What was the situation of gender equality at that time? Does the affectional quality and tendency of lip balm mutate by the adoption of the lipstick’s form? Does the lacking of a rotator help to deliver the macho message since the application of lip balm differs from that of lipsticks for female use? How should be design treatment reinforce such message delivery and thus disperse any existing social prejudice?
