1929 BEAUTY CONTEST IN THE CONTEXT OF PUBLIC RELATIONS HISTORY

Abstract

Even though the beauty phenomenon always includes a subjective judgement, it is always
an important crossroads because it includes conceptualizations such as Westernization
and modernization in the institutionalization of beauty contests.
Especially when we start to discuss over Turkey, external appearance -oriented
explanations in which the Westernization and modernization can easily be observed and
which are our reference points drag us up to the beauty contests.
The beauty contests, which can be examined as a symbol of social reconversion after the
war of Independence, were ignored in social sciences studies, in particular the habit of
reading through the window of History of Public Relations could not be established.
These competitions are labeled with different disintegrations and different readings that
appear or do not appear since the publication of the Republic of Turkey. Beauty contests
and the reactions to them are an example of how even beauty might become politicized
and might become a political space where the views of the country are transmitted by the
media frames.
In this study, the first official beauty contest organized by the Cumhuriyet Newspaper in
year 1929 is discussed within the scope of the history of Public Relations. In the study,
articles, theses and various books were used regarding the subject. In addition, news
published about the beauty contests at the Cumhuriyet and Hâkimiyeti Milliye 1
(Domination of the Nation) (Ulus) newspapers during 1929, which constitute the basis of
this study, were examined day by day and discussed within this context of the Public
Relations History