This essay will emphasise on Beauty enhancement procedures and all the factors associated with it in general and with respect to consumer psychology. The essay starts with the detailed analysis and research of the changing perceptions of adopting beauty enhancement procedures of consumers and how in the belief of attaining success in professional and personal life is associated closely with it. The reasons of obtaining these procedures by consumers will be discussed in depth. The essay will through light on topics such as why people adopt these procedures to get selected or promoted at a work place, how these procedures are undertaken for reasons like obtain a better marital match and be more appealing and attractive in the eyes of the people around in order to get love and adequate respect. It is stranger to no one that the continues change in term is one big reason behind the rise of this industry as it keeps changing and with change encourages people to look as per the suitability of the trend associated with that particular time or place (Sharma 2014). These trends therefore determine the decision making process of the consumer and influences their choice of what procedure top obtain. The essay also discusses the psychological factors such as personality, attitudes, motivation and learning that highly influence the buying behaviour and decision making of a consumer. In the end of the essay it is predicted as to how the direction of these trends will change with respect to the, continues changes in cultural and social aspects. Self-acceptance must always be preferred over hazardous body modifications (Cohen 2018). This essay will through a light on the same.
Beauty enhancement procedures are any procedures that target to enhance, modify or change any aspect of the external appearance of a person (Talakoub & Wesley 2009). It might be of any extent depending on the requirement of the consumer. Some aim top only improve or enhance what a person already emphasises while the other include to completely changing the face or any body part. Some of these procedures even include inducing synthetic items inside any part of a person’s body and removal of flesh or fat from the body. These procedures include both surgical and non-surgical procedures again depending on the requirement of a person. These include procedures that might be medically recommended by a doctor as a treatment for a condition but in many cases, it is obtained by a consumer out of pure will just with an intension to look more externally appealing and match the norms of beauty established by the society and people in it.
1. It is natural human psychology to judge a person primarily based on their appearance and measure their talent and efficiency based on it (Rumsey & Bull 2012). This perspective is highly associated with work opportunity from a long time. Both men and women become a victim of this biased attitude but this is mostly associated with women (Heyes 2009). Since ages, women have been expected to be pleasing to look at. In earlier times when women did not participate in professional fields, their outer appearance was a symbol of their overall efficiency. Men tend to choose their wives based on how beautiful they were according to the standards of beauty of the region and the time.
With advancement of time, women have become more active in professional fields and work on an equal level as men (Haynes 2012). Almost all companies’ small or big take interviews while recruitment process and that is where they make judgement of the efficiency of a person based on their physical appearance. Obviously not all recruiters are a part of this unethical practice but many are. Many women become a victim of the biased attitude and get rejected for jobs. Even while working in a company favouritism is practiced for certain employees based on their looks. Many deserving candidates do not get promotions or higher increments and incentives because it is provided to some ‘beautiful women’ the boss favours irrespective of how badly she performs.
This general norm and practice have lead people, mostly women to peruse beauty enhancement procedures in order to look beautiful according to the norms and standards of the society so that they look more pleasing to the eyes of their seniors and believe might provide them better success and opportunities in a work place (Pajares, Britner & Zeldin 2008). Procedures such as breast implantation, nose job, lip fillers, face tightening, under eye fillers, butt implantation etc. are some procedures obtained by women in order to look beautiful enough as per society standards.
Even if a company or a recruiter is not biased women sometimes go ahead and get such procedures done because they feel that it will enhance their opportunity to get the job or the benefit associated to job they already are doing (Hamermesh 2011). Not looking perfect enough according to the standards of the society creates a sensibility in the mind of women that the cause they are lacking in their professional life is their external appearance. With the development of medical science and technology and even chemical science many new procedures are introduced to the market which people look forward to obtain (Davis 2013).
Social media is a big promoter of beauty standards in present times and whatever people see on social media they believe to be true and ideal and want to achieve the same or see people like that around them and that has hugely influenced the working population of the world (Dittmar 2009). The outer appearance of a person at times determines his/her inner confidence and that is because of the way a person is treated based on their looks. A person who is more visually appealing will be talked in a gentle polite and friendly manner and will be respected considering them to be successful just because they look like they are. A person might be very successful and rich but might not look very beautiful due to the way he or she dresses up or looks like in general such a person is unknowingly treated in a disrespectful and ignorant manner. A person tends to give much more priority to what people think of them than what they really are or want to be and that is where the need to please everyone comes along (Fahkry 2018).
In the corporate field where presentations plays a vital role, communication and visual appeal the employee towards the client is a major priority in bagging the offers, any business association or deals thus recruiters tend to choose better looking candidates that results is biasedness and favouritism (The Warwick Organisation Theory Network, Hancock & Spicer (eds.) 2010). Many deserving candidates loose job opportunities because of this biasedness and end up thinking that getting these beauty procedures is the only method they can get it.
Even in personal life, people believe that in order to get acceptance, love and respect they are supposed to look a certain way to be externally pleasing enough to the eyes in order to achieve it and their thought is justified because people do judge them in that way (Chrisler 2013).
A very essential part of a person’s private life is marriage and the importance of being physically appealing to get a worthy partner is quite high in this case. Matrimonial sites and dating apps run on the method of displaying a person’s picture to judge for the person to select or reject that particular person (Bakhshi & Baker 2011). The primary selection criteria of choosing a person with a hope to get into a love relationship is their appearance every other aspect such as career, family background, behaviour, personality, morality comes afterwards. This is the way it has always been since ages. This is a reason people adopt beauty enhancement procedures.
2. The changing trends of beauty has highly influenced the decision making process of the consumers. In earlier times when the beauty industry did not develop in the way it has today the perceptions of beauty were also different. In different regions of the world, the idea of true beauty is also different (THORPE 2017). All countries have their own standardised ideas of aspects associated with beauty for example different countries consider different skin tones, body types, face structure etc. to be ideal. Some countries prefer a fuller body and some consider bony to be beautiful.
Some think that having dark skin is beautiful (Hassan 2018) many think that in order to be flawless and pretty you are supposed to have very fair skin. Some prefer a big long sharp nose some prefer a comparatively smaller one. In the same manner other aspects such as size of eye, height and skin texture, all of these, have different norms of being perfect attached to them. Along with different regions, time is also an essential phenomenon to consider when analysing beauty trends. Perceptions of beauty have changed throughout the history. Different body types, skin colours, face structures and other aspects of external appearance have been praised or criticised in different times and the change is very significant and distant.
With the huge amount of popularity that social media has been attaining the entire world has become one and thus a general norm of beauty is beginning to generate (Bissell & Yan 2014). Social figures promoting ideas of beauty has encouraged the common public to take the help of beauty enhancement procedures in order to look as flawless as them. The difference in social norms of beauty according to the ethnicity of a person has lessened over time.
Most recently, the standards of beauty In Singapore have become extremely unrealistic and tremendous. Women are expected to have extremely fair skin, a v shaped face, big pupils, long frizz free smooth hair, long lashes, fuller eyebrows and a perfect hourglass figure. The rise of the k pop fame has resulted into this trend but what people fail to understand is that the Koreans naturally exhibit some of these attributes and most of the times the secret of looking flawless is endless hours of makeup and spending millions of dollars on beauty enhancement procedures (Ungku 2014).
In the United States of America beauty trends are different, the k pop trend is surely worldwide but celebrity influence does promote other trends associated with beauty for example American women tend to spend a lot of money in order to get the perfect tanned skin by going under cosmetic procedures such as spray tanning themselves (Choi et al. 2010). A common norm of physical beauty among women all over the world in the most recent times is having an extremely thin waist and having fuller breasts and butt. This makes women go under the knife to get the same.
All these trends have leaded to changes in the demands of the consumers of beauty enhancement treatments and influenced their decision-making processes. Earlier consumers demanded to undergo such treatments to enhance what good features they have or to solve some defect but nowadays the story is not the same anymore.
Beauty enhancement procedures were mostly carried on due to serious appearance based deformities. Some examples are women who suffer from breast cancer demanded to get breast implantation surgery because their real breast were cut off for the removal of the cancer infected parts, though a breast is not essential for survival it helped them feel more feminine and beautiful (Katz 2011). Acid attack victims demand for plastic surgery for rebuilding their completely deformed face. People with severe skin disorder demand dermatological skin treatments for treating their skin. People suffering from life threatening obesity are recommended by doctor to undergo surgeries such as liposuction in order to get rid of some of their excess body fat. These are some of the reasons for getting a beauty enhancement procedure done which are essential and do not intend on matching social norms of beauty in order to be more acceptable and worthy.
Most recently in social media, one more new trend is seen that is of having fuller lips. More and more women as well as men are getting lip injections into their lips in order to achieve the look. In recent times, the reasons of getting these procedures are not anything medical and essential but completely due to personal will. People aim to alter the appearance of their face or body to look ‘perfect’ according to what they think is perfect. The rise of the fitness industry encourages more and more people to participate in the journey of well-being but the harsh reality of the industry is that a limited population from the industry promote unrealistic and even dangerous standards of beauty and promote unhealthy supplements such as steroids and body implantations(in breast, butt etc.) . What people fail to understand is the amount of hard work and dedication it takes to achieve a real fit body, but that isn’t what fitness stands for, people fail to understand is being ripped and bulky or skinny is not fitness only being healthy is (Calvo, Balboa & Miguel 2018). The frustration of not getting the results that they want leads them to choose shortcuts in the form of these procedures. Consumers demand procedures to look as similar as possible to their favourite celebrity or fitness model.
People also obtain proliferating form of cosmetic surgeries nowadays. This means they aim to look unnatural and not anything like a human. Women get their ribs removed to have an unnaturally thin waist get extremely large implants, lip injections etc. One such example is Valeria Lukyanova, also called the Human Barbie who has gone through several procedures in order to look like a Barbie doll (Propheta 2017).
3. Psychological aspects are highly essential when determining the buying behaviour and decision of a consumer obtaining beauty enhancement procedures. Personality highly influences the buying behaviour of a consumer. The personality of a person will determine their demands and choices. If a person seems to be easily influenced by what he/she sees around and crave to look the same way in order to fit in they will choose beauty enhancement procedures, which are most common. Some people who only believe in enhancing what they already have rather than getting anything unnatural near them, they will choose small and safe procedures such as skin and hair treatment. Choosing a safe procedure also determines that a person is not quite a risk taker and intends to dwell in the society but not go all the way to the extreme in order to achieve it. Some people are low on confidence and self-esteem and get these procedures in order to achieve it, because they have attained a state of mind that in order to fit in, achieve success and acceptance from the society it is compulsory for them to look a certain way, the way that society believes to be perfect . Some people are ready to go all the way with what beauty and science has provided to them, and thus they choose to get unnatural procedures done in order to look unique. There is mostly no strong external in this decision they make it mostly comes from within them and what they strive to become as a person. These people are willing to take risks in order to achieve inner satisfaction. It is ironical how the way a person looks on the outside determines their feelings, emotions, self-esteem etc. on the inside (Murphy & Dweck 2016).
A person’s attitude towards himself/herself, others and the society in general influences their decisions as a consumer. Getting beauty enhancement procedures are a highly personal decision and a person’s attitude determines it highly. If the person is more concerned about their inner happiness and peace, they tend to do what they like. They do it all according to their own will, they might decide to go all the way to the extreme or their careless attitude towards what people think of themselves might make them consume what they actually need and not to enhance their external appearance in any way. These people only do as per their wish. The others whose attitude is determined from the society and people around them they get procedures that they or the society might like in spite of their own perception about it.
Motivation is another psychological aspect that determines the buying behaviour of a consumer. The less risky and minuet procedures can be carried out by any person with ease and does not require any motivation but the ones that are severe might require some at least. When a person intends to get a procedure they know includes high risk, will drastically change their appearance, and might cause severe drawbacks if gone wrong in any way they have to be extremely motivated in order to get it done. Regret is a common phenomenon in such surgeries and thus motivation is essential for buying behaviour and decision. As a seller of these procedures, the person who is motivating a person to get it is expert in his work but it is upon a person to get motivated or demotivated from all the phenomena’s around them in association with the procedure (Haas, Champion & Secor 2008).
The learning of a consumer is also an aspect to determine the buying behaviour of a consumer. If the person is educated about the procedure they are consuming no further counselling about the same has to be done by the service provider but many consumers who know nothing of these things and still come to consume such procedures require a detailed explanation about the same. They need to be informed about what procedures might suit them according to the results they are expecting and their budget. Experience plays a major role in the determination of their decision as well. The experience of a person, who has consumed beauty enhancement procedures in the past, is directly proportional to their knowledge about the same.
4. Social and cultural influences play a major role in the embodiment of these beauty enhancement procedures (Jones 2008). As per changing trends through – out human existence it has been observed how the beauty industry has also undergone severe change. Another very important aspect that has determined change in this industry is the development of medical and cosmological science and the established relationship between beauty and science.
In earlier times when the beauty industry did not have all the hype and medical science was not developed enough to provide consumers with such procedures the beauty industry was only known for selling products that enhanced the appearance with respect to what the person already possesses (Wallop 2015). Some products include traditional makeup, creams to enhance the appearance of lighter skin, corsets to provide the illusion of an hourglass figure etc.
Even when medical science began the practice of beauty enhancement procedures, they were mostly performed on patients only with necessity and not just their wish. This included patients who had severe issues such as deformity of the face or the body part or loss of any part of their body that not only affected their external appearance but also was a threat to their normal survival.
A huge amount of products, are available in the market that are advancing every year but with that procedures are increasing as well. There are different procedures in the market, which provide same result but differ in the money they require and the extent and quality of the results they provide.
Trends have changed overtime according to society, culture and environment. In most recent times, most of the procedures are carried out more out of will than necessity. People get these procedures only to look good for a variety of reasons all that has been mentioned above. Reality television shows have highly influenced and developed people’s interest to get plastic surgeries (Markey & Markey 2010).
By closely observing the changing trends of beauty we can assume the future of these trends and where these will take the world of beauty enhancement procedures in the future. As per all the research and study carried out the beauty enhancement procedures are going towards a more unrealistic direction. More and more women aspire to have the ideal body and the perfect face. Ideal may obviously differ with respect to time and place but the extent of desire to be ideal will always remain the same.
Beauty procedures that are believed to increase in the coming years are body modification surgeries such as breast implantation and butt implantation. Men and other women have attached the norm of having bigger upper and lower body and a tiny waist with women. Increase in the popularity of social networking sites, such as Instagram has led to the increase in the transparency of privacy of a person. People love to display to their world their appearance and lifestyle, which is why they believe their appearance, must match the standards of other famous and established people in the same platform (Dorfman et al. 2018).
Obtaining these beauty enhancement procedures also in some occasions are used as a symbol of financial and social prosperity because these mostly require a lot of money to obtain. This makes only the richer population to obtain these procedures as an inspiration to which people start to accumulate money and obtain these procedures just for the sake of showing prosperity as we live in the era of show off associated with money (Slevin 2010).
It is predicted that more and more young girls will become a consumer of these procedures being influenced by famous figures because due to the development and broadcast of these social beauty norms their self-esteem and confidence is diminishing and they see this as the only way of uplifting it (Zuckerman & Abraham 2008).
The number of transsexual people, obtaining these procedures is rising alarmingly. Complete sex change operations do not always tend to be a success and even when they are they fail to alter the external appearance of a person to the transitioning sex and in order to look more like the sex they want6 themselves to be they undergo these beauty enhancement procedures. Not only transsexual but also homosexual and heterosexual men also have participated hugely in receiving these procedures (Ricciardelli & Clow 2009) .
Talking of what the future of this industry holds it is observed that the number of people obtaining extreme plastic surgeries have risen to a very huge extent. People are indulging in surgeries that completely modify their appearance and make them look un natural up to an extent that they seems to look more like aliens or imaginary figures and less like humans which is often the result of plastic surgery addiction. (Editors 2014) .
Conclusion
It is concluded in the essay that the beauty norms of the society is continuously changing and so are the trends, which are the reason behind the fact that so many people are adopting these procedures. These beauty standards have become a standardised point to determine the ability and morality of a person within which leads to the fact that people tend to, entirely judge a person only based on their external appearance. People obtain these surgeries in order to achieve professional success, success in personal life, love, respect, acceptance, and showcase or prove their financial and lifestyle prosperity and the reasons are endless. Men and women of all sexual orientations and even children no one is a stranger to this field and it seems to engulf them all. These procedures are seen to be adopted more for pleasure and personal bliss and less for necessities. These procedures are also adopted by people who want themselves to match the unrealistic standards of beauty and sometime people even aim to look more like aliens or imaginary creatures and less like humans.
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