The cosmetic industry has considerable impacts on the personal perspectives of young adults as well as the way they are perceived, with beauty standards and confidence being some affected aspects. In current generations, makeup is widely used and is accompanied by repercussions with long-lasting influences on society, such as negative self-image and perception. To illustrate, Buegeler, with a degree from Brandeis University, a professional school dedicated to research, asserts that the beauty industry deeply affects how people are perceived when they refuse to conform to normalized aspects of beauty culture (33). This supports the idea that the cosmetic industry is socially affecting the personal perspectives and beauty ideals of young adults through unrealistic standards, lower self-confidence, and influences on cultural norms utilizing aspects such as Westernization.
Motives of usage and perception
Most of the negative consequences of the cosmetic industry stem from various motives including low self-image, conformity to societal expectations, and identity. As discussed by Robertson and Kingsley, researchers who attended the prestigious Buckinghamshire New University and were published in the peer-reviewed SAGE Journal, a plethora of reasons motivate cosmetic usage including more confidence through application and the pressure to fit with unrealistic beauty ideals created through various sources such as social media. These motives then influence makeup usage and change the way people view themselves as well as their peers in society. Creating dependency, young adults use makeup to increase confidence due to standards creating low self-esteem and a negative body image. A pattern that emerged when assessing the impact of cosmetic usage on perception was that people who use makeup are self-critical and admire those who do not utilize cosmetics, whereas those people are neutral about themselves but critical towards others (Buegeler 110).
These conclusions connect cosmetics being utilized due to low confidence and how young adults have low self-esteem due to the way they are perceived with and without makeup. For example, identity is associated with makeup, showing a consequence where women are considered to have “let go of themselves” when not wearing makeup (Robertson and Kingsley). Thus, it shows the pressure to conform by society, showing the correlation between social pressure from the cosmetics industry makeup usage, justified by the motivations as discussed by this source. Furthermore, culture is linked to cosmetic usage and the underlying motives, whereas in some cultures, like in South Korea, people are considered respectful and more presentable when wearing cosmetics.
Specifically, Karin Cho, an author with personal experience published on the website Medium, discusses how due to the social standards and intertwined culture, cosmetic surgery is common in South Korea with a cycle of low self-criticism and shallow feelings of confidence leading to more reliance on cosmetics, a negative consequence of the beauty industry on young adults. Additionally, other effects of makeup usage on perception include leadership ability and judgments of dominance. As stated by James and others, researchers from Abertay University, a high-ranking college, and published in SAGE Journals, “makeup has negative effects on perceptions of women’s leadership ability” as well as “evidence that a subtle enhancement … via makeup may have positive effects on how women are evaluated within the business environment.”
This describes how motivations for makeup use have a delicate balance, where subtle makeup can provide benefits like the perception of dominance, but there can be consequences when too much is applied, with people being perceived as insecure with less confident in their natural appearance. All in all, these perspectives link motivations for makeup usage to having consequences on various aspects of society including lower confidence, more self-criticism, and perceptions of self-esteem and leadership ability.
Development of Standards and Confidence
Strongly emerging as a motive, increased confidence is paramount to growing cosmetic usage and consequences from the beauty industry. Most young adults are pressured to conform to societal standards developed through culture and social media. According to Kaziga and others, published in the reputable International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, the emphasis various cultures place upon the appearance of females can lead to people adopting unhealthy habits such as starving to meet these ideals. The source also describes how peers affect perspectives and confidence through a mix of culture and global standards from the beauty industry. Due to such standards developing through a blend of traditional values and Westernization, there is more pressure to conform leading to increased cosmetic usage for temporary confidence.
Particularly, in societies such as the Ankole society, there are conflicting views based on residence in city or rural areas, varying between a curvy and lean figure compared to a healthy and “fertile composition”, with this example emphasizing the influence of Westernization and specific cultural aspects on standards (Kaziga et. al 6-7). Furthermore, as published in the International Socioeconomics Laboratory by Chen and others; westernization in Asia led to the development of more standardized global expectations, where media influences ideals through normalizing aspects of the industry such as cosmetic surgery. Overall, multiple studies including research from Madan and others helped support the claim that cultural background and social norms increase pressure on people to conform and make use of beauty enhancement products such as semi-permanent makeup and cosmetic surgery (28-29). Saul, a recognized spokesperson about cosmetic surgery who is featured regularly in the media with legal experience in cosmetics, discusses the effects of normalized surgery through the media leading to young adults making decisions with life-long implications, stemming from social media and the cosmetic industry.
Additionally, these conclusions connect to the impact on body image due to evolving standards such as cosmetic dependency and self-criticism without makeup. Social media usage is correlated with negative body images in teens and young adults, as shown through the study by Goldfield and Silwa, researchers published in the American Physiological Association. With increasing social media impact on beauty and makeup, mental standards are set on young adults and they tend to rely on cosmetics to build their self-image and confidence. Greenfield supports the conclusion further on how advertisements create ideals of unattainable beauty that lead to negative effects on people’s self-esteem, health, body image, and persona in society (6 and 34).
Published in the Public Library of Science, effects on body image are correlated by Mafra and others, displaying a pattern where people more confident in their looks and high self-esteem do not conform strongly to these unrealistic beauty standards in comparison to people with lower social esteem who increase cosmetics’ usage to boost their confidence (7-8). Apart from body image being affected, women wearing makeup are more willing to change their appearance to suit these beauty norms if their peers are doing so, describing the relationship between body image and perception (Mafra et al 2 and 8). These sources depict the effects of the cosmetic industry by setting standards for self-confidence through makeup, with pressure to conform and a cycle of self-criticism leading to increased cosmetic usage.
While considering the consequences of the cosmetic industry, alongside the substantial negative impacts, there are perceived benefits such as temporary confidence. In a larger context though, the beauty industry is influencing young adults’ perception through media and westernization by generating unrealistic pressure to conform to beauty standards. Teens become conscious of their looks, figures, and appearance and are inspired by cultural ideals. As the cosmetic industry expands and young adults increase social media usage, more drastic influences on perception with higher pressure to conform arise.
Apart from mental health and confidence risks, there are health risks regarding the ingredients in cosmetics and what they may cause. Mitigation steps for mental impact and improving confidence include reduced social media exposure as proved by Goldfield and through positive media messages as explored by Kaziga and others. In retrospect, the cosmetic industry will continue to grow and have more serious consequences on the self-esteem of young adults, necessitating taking action to reduce influence.
Works Cited hdl.handle.net/10192/30533
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