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Can Cosmetics’ Advertisements Be An Indicator of Different Perceptions of Beauty Amongst Countries?

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A Correction to this article was published on 01 May 2020

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Abstract

Introduction

Concepts of beauty are different amongst different cultures and civilizations. The objective of this study was to evaluate beauty perceptions through cosmetic advertisements in an effort to further appreciate beauty understanding amongst lay people in various parts of the world. To achieve these objectives, we reviewed cosmetics’ advertisements to study whether the concept of beauty varies amongst different countries.

Materials and Methods

We used the keywords “cosmetics” and “advertisements” in YouTube search engine in all existing languages in Google translator and came up with advertisements from 18 countries. The faces of the models were compared against Marquardt® beauty mask template in order to have a mean to objectively test symmetry with a mathematical computer model. The weak point of our study is that we can present no model photographs due to General Data Protection Regulation.

Results

Advertisements retrieved in total were 257. Characteristics with no statistically significant difference (SSD) amongst models in different parts of the world were: symmetry (p = 0.187), high cheek bones (p = 0.325), small noses (p = 0.72), thin jaws (p = 0.98), lush hair (p = 0.54), clean and smooth skin (p = 0.367), and white toothed smile (p = 0.235). Characteristics with SSD were: in Latin America, USA, and Australia tanned models and fuller lips were preferred (p < 0.001), whilst in Asia milky white skin models and small mouth were preferred. Age ratio (p = 0.022) was lower amongst models in Southeast Asia compared to American, European, Indian, Australian, and Arab models. Arab and Southeast Asia women had intense eyebrows (p < 0.001) and used artificial eyelashes.

Conclusions

All the common characteristics noted by the two independent surgeons (GAS and LP) referred to symmetry, youthfulness, and health. Differences noticed reflected cultural influences in the perception of beauty.

Level of Evidence V

This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266.

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Change history

  • 01 May 2020

    Georgia-Alexandra Spyropoulou’s name appeared incorrectly in the original publication of this article. It appears correctly here.

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Funding

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Clinic of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Papageorgiou Hospital, Thessaloniki, Greece

    Georgia-Alexandra Ch Spyropoulou, Leonidas Pavlidis, Antonis Tsimponis, Periclis Foroglou, Alexandros Delimpaltas & Efterpi Demiri

  2. Hunfalvy Bilingual Secondary Vocational School, 1011, Budapest, Ponty utca 3, Hungary

    Steve Herrmann

  3. Division of Plastic, Reconstructive and Cosmetic Surgery, Craniofacial Center, University of Illinois, Chicago, IL, USA

    Mimis Cohen

Authors
  1. Georgia-Alexandra Ch Spyropoulou
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  2. Leonidas Pavlidis
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  3. Steve Herrmann
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  4. Antonis Tsimponis
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  5. Periclis Foroglou
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  6. Alexandros Delimpaltas
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  7. Efterpi Demiri
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  8. Mimis Cohen
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Correspondence to Georgia-Alexandra Ch Spyropoulou.

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Spyropoulou, GA.C., Pavlidis, L., Herrmann, S. et al. Can Cosmetics’ Advertisements Be An Indicator of Different Perceptions of Beauty Amongst Countries?. Aesth Plast Surg 44, 1871–1878 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00266-020-01679-1

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