HOME

The concept of beauty has long been studied and expounded upon by philosophers and artists. In the modern era, the idea of beauty has been appropriated by commercial interests eager to sell their products. They accomplish this largely through presenting an ideal to which people compare themselves and which, if they consume the products in question, they are made to believe they might attain. Much as companies like Nike or Reebok use athletes to sell their products (“if you buy these trainers, you, too, can play football like David Beckham”), purveyors of beauty and fashion products use models. This idea that people can attain an elevated status through consumerism is the cornerstone of modern marketing.
catwalk

The pitfalls inherent in this approach are many. As one source notes, 'Beauty presents a standard of comparison, and it can cause resentment and dissatisfaction when not achieved.' This dissatisfaction is apparent with the rise of health problems as people pursue what is often an unattainable ideal. 'The quest for beauty via thinness has...led to eating disorders such as bulimia or anorexia. Too much emphasis on superficial beauty can undermine the importance of the inner person. It can become an arbitrary value that leads to social inequity.'
beauty

In other words, to rescue themselves from feelings of inferiority and inadequacy, people are enticed to purchase products that, they are told, will bring them that much closer to looking like the models themselves. Of course, the models themselves are never presented in photo shoots as they appear in real life. Airbrushing and magic computer software erases any and all minor blemishes and thus perpetuates the myth of the ideal.