Not-So-Ugly Ducklings
My alarm in high school chimed at 5:55 AM, and with classes starting an hour later, my feeble, teenaged brain barely had enough time to eat breakfast, let alone attempt to process the existential crisis of beauty insecurities. Yet, every morning I would straighten the bird’s nest of medium brown hair on my head, perfected swooping eyeliner on my medium brown eyes, and lathered up with moisturizer on my medium tan skin, making the most of my monochrome circumstances. Born with the same color complexion as a jar of peanut butter, I always ogled at the vampiric, blue-eyed ladies with jet black hair and eyes as icy as their demeanor. Particularly in the beauty world, humans tend to covet what they don’t have.
We are simple creatures. If something is shiny, it’s automatically more valuable. Whether it’s a shimmering shell found on the beach or a lump of gold in the dirt, humans have always tried to quantify and, therefore, sell beauty. Historically, most products are marketed to make us feel good about ourselves, but according to John Smith from Good Therapy, “[beauty] products actually work in the opposite manner: We buy them because they make us feel bad.” Although our self-esteem is tied to our shopping mannerisms, the world of beautification has been consistently working against their buyers. Smith continues, “Beauty product marketing makes shoppers feel bad about their appearance by suggesting that without the product, they are not as attractive as they should be.”
While the industry has been riding on the coattails of pencil-thin bikini bodies and models with perfect, unblemished complexions, new marketing techniques have a new focus: An “imperfect” buyer. As if all of the new PR hires for Sephora spent their adolescent years heavily sighing in front of the mirror, the beauty industry has massively pivoted from their tried-and-true, shame-driven sales tactic. Jumping on the growing bandwagon of self love and acceptance, the beauty industry now aims to sell products that accentuate naturally beautiful features instead of hiding them. Positivity marketing is generating the big bucks right now, so this marketing pivot isn’t exactly coming out of the goodness of their corporate hearts, but regardless of financial gain, waves of body positivity are having a lasting impact on society.
Ulta, one of the largest beauty supply stores in the world, launched a campaign in 2022 called Beauty&, leading the charge towards widespread self-esteem improvements by promoting self-acceptance. Karla Davis, Ulta’s vice president, says, “Beauty& was born from the insight that the duality of confidence and insecurity in the beauty industry has existed for far too long, and when we focus our energy on the good, beauty can deliver.” Celebrating individuality this campaign is one example of many new ventures in the beauty industry that promote self love in a way that’s never been seen before.
Fighting against society’s default beauty standard setting, body positivity has become prolific in modern times. According to multiple experts at Psychology Today, body positivity challenges cultural ideals of beauty and societal perceptions and expectations, calling attention to harmful messages people may have received about their bodies from individuals, media, or society.
Body positive messages online, in advertising, and on social media promote a healthy relationship between the body and the self. And it’s through this awareness and acceptance that a healthy self-image is born.
Love the Skin You’re In
According to Mariana Morino from the National Library of Medicine, body image perceptions and media influence greatly impact psychological well-being. In the age of digital proliferation, Morino argues, it’s no surprise that social media platforms have reshaped body image perception with more than just face filters and photoshop. Through the proliferation of impossible standards, social media has led to increased dissatisfaction and psychological distress due to constant exposure of idealized images and comparison. However, despite the growing exposure to unattainable beauty standards, another movement has had a chance to flourish: Acceptance.
Amidst the self-loathing and the emotional spiral, the beauty industry has ironically harnessed an antithetical technique on social media. Once a pillar of aesthetic shame and belittlement, the beauty industry is standing up to one of society’s longest standing traditions of exclusion. Over the last decade, the beauty industry has been wielding social media, turning the power of self-hate into self-love using a myriad of campaigns online. In 2015, Lane Bryant, a plus sized company, launched #IAmNoAngel, a lingerie ad aimed at changing society’s perception of intimate beauty. Similarly, Dove sponsored an ad campaign titled “Be Real,” focusing on detaching from fake beauty standards by emphasizing real representations of health and diversity. Over the years, the beauty industry has turned toxicity into positivity, slowly changing what it means to be a beautiful individual.
Old But Gold
Until recently, society’s obsession with eternal beauty also disparaged natural processes like aging. Before we had social media reminding everyone of their flaws, society sought to bully their way into popularity with the tabloids. Rotting in the aisles of the grocery store’s checkout line, tabloids lurk with headlines that highlight every wrinkle and every cellulite dimple of celebs who “used to” be beautiful. And unless you were freakishly frozen in time like Jennifer Anniston or J-Lo, the inevitability of growing old has always been chastised.
However, Pamela Anderson, an actress, model, and beauty icon, has started changing that. By embracing her 58-year-old skin and natural beauty, she’s started battling the stigma of aging with a refocused vision of beauty, controversially accepting a bare-faced, no-makeup appearance. Emanating positivity, good humor, and a natural glow, Pamela’s one of the first mature women to be genuinely mature about growing older instead of hiding in the shadows. In a recent interview with US Magazine, Anderson says, “We are good enough just the way we are. I have to remind myself of that every day.”
Via u/USMagazine
No Filter
It should never be taboo to walk out in public without makeup and it shouldn’t be controversial for plus-sized consumers to buy lingerie, but most women have been carrying these kinds of insecurities with them since adolescence. Yet after centuries of perpetuating impossible beauty standards, the beauty industry is stepping up to combat the toxic norms, replacing exclusionary praises with self-acceptance. While this is likely just to increase sales and make the stocks go up for the shareholders, perhaps there is a positive long-term takeaway.
Self-acceptance doesn’t happen overnight, of course—I dyed my hair 200x before I accepted my medium tan complexion and Pamela Anderson is literally a former supermodel. But as beauty campaigns and social media exposure continually promote self-acceptance, perhaps perceptions might shift enough for some teens staring in the mirror before school to feel beautiful just the way they are.
