How Plastic Surgery has capitalised on Social Media’s Focus on Cosmetics and Looks - Week 8
Being a very visual, picture-based social platform, Instagram has naturally earned a reputation of focusing on aesthetic posts often only concerned with how they look. So it is no surprise that their 400 million users have created a culture throughout the platform based around looks, cosmetics, and body expectations. These very expectations have become heavily detrimental to the mental wellbeing and self-image of many users, as these social expectations on social media bring “on feelings of anxiety, depression, low self-esteem”, especially amongst “the young users on the platform” (Dreghorn 2020).
A report conducted by the Aesthetic Surgery Journal in 2018 noted that the Instagram platform has become a popular channel for plastic surgery businesses to market towards their target demographic and younger adults interested. Many surgeons in the industry have quickly “embrace(d) Instagram as a tool for patient education… business development, and have since gained large followings” (Dorfman et al. 2018, p. 333). Not only has Instagram, intentionally or unintentionally, fostered a realm that often priorities extreme body images and cosmetics, but it has also allowed those within a relevant industry to utilise it as a means of advertising where they can easily attract perceptible individuals. According to the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, “42% of surgeons report(ed) that their patients are seeking aesthetic surgery to improve their appearance on Instagram” or other social media platforms (Dorfman et al. 2018, p. 332). This highlights the fact that the industry is well-aware that Instagram and similar sites can be used for marketing purposes whether or not it is morally correct, while this also signifies that Instagram indeed has had an immense impact on users, how they view themselves and their bodies.
Within Australia alone, recent reforms have made it “mandatory that all surgery, including cosmetic surgery, may only be provided by a registered private hospital or day procedure centre” (Minister for Health 2019) as a means to protect individuals from harmful, unqualified or dangerous body modifications. Yet whilst this helps and protects those that have chosen to have surgeries done, this fails to address or aid users on social media still obsessing over their body image just because a platform told them to. Despite Instagram removing the visibility of likes on their platform to redirect focus onto content instead of reception, it may be too late to stop the social belief that looks are indeed everything.
Sites:
Dreghorn, B 2020, Everything You Need To Know About Instagram Hiding Likes, Business 2 Community, viewed 6 May 2020, <https://www.business2community.com/instagram/everything-you-need-to-know-about-instagram-hiding-likes-02283204>.
Minister for Health 2019, Protecting Victorians From Dodgy Cosmetic Surgery, Premier of Victoria, viewed 6 May 2020, <https://www.premier.vic.gov.au/protecting-victorians-from-dodgy-cosmetic-surgery/>.
Journal Articles:
Dorfman, R, Vaca, E, Mahmood, E, Fine, N & Schierle, C 2018, ‘Plastic Surgery-Related Hashtag Utilization on Instagram: Implications for Education and Marketing’, Aesthetic Surgery Journal, vol. 38, no. 3, pp. 332-338.
