Impact of culture on the pursuit of beauty

What is it about?

Although at “face-value” it seems the pursuit of beauty is universal, industry evidence suggests that this pursuit of beauty is even stronger in Asia. In this research, we aimed to understand how culture (East vs. West) affects the pursuit of beauty. Using both industry data and laboratory and online studies across five countries, we found that Easterners (vs. Westerners) are more likely to use appearance-enhancing products.

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Why is it important?

Our findings show that women in Asia are more likely to use appearance enhancing products and tools. This is driven by motivation to conform to social norms, which leads to a discrepancy between the ideal beauty standard and the self. Asian women use appearance enhancing products to reduce this sense of discrepancy. Further, the pursuit of beauty can indeed be harmful when taken to extreme. We find that policymakers can reduce this extreme focus on appearance by creating organisational cultures and environments that are diverse, with a more inclusive definition of beauty.

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