Cosmetic Procedure Marketing: Body Image Impact

In this blog post, researcher and consumer advocate at Operation Redress, Maddison Johnstone, discusses the way cosmetic procedure marketing can cause body dissatisfaction.

The pervasive way marketing drives body image insecurities has evolved over time. The rise of social media has played a significant role in this shift, with the cosmetic procedure industry being a leading force in utilising social media tactics to take advantage of body image concerns.

In 2022, Griffith University researchers Dr Veya Seekis and Grace Barker identified a direct link between engagement with beauty content on social media and the consideration of cosmetic surgery. The results of their research concluded that young women who consumed beauty-related content on social media were more likely to compare their appearance to others and consider undergoing cosmetic surgery procedures. Cosmetic surgery providers are aware of this and capitalise on it.

However, social media is not the only platform this industry utilises to profit from unrealistic beauty standards and pressures. The constant pressure of their advertising means it is difficult to avoid messaging that our bodies are ‘flawed’ and in need of ‘repair’.

To set the scene, let’s imagine a typical day in someone’s life.

Waking up, you switch on morning television. There’s a segment airing about the latest cosmetic surgery trends, their soaring popularity, and the ‘life-changing’ outcomes, featuring a ‘leading’ cosmetic surgeon. The images and information provided is deceptive, risks are omitted, and the ‘before’ photo shows a similar body to your own

At Operation Redress, we have analysed a number of morning television segments promoting cosmetic surgery and injectables. These segments are established as informational, but they skew towards service promotion and advertisements. It’s marketing by stealth, and the impact is an unwelcome invitation to harshly analyse your own body.

While driving to work, you listen to morning radio. A friendly voice advises you about anti-wrinkle treatment and how getting older means looking ‘less refreshed’. As you’re driving, you approach traffic lights, where you stop behind a bus displaying a cosmetic surgery advertisement depicting sculpted, airbrushed bodies.

When discussing the impact of these advertisements, people tell us that they make them feel self-conscious. One man informed us his self-esteem declined after seeing a cosmetic surgery advertisement featuring a man with sculpted abs, implied to be the result of liposuction. That one advertisement was enough for him to feel insecure about his body, to the point of considering cosmetic surgery.

On your lunch break, you visit the local shops. There are visually engaging signs boasting the benefits of anti-aging procedures, promising you they will ‘stop the clock’, while providing a youthful glow-up.

Young people are being increasingly targeted by shopping centre advertising, and our observations drawn from extensive research in the industry confirm this. As a popular place for teenagers and other young people to gather, these cosmetic injectable advertisements often portray unrealistic expectations, using models and stock photos. As a result, young people are becoming concerned about any sign of aging, with some teenagers even requesting anti-wrinkle treatment for their high school formals.

As you’re eating lunch, you scroll on Instagram and TikTok, where an influencer details their recent cosmetic surgery journey. Given that you’ve interacted with this content, you are now targeted with sponsored posts from cosmetic surgery providers, inviting you to find fault in normal, natural variations in your body.

Another harmful focus of these posts is that post-partum bodies need to be ‘fixed’, and ‘fixed’ quickly. While it is no secret that beauty and fitness industries target those recovering from childbirth, our research found practitioners were promoting a similar message. Invasive and risky procedures were marketed on social media as the best way to achieve a pre-pregnancy body. The extent and impact of this conduct was so severe that the national medical regulator outright banned the use of the term ‘mummy makeover’ to advertise cosmetic surgery.

After lunch, you’re busy working when you get a text message. Your GP clinic is directly marketing their cosmetic injectables to you. It’s unclear if the healthcare provider you trusted with your sensitive health information is targeting you because of your age, gender or other information you had disclosed.

After work, you attend your local pilates class. They’re running a giveaway and one of the prizes is a treatment at an injectables clinic. Their website portrays cosmetic injectables as acts of ‘self-care’ and ‘body positivity’, essentially misusing movements that are meant to encourage us to listen to our bodies’ needs or embrace what makes us unique.

In the evening, as you cook dinner, you play a podcast recommended by a friend. However, as you listen, you realise it is a thinly veiled attempt to promote cosmetic surgery and injectables, disguised as educational content.

We are constantly surrounded by advertising that reinforces the harmful notion that our bodies are not worthy enough as they are. The cosmetic procedure industry not only exploits our insecurities but actively creates them.

Not too long ago, appearance ideals for women depicted a curvy figure- with many women feeling insecure if they were not able to meet this idealised aesthetic. Cosmetic surgeons capitalised on this insecurity, and exacerbated it, promoting ‘sculpting’ surgeries using airbrushed and highly filtered images of celebrities and influencers to suggest their look was achievable for all women, through surgery.

This harmful messaging and unrealistic appearance ideals not only apply to women, but men too – with men experiencing an increase in social media advertisement targeting products like ‘brotox’, advertised as Botox for men.

The issue with chasing beauty standards is not just that they change; it traps people in a never-ending cycle of spending money to feel better about themselves, all while being deceived. This unhealthy cycle where people feel compelled to conform to unrealistic appearance ideals leads to poor self-esteem and body image dissatisfaction.

 

There’s also little evidence that these procedures improve confidence.

It can be impossible to avoid this pervasive advertising – so what is within our control? A helpful approach is to view these advertisements with a critical approach – look for manipulative or emotive language (eg. ‘self-care’, ‘body goals’), promises with no evidence (eg. ‘improved confidence’, ‘life-changing results’, and ‘more youthful appearance’), unrealistic expectations (eg. ‘flawless and perfect body’) and the glamorisation of prescription medicine.

Let’s remember, you don’t need to change your body to ‘fit in’ – your body is worthy and wonderful just as it is, and viewing harmful advertisements and messaging with a critical lens can help us further strengthen and protect our body image.

 

About the Author

Maddison Johnstone is a researcher and consumer advocate at Operation Redress. Since 2016, she has successfully advocated for disaffected consumers and workers across a number of industries.

Operation Redress is a consumer and worker advocacy organisation which researches systemic issues. This research has helped inform numerous investigative journalism pieces, academic articles, and government or independent inquiries. Since 2020, Operation Redress has largely been advocating for change in Australia’s cosmetic procedure industry and featured in the Cosmetic Cowboys exposés. This advocacy particularly focuses on body image, misleading advertising, patient safety, and consumer expectations.