The globalisation of beauty: aspiration or threat? A comparison of the effect of western beauty types on Asian and western females attitudes and purchase intentions.

• Author: Murray, Duncan
• Position: Report

1. INTRODUCTION

   The extensive use of attractive models or celebrities, particularly women, to sell goods and services is a staple of advertising and marketing (Bissell & Chung, 2009). Attractive people have both credibility as well as an aspirational quality that helps to project the message to potential customers. This has its origins in the 'what is beautiful is good' principle where attractive people are typically ascribed a host of other positive personal qualities (Dion, Berscheid, & Walster, 1972).

   Campbell (2004) explains that a focus on human attractiveness is largely innate, with the worth or value of women being strongly based on their "youthful beautiful appearance" (p. 19). Although a strong body of literature argues that attractiveness appears to be universal (i.e., Buss, 1988; Buss & Schmidt, 1993), cross-cultural research has not always found consistency in evaluations of physical attractiveness (Cash, 1981; Isa & Kramer, 2003). One explanation for differences across cultures may be that the evolved psychologies that result in universal perceptions of attractiveness can be moderated, and even overridden, by cultural influences (Swarmi, Einon & Furnham, 2007).

   However, there is evidence that that cultural differences in perceptions of an attractive female are becoming homogenised, heavily influenced by Western (or Anglo-American) cultural standards of beauty (Isa & Kramer, 2003). In numerous Asian countries, for example, cues for modern conceptions of beauty are being drawn from Western rather than more traditional Asian influences. The most popular cosmetic alteration among Asian women is eyelid surgery to 'Westernise' the eyes, and the market for whitening creams--creams and solutions to 'whiten' the skin--is purported to be worth over $5 billion in South Korea alone. Clearly, globalisation is making its presence evident in how women in many Asian countries are evaluating themselves against a new yardstick of what constitutes 'beautiful'--and that yardstick is Western.

   Whether this globalised shift towards a westernisation of female beauty is being reflected in in consumer's attitudes and purchase intentions has been less widely examined. Specifically, are Asian female consumers more or less influenced, compared to western females, by attractive western female models in advertisements? Based on the findings of Price and Murray (2009), social comparison theory (Festinger, 1954) would anticipate that female Asian consumers would be less potentially intimidated by attractive western models as they draw less direct comparisons due to the models being less similar (Jefferson & Stake, 2009). This should result in more positive attitudes and purchase intentions. As a counterpoint, however, the move towards a western idealised form of beauty may exacerbate conditions of upward social comparison as it presents a powerful image, legitimised by mass media, denoting what is 'beautiful'--and that beautiful is Western (Isa & Kramer, 2003). This would lead to less positive attitudes towards the product and decreased purchase intentions.

   This paper examines the effect of Westernised models on the attitudes and purchase intentions of females from Australia (as representative of an Anglo-American western culture) and Hong Kong (representative of an Asian culture). It postulates that, for female consumers, there are two possible outcomes of the acculturation to Anglo-American cultural standards of beauty that has occurred in many Asian cultures. Firstly, westernised ideals of beauty may create exacerbated conditions of upward social comparison and therefore more negative attitudes and purchase intentions. In contrast, as these western ideals have an aspirational component, the presence of attractive western endorsers may create more positive attitudes and purchase intentions among Asian female consumers.

2. LITERATURE REVIEW

   2.1 The Westernisation of Beauty

   Isa and Kramer (2003, p.41) claim that mass media saturation of women's magazines with desired and correct images of beauty is akin to a 'cultural steamroller', creating and reinforcing a uniform look that is driven by a western-centric standard. The media portrays an image of idealised beauty that is then internalised by the women. This 'reflective appraisal' is then is used by the woman to determine her social worth, at least in terms of her appearance (Bissell & Chung, 2009). This is a notable pressure for all women, with numerous studies discussing the unrealistic cultural ideals and expectations of beauty and thinness for women--and the higher levels of body dissatisfaction that are a result (Cash, Morrow, Hrabosky & Perry, 2004; Feingold & Mazella, 1998; Jefferson & Stake, 2009).

   However, although a pressure for all women, there is evidence that women that do not conform to the globalised, Anglo-American standard of beauty may feel a greater pressure to adapt to this image. Kramer (2003) argues that ideal beauty images among Asian cultures are increasingly becoming more Westernised. Jung and Lee (2006) proposed that the ideal image of an attractive women in South Korea has changed over the last few decades. Whereas an average or slightly overweight figure was previously considered attractive more recent South Korean studies have shown women with thinner figures are rated as more attractive (Bissell & Chung, 2009). Wardele, Haase and Steptoe (2006) found that although young South Korean women have among the lowest mean BMI across a sample of 22 different countries, they indicated the greatest desire to lose weight.

   This is also reflected in the prevalence of plastic surgery and cosmetics in many Asian countries. Eyelid surgery (to 'westernise' the look of the eye) is the most popular cosmetic surgical alteration in a number of Asian countries (Rainwater-McClure, Reed & Kramer, 2003). Similarly the prevalence of 'whitening creams' across many Asian countries is further testament to the desire to appear 'western'. Although white skin as a sign of beauty has cultural origins in many Asian cultures (i.e., Japan, India, Korea and China) that predate the rise of western 'modernity', the recent rapid growth in skin whitening and lightening products can be attributed to higher discretionary incomes as well as both media and global cultural reinforcement of the Caucasian-as-beauty image (Ashikari, 2005). As Sahray and Prian (1997, p.163) suggest, "Because Western culture has created a concept of beauty that is defined by white skin, visible minorities tend to internalise such oppressive forces and judge their closeness to the white ideal."

   2.2 The Asian female as consumer

   This pressure to conform to a beauty standard that is driven by a global economy and a westernised media juggernaut of cultural pressure fails to provide insight into how Asian females may respond as consumers when faced with endorsers for products who reflect the globalised ideal of western beauty. Although the general assumption is that attractive women are more effective endorsers due to their higher credibility (Ohanian, 1990) and aspirational qualities, Price and Murray (2009) found that female customers' intentions to purchase fell when interacting with a highly attractive female staff member. Explaining the effect via social comparison theory, Price and Murray (2009) proposed that the attractive staff person created a situation of upward social comparison for the female customer. This resulted in feelings of discomfort leading to less positive attitudes towards the product and the endorser, and most tellingly, a desire to avoid the context, expressed as reduced purchase intentions. However, their study presented images of an attractive western female to an Australian sample, dominated by those with an Anglo-Celtic ethnic background (86% of the total sample). The cultural homogeneity of the study did not allow for any potential ethnic variations or cross cultural effects to be considered.

   Cross cultural comparison of the credibility components of endorsers, (including their attractiveness), has not to date been widely examined in the literature. Relevant to the current study, Yoon, Kim and Kim (1998) examined whether the three dimensions of the source credibility model (expertise, trustworthiness and...