Throughout history, women have been subjugated to unrealistic beauty expectations that are often created by men. Entrapped under the male gaze, often depicting women as sexual objects, beauty products such as lipstick and mascara have become tools to adhere to these beauty expectations. However as technology becomes more and more advanced, cosmetic procedures have been growing in popularity as techniques have improved over the years. Particularly in South Korea, beauty standards are changing as their standards are slowly adhering to unattainable standards of beauty that are man-made. As one of the world’s biggest cultural producers, South Korea’s celebrities are used as tools to represent an idealistic representation of beauty that has been slowly normalized through daily consumption of media. Not only that but celebrities are used to promote beauty enhancements such as cosmetics and cosmetic surgeries. Reported in a 2011 report, nearly 650,000 cosmetic procedures were performed in South Korea as it has become normalized in Korean culture. In my paper, I would like to argue how celebrities are used in the media to promote an unattainable beauty standard while advertising beauty enhancement to adhere to those standards. 

As many countries operate under a patriarchal system where men hold power, their female counterparts are often disenfranchised and are seen as secondary citizens. Whether it’s institutionalized or cultural, women’s role in society is often set by binaries: sexualized beings or maternal figures. women’s lack of space outside of the dominant system of patriarchy has limited women’s individuality as they are set strict gender roles. As Hopkins (2007: 288) stated, gender regimes are set by traditional norms as well as institutional and socio-cultural norms that govern appropriate and inappropriate behaviours for men and women. For women, they are expected to be subordinate as their identity is derived from their attachment to a man and a family. Women should be docile as well as beautiful and feminine just as what the male-dominated society wants them to be. By adhering to these gendered expectations, physical beauty becomes something valuable for the cost of a better life. Particularly in Korea, the importance of physical beauty has been an important cultural factor, as influenced by their growing entertainment industry. 

As Davies and Han (2011: 147) noted Korea has been a massive global cultural leader through their media success since the beginning of the ‘Korean wave’ known as Hallyu in the 1990s. At the beginning of Hallyu, digital technology had been rapidly growing which encouraged the growth of Korea’s lifestyle and entertainment. From films, TV, music, advertising, and the internet, Korean media has now been consumed daily by Koreans as well as a global audience. Davies and Han (2011: 147) emphasize this strong use of image technology that empowered consumer society as “liquid modern life”. Reported in Davies and Han’s article (2011: 147) that in 2010, there are 81.6% of households who use the internet with 48.9% of users spending fourteen hours online each day. Not only that but online stores have been growing as 60% of Korean consumers have purchased products or services through the internet. As the internet and digital media has become a part of daily life for Koreans, it can also influence users on their consumption habits. Furthermore, digital media has also been key in promoting cosmetic and beauty industries. In their research, Davies and Han (2011: 148) indicated that digital publicity and media have been vital in promoting beauty aesthetics and beauty enhancements through entertainment. As users can consume Korean TV, firm, and music on the daily, the celebrities in those media are often conventionally beautiful with ideal facial features. 

Hopkins (2007:291) noted that to target women who are self conscious about their appearance, an ad will feature beautiful models. Other social scientists (E.g., Song 2014, Davies and Hans 2011) similarly recognized that; by using conventionally attractive celebrities in media, they become a vehicle to perpetuate an unattainable standard of beauty that women often face in society. As media and the internet are consumed on a daily basis, these standards of beauty slowly become normalized. This becomes harmful to women as they are already disenfranchised in society. By setting impossible standards to comply with, the entertainment and media industries also promote beauty enhancing products such as cosmetics and cosmetics surgery for their consumers. 

Through celebrities, a certain set of beauty standards have been normalized; however, celebrities also openly promote surgical beauty enhancements. In doing so, celebrities become tools that set beauty standards as well as promoting solutions to help adhere to those standards. Reported in Rhee, An, and Hwang’s article on “Korean’s Perception of Facial Beauty: (2017: 393 - 395), the majority of the participant in their study was in favour of cosmetics surgery. Furthermore, the participants based their beauty preferences on Korean female celebrities. By rating celebrities by most beautiful facial components or individual aesthetic subunits such as facial shape, eyes, nose, and others, the study shows what kind of features are desirable in society and in cosmetics surgery procedures. With many Korean surgical goals reflecting Caucasian facial ideals such as sharp noses, double eyelid and defined ship, Davies and Han’s (2011: 150) argued popular celebrities with these features are used to boost cosmetics surgery trends such as chin trimming or double eyelid surgery. They also note (2011:148) surgically modified celebrities, by using their before and after photos, are used as promotion for attracting potential buyers. Celebrities, or other media influencers like Instagram models, can receive free cosmetic surgeries as well as being endorsed by sponsored clinics. They are often used in advertising tools for attracting buyers as their facial appearance is set as the norm for beauty. From makeup products to cosmetics surgery, consumer’s ideal set of beauty promotes social success as well as beauty and it’s enhancements serve as part of Korean’s normalized socio-cultural environment. 

Reported in a 2019 Huffington Post article, cosmetics surgery is seen as an “enhancement” or extension of makeup as it has been normalized in Korea. The prevalence of cosmetics surgery from celebrities has normalized it as a form of commercialized medicines. Just as smartphones and cars improve our daily lives, cosmetics surgery is seen as a technological catalyst that acts as a positive form of human physiology enhancement (Davies and Han 2011: 146). Korea’s acceptance of cosmetics surgery as influenced by media and entertainment industries has integrated it as part of their society with the majority of their population approving beauty enhancements. Integrated into contemporary Korean value systems, eyelid or nose surgeries are seen as accepted high school graduation gifts as they are seen as a rite of passage (Davies and Han 2011: 149). The act of going under the knife is seen as a form of self-improvement that marks a person’s rise in social standard as surgery is often considered a ‘good investment’. Commented by Dr. Joo Kwon, CEO of JK Plastic Surgery Center: 

“Many patients are content with their appearance but have some small fizes or want to maintain their youthfulness. If someone feels as if a feature or an aspect of their appearance is interfering with their quality of life, surgery could assist in that manner.” (Huffington Post 2019) 

Culturally in Korean society, cosmetic surgery has become normalized. With reports of improvement careers and status, beauty enhancements become an incentive to improve one’s quality of life. However, this also creates tension in women as they are caught between one’s appearance as self expression and a new social structure for acceptable beauty standards (Hopkins 2007: 291). 

Despite the cultural approval of beauty enhancements through society and media, women are still, if not more, scrutinized under the male gaze. The opportunity to adhere to beauty standards, that are naturally unattainable, through cosmetic procedures and makeup further reflect the subordination of women. Hopkin argued (2007: 299) gender objects display pride and success at fulfilling gender roles, just as cosmetics or  cosmetic surgery are seen as status improvements, their consumption reinforce existing traditional gender roles. This perpetuation of beauty as women’s only worth extended and reinforces gender stereotypes in the patriarchal society. Not only that but as beauty becomes a commodity, neoliberal capitalism incentives gender regimes to support economic growth (Hopkins 2007:299). Media becomes an important factor in spreading these symbolic meanings to promote and increase profit for certain industries. Celebrities in Korean media are a key example of this as they set unattainable beauty standards as well as promoting beauty enhancements such as cosmetics and cosmetics surgery. Beauty enhancement industries are slowly becoming global through the global recognition of Korean media through K-pop groups and K-dramas. Noted by Hopkins (2007:299) state as commodities take on new symbolic meanings such as gender and other identities through globalization. Just as cosmetics surgery was previously controversial but now an accepted cultural practice in South Korea, global perspectives of cosmetics surgery can be normalized. It is reported in a 2018 report from the Huffington Post (2019), 50,000 foreign patients received plastic surgery in Korea for double eyelid surgeries, double jaw surgeries and other various facial and body modifications. As South Korea is one of the world’s cultural producers, their influences through Korean media groups such as K-pop and beauty trends like K-beauty have already established themselves into  western society. In my field study, I would be observing the products and advertising in the Nature Collection store inside Eaton Centre to analyze how their store uses celebrities in media to represent an ideal standard of beauty while promoting their products.

Located on the north side of Toronto’s Eaton Center mall on their second floor, Nature Collection is a South Korean skincare and cosmetic manufacturer and retailer business that has extended their store to the western market. Launched in 1947 in Myeongdong, Nature Collection is currently the third largest cosmetic company in South Korea with over 1000 flagship stores internationally. With many well known Korean celebrities such as Suzy of miss A K-pop growth and Actor Bae Yong-joon as their international ambassador, Nature Collection brands many of their advertising and products with South Korean popular cultures. Known as one of North America’s leading K-beauty suppliers, Nature Collection presents an all encompassing idea of Korean beauty. Nature Collection is branded in a white and light green colour that symbolizes naturalness, something many Korean products and cosmetics want to associate with. In Front of the store, many promotional advertisements and collaborations are displayed there. During my visit around March, the store was promoting their spring collection with features of celebrities such as Hyun-Joong of SS501 and Seohyun of Girls’ Generation. Both celebrities represented Natural Collection’s skin care or cosmetic brand as their promotional image is displayed around the store. Hyun-joon is tall, slim with a tall defined nose with clear and bright eyes. As a member of a well-known boyband SS501, Hyun-Joon is very well known in Korean popular media as a singer, dancer, and actor. Seohyun, on the other hand, is a member of the popular girls group called Girls’ Generation. She is tall, slim with big eyes, harp jaw, and sharp nose. Both celebrities adhere to conventional korean beauty standards. Nature Collection’s store layout is clean and organized as products are formed in sections. As skincare occupies the left side of the store and cosmetics are on the right, the customers can slowly walk along the store picking out the products that they need. With each product, some promotional images of celebrities would be placed next to it. As someone who isn’t very attune to Korean popular culture, many of the celebrities looks very similar to each other with some facial differences. Most are all slim, pale skin, big eyes, and tall nose. While some had on different makeup looks to advertise certain products, it is easy to point out what can be seen as conventionally attractive in Korean media. As a cosmetic retailer, Natural Collections can only provide skincare and cosmetics as forms of beauty enhancements. While cosmetics surgery is a popular form of beauty enhancement in Korean, cosmetics and skincare is seen as an affordable alternative. Unlike cosmetics , cosmetics has a positive cultural image as it is a globally accepted way to alter one’s physicality. However, both methods place women under the male gaze as it provides methods to perform femininity with the message that improved appearance. Whether it’s for self acceptance or to improve one’s status and career, korean beauty enhancements are often promoted with celebrities. As seen in the retailer Natural Collections, beauty seems to allude to how the consumer can look like the celebrities advertised as they represent the standard of beauty. 

Bibliography: 

Davies, Gloria and Gil-Soo Han. November 2011. Korean Cosmetic Surgery and Digital Publicity: Beauty By Korean Design. Media International Australia no.141 (3): 146 - 156

Hopkins, Barbara E. 2007. Western Cosmetics in the Gendered Development of Consumer Culture in China. Feminist Economics 13 (3-4): 287-306. 

Lee, Alexa. “’Above Normal’: South Korea’s Plastic Surgery Boom.” HuffPost Canada. HuffPost Canada, September 18, 2019. https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/korea-plastic-surgery_l_5d72afb0e4b07521022c00e1. 

Rhee, Seung Chul, Soo-Jung An, and Rahil Hwang. Contemporary Koreans’ Perceptions of Facial Beauty. Archives of Plastic Surgery 44, no. 5 (2017): 390–399.

Song, Jee Eun Regina. 2014. The Soybean Paste Girl: The Cutlrual and Gender Politics of Coffee COnsumption in Contemporary South Korean. The Journal of Korean Studies 19 (2): 429 - 448.