Unrealistic Beauty Standards on Social Media

Abstract

During the course of the essay, I have tried to analyze and present the way in which influencers develop and use their content to engage with wider masses on Instagram, and then attract sponsors to endorse and review products. I have explained how these influencers give rise to self-esteem and self-deception issues among their followers by creating unrealistic beauty standards on social media. The essay will also focus on how these beauty standards perpetuate negative body image among the masses.

Social Media and Unrealistic Beauty Standards

Since its start in 2010, Instagram, a social media platform, has attracted a total number of 1 billion monthly active users and the half of that user base consists of 18-29-year-old millennials that utilize the power of social 3 networking more than any other demographic segment who have shared a total of 50 billion photos to date (Omnicore, 2019). Just like other social networks, Instagram enables an individual to interact with other users by following them, being followed by them, commenting, liking, tagging and private messaging. In terms of practice and the use of imagery, Instagram differentiates itself from similar platforms like Facebook and Twitter, for example. While on Facebook users upload images to tell about themselves and, thus, create unique portraits of themselves, and on Twitter users signal identity through shared links, Instagram, on the other hand, is the place in which users communicate through images in order to showcase themselves in a way they want to be seen by others (Lampe, Ellison, & Steinfield 2007; Silfverberg, Liikkanen, & Lampinen 2011).The popularity of Instagram has often been connected to the phenomenon of a selfie, a self portrait that the user takes on his/her camera (Bennett, 2014; Wagner et al., 2016). 

Unlike traditional media that primarily features images of models or celebrities, social media platforms, such as Instagram, often contain images of a variety of different comparison targets that vary in relational closeness to the user (e.g. friends, family, acquaintances, strangers, celebrities, or even themselves). Due to this feature which allows anyone to share their lives regardless of their identity,many users take advantage of the opportunity by posting content that is likely to engage the other users, and therefore gain likes and followers.In an article, The New York Times published an investigation into the prevalence of social media bots, particularly those purchased by wannabe influencers and celebrities who want to inflate their importance online. Over a period of years, a company called Devumi “sold about 200 million Twitter followers to at least 39,000 customers,” including famous athletes, chefs, and reality TV stars (Schaefer, 2019). With an increased number of followers and a more engaging content created by travelling to places, and buying expensive products, these users are known as “Instagram influencers” where they use their blog to influence other users through their content. Due to their popularity, many brands approach these influencers and pay them to endorse or review their products. 

Influencers don’t need millions of followers to attract the attention of branded sponsors. The average follower count of an influencer is almost 63,000 people, with close to 60 percent of influencers on Instagram being women who often post content related to lifestyle and fitness. Lifestyle accounts that can include content that ranges from travel and food to beauty and fashion, allows influencers to offer both branded products and unique content to keep their posts fresh and engaging (Ryan, 2017). Because the main focus of an influencer on instagram is to get an increased engagement on their posts through comments, likes, shares, and active followers, they tend to go an extra mile to create content that would interest their audience. In doing so, Influencers often tend to share the collection of their best and brightest moments, pictures of themselves travelling to exquisite places, pictures of their visits to fancy restaurants and the expensive meals they order,pictures of a healthy lifestyle, and pictures of themselves looking beautiful, mostly for the purpose of getting more and more brands to approach them which in turn helps them make more money. 

Social Media's Influence on Self-Esteem and Body Image

While there are various ways in which influencers use their accounts to influence their followers and the general audience, one of the main ways is through self-portraits. Just as most people use social media to promote themselves, tons of celebrities, influencers, models and brands, also use it to sell themselves by creating an image of perfection. On instagram, there is a multitude of perfectly toned beauties, flat stomachs, plump breasts, impossibly long legs and perky, perfectly rounded butts. Thousands of Instagram accounts that promote images of perfectly sculpted men and women leads to low self-esteem and negative self-perception as the users start to measure themselves, their looks, and their bodies through the standards created by the perfectly formed bodies on instagram. According to a global research by Dove, just 4 percent of women find themselves beautiful, only 11% of girls globally are comfortable describing themselves as ‘beautiful’, 72% of girls feel tremendous pressure to be beautiful, 80% of women agree that every woman has something about her that is beautiful, but do not see their own beauty, while more than half of women globally (54%) agree that when it comes to how they look, they are their own worst beauty critic (Dove). A systematic review of 20 papers published in 2016 found that photo-based activities, like scrolling through Instagram or posting pictures of yourself, were a particular problem when it came to negative thoughts about your body (Oakes, 2019).

By posting portraits that are mostly edited, facetuned, and filtered, posting them under hashtags like #clearskin, #naturalbeauty, #iwokeuplikethis, #perfect etc., and promoting various products that are said to give a clearer skin or hide the imperfections, influencers often tend to create unrealistic beauty standards due to which the followers who scale themselves on these standards. People are comparing their appearance to people in Instagram images, or whatever platform they're on, and they often judge themselves to be worse off, says Jasmine Fardouly, a postdoctoral researcher at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia (Oakes, 2019). As a result of this comparison,the users and followers are compelled to buy the products that are reviewed or endorsed by the influencers, and thus end up spending their fortunes in doing so.The beauty industry, a persuasive and pervasive money-making machine convinces the masses using these influencers that there is a need to improve our appearance. As a result, this industry is growing rapidly where skin care alone is worth $24 billion per year, make-up $18 billion, haircare $38 billion. A report by the British Youth Council, A Body Confident Future, highlighted the “massive” role such industries have in setting idealised images of beauty. This comes at cost — a third of young people say media influence has made them feel the need to change their skin care routine or buy expensive makeup products to enhance their features or hide their imperfections.

Phenomenon of 'Fitspiration' on Social Media

Another unique feature of Instagram is the prominence of “fitspiration” images (the term fitspiration is a combination of the words fitness and inspiration), which are images designed to motivate people to exercise and eat healthily. Young women are the largest consumers of fitspiration images (Carrotte et al., 2015), and although these images may motivate people toward a healthier lifestyle (Tiggemann and Zaccardo, 2015), they are also largely appearance-focused and primarily contain women with thin and toned bodies. The hashtag “body goals” or “thinspo,' which is supposed to serve as inspiration to acquire a thin body, often end up affecting the users negatively as they tend to harm themselves. Studies show browsing #fitspo posts on Instagram, for as little as 30 minutes, increases self-objectification. Further, another study discovered women who shared their own “Fitspo” photographs scored higher in charts monitoring a drive for thinness and compulsive exercise. Eighteen percent of the same group were at risk of developing an eating disorder (Ricky, 2018). In a world where one is measured by how many likes they receive, it's not surprising that so many young men and women suffer from eating disorders, or disordered thinking towards food in general. According to The National Eating Disorder Association, '40-60% of elementary school girls (ages 6-12) are concerned about their weight or about becoming too fat.' 

Bod Image Issues in Men and Women

It is essential to observe that body image issues aren’t exclusive to women, though. Men used to be conditioned for nonchalance, a squirt of Old Spice and a hurried sink wash. But a shift in masculine stereotypes has also occurred as male influencers on instagram share content which has seen the male population become more concerned their bodies’ appearance. In a study, 45 percent of men said they’ve experienced a period of “bigorexia,” an obsession with muscle building. Although gender bias with body image issues can make it more difficult for men to speak openly about their insecurities, the insecurities are certainly there. “Pressure for body perfection is on the rise for men of all ages, which is a risk factor for developing an eating disorder,” Dr William Rhys Jones, of the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ eating disorders faculty, told the Guardian. “Images of unhealthy male body ideals in the media place unnecessary pressure on vulnerable people who strive for acceptance through the way they look.’’

Conclusion

While various researches have shown how Instagram creates unrealistic beauty standards and thus creates self-esteem issues amongst its users, numerous influencers like Jenny Gaither, Jessamyn Stanley, Zach Miko, and Alicia Keys (to name a few) are trying to combat the issue of unrealistic beauty standards by promoting the idea of positivity and eradicating the idea of perfection or a specific view that beauty is seen and perceived as, it is yet at a very initial stage, and not much has changed. Because of influencers and celebrities like the Kardashians who have more than 100 million followers, it is not easy to change how men and women perceive beauty. According to A Body Confident Future, “Brands may pay lip service to the idea of diversity but continue to emphasize the message that some conventional ideals of beauty are important.”

References

1. Bennett, S. (2014). The selfie. Photography and Culture, 7(1), 75-92.
2. Carrotte, E. R., Vella, A. M., Lim, M. S., & Hellard, M. E. (2015). “Fitspiration” on social media: A content analysis of gendered images. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 17(6), e174.
3. Dove. (n.d.). Real beauty: Dove global beauty and confidence report. Retrieved from https://www.dove.com/us/en/dove-self-esteem-project/help-for-parents.html
4. Lampe, C., Ellison, N., & Steinfield, C. (2007). A Face(book) in the crowd: Social searching vs. social browsing. Proceedings of the 2007 International ACM Conference on Supporting Group Work, 167-170.
5. Oakes, E. (2019). The mental health impact of Instagram. The Odyssey Online. Retrieved from https://www.theodysseyonline.com/mental-health-impact-instagram
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