Question

Of all cosmetic surgery, 90 percent is performed on women (American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery 2012). Do you think that the targeting of women in advertising creates these attitudes and behaviors? Or do you think that these attitudes and behaviors would exist even if there were no such ads? Why?

Answer 1

Of all cosmetic surgery, 90 percent is performed on women (American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery 2012); the targeting of women in advertising creates these attitudes and behaviors as from 2011-2012, there was a 3.1% increase in the total number of cosmetic surgical procedures, with almost 1.7 million surgical procedures performed this past year. This increase indicates that social influences such as advertising are leading to such behavior as if the cause was because of just our gender differences i.e. biology there would be not such a sharp fluctuation i.e. increase in just one year.