Beauty and the diversification in society: impact on communication effectiveness

Evidence in the social sciences and in marketing supports the idea that beauty sells and that beauty changes attitudes towards products, people, and places (Frith, Shaw, & Cheng, 2005). Cultural representations of beauty often result from the stereotypes held by media gatekeepers whose choices resonate throughout popular culture. However, recent research indicates that culture has a strong bearing on how advertising is accepted and perceived (Frith, Shaw, and Cheng, 2005). As a result, marketers are increasingly recognising the growing power of ethnic groups, and are responding with targeted marketing efforts. The contribution of this paper is the development of a conceptual model, which identifies the components of beauty, and the factors which impact on the representation of beauty in a cross cultural context, with the underlying premise that the more culturally sensitive the portrayal of beauty, the more resonance there will be with the target audience, and hence the greater the communication effectiveness.