COSMETICS INDUSTRIES AND HUMAN CULTURAL NORMS
Cosmetics include moisturizing creams, whitening/lightening/fading/fairness creams, lipsticks, lip balms, hair dyes, sun protection creams, lotions, cleansers, shampoos, soaps, and mascaras etc. and have become unavoidable consumer products, especially among women and men. Cosmetics are applied externally to protect, maintain the appearance, and be attractive. Attractive skin appearance plays a key role by providing an advantage for better social interactions in a society where a white/glowing complexion is considered a mark of beauty in both men and women. Young women from Africa and Asia populations, and tanned Europeans and Northern Americans commonly use cosmetics for their skin lightening and anti-freckle effects(Global Mercury Partnership, n.d.). Overcoming a dark complexion and gaining a fair complexion is often considered a symbol of social dignity among women(Fonseka & Bandara Wijekoon, 2019).
A survey conducted to understand the perceptions of young girls not wearing makeup in the United States of America has revealed that one in five girls had negative feelings, 20 percent of girls felt self-conscious, 17 percent felt unattractive, 15 percent had feelings of something missing when they do not wear cosmetics. Only five percent of girls felt more attractive without wearing cosmetics (prnewswire.com). About 40% of Korean women are reported to use skin lighteners(Park & Zheng, 2012). Cosmetic Europe (CE) -The personal Care Association (PCA) has revealed that approximately 450 million people in Europe use a wide range of different cosmetic products on daily basis (COLIPA, 2015). A study reported that most women in Pakistan (59 %) considered that using skin-whitening creams for lightening the skin tone is an effective way and agreed that lighter skin tone is more beautiful. (Hamed et al., 2010)
The cosmetic industries make use of these social or cultural norms to flourish in the market (Fonseka & Bandara Wijekoon, 2019). The fast-growing cosmetic industry advertises most of cosmetics with a tagline that reflects the cultural norms mentioned above. As a result, the demand is high and from normal grocery stores to pharmacies and supermarkets people can buy cosmetic products. The regulation has become difficult as the demand is high with the strong community perception. This has helped counterfeit products to enter the market easily and make the situation even worse and earning huge profits out of the situation.
Www.statista.com has stated that the revenue from the cosmetic industry worldwide is 80.73bn USD. The forecasted market value of skincare alone is 145.2 bn USD. In this, skincare accounts for 42 percent, and haircare is 22 percent. The most profitable one is skincare generating 177 billion US dollars in 2025. Approximately 43 percent of the global market is accounted for by the Asia-Pacific region. This gigantic market cannot be easily wiped off and the health problem underlying is also a huge worrying factor.
Therefore, finding a solution through policy-making or applied sciences has become crucial where the latter is the most suitable as the former involves changing human behaviors or thought processes, which is an uphill grind and needs a strong community assessment-based intervention, and awareness.
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