Cosmetic surgery has long ceased to be a rarity. Despite their high prices, there are many who decide to undergo surgery to readjust their morphology, whether in a subtle way or opting for radical changes.
In episode 3 of the podcast ‘The dilemma of (im)perfect bodies’, the Dr. Andrés Riveraa plastic surgeon, affirms that there has been a process of democratization of this type of surgery, and also with a curious effect: there are patients who ask that their operations not be hidden or imperceptible, but quite the opposite; They want them to be seen, to make it clear that they have undergone that operation. Because, at the end of the day, these procedures are very expensive, and demonstrate the purchasing power of that person, or the effort they have made to achieve their desired body.
Actors, singers, footballers… The famous millionaires have been the ones who had the easiest time accessing these procedures. And supposedly they were also the examples that people clung to when they wanted to undergo surgery, “I want this actress’s nose, I want this singer’s abs.” Andrés Rivera dismantles a certain part of this statement: «It is not as common as it might have been before; This is also because there is a lot of globalization within social networks. Before we could count the fashionable celebrities on the palm of our hand. And now, if you start talking about influencers, it doesn’t end.”
It is a truism but, as their name suggests, influencers influence. Their job is to be advertising men and women, especially in the digital world. They recommend restaurants, hotels, cosmetics… but in a few years now, especially as a result of the pandemic, influencers have added a new product to their business portfolio: surgery and aesthetic medicine.
Lorena Macías, advertising creative and creator of one of the funniest IG accounts, @Takemeaphotolikethatwas one of the first to sound the alarm. She was already used to ironically denouncing the tricks of influencers, but what she began to see in certain profiles left her perplexed: «in @Hazmeunafotoasí we have seen a girl who changed her eye color; we have seen a vasectomy also promoted; We have seen two influencers who had rhinoplasty together; a vaginoplasty… We have seen the most explicit content you can imagine.
The stories that these influencers upload to their networks about this are not usually innocent or purely informative. Many are advertising campaigns, part of commercial agreements between influencers and clinics. But why do they accept such contracts? «Because it’s free. You have a striking number of followers, a clinic knocks on your door, or you knock on the clinic’s door because you are considering surgery, and it turns out that the cost of an operation for you is three stories and a one-minute video. Well, just as they are embracing trips to the Maldives three times a year as if it were the most normal thing in the world: because it is free.
Something must be made clear, and that is that Lorena is at no time against cosmetic surgery; But what bothers him is that there is no clear regulation around the advertising of these interventions. And that, most of the time, there is no head either: «Any advertising channel has to adhere to certain rules. You cannot advertise tobacco on TV, you cannot advertise betting houses, why is the influencer advertising channel not regulated, and they can advertise betting houses, cosmetic surgery or diet pills. You have a responsibility, you have a scope, 3 million people are watching you whose context you don’t know. I think you can refrain from advertising certain things.
And there are many differences between announcing the latest launch of a makeup brand or the good results you have obtained after undergoing rhinoplasty. Triviating about surgery makes them seem quick, simple and practically painless. The reality can be very different from how some people paint it on networks.
‘The dilemma of imperfect bodies’ is an ABC podcast. Every week, a new episode on ABC.es and on all audio platforms: Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Ivoox, We could and Amazon Music. Also available in YouTube.
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