Sunday, June 01, 2008

Vacuous

We've spent a great deal of time in my business skirting around the edges of an industry that can best be described as vacuous, shallow and facile. I'm talking, of course, about the "Beauty Industry", that collection of salons and pseudo spas dedicated to the shrines of youth and beauty.

Today, Beauty Business launched their on-line magazine, leading with a story archetypally titled
"Tanning: Choosing the right shade for those cooler months."

Other stories in this launch issue included
"Hair Removal: Why winter is the BEST time for removing the fuzz"
and
"Celebrity Beauty Tips: Demi Moore, Beyonce Knowles and more."

*sigh*.

This is a magazine pitched at the "beauty therapists", and it would be nice to think their industry magazine was devoted to improving professional standards and elevating the knowledge base. Sadly, it isn't, not because the editors are incapable of creating such a worthy tome, but because the magazine, as it should, reflects its target market.

And what's really scary is that in Australia, according to our market research numbers, we have one salon for every 100 women aged between 35 and 60. I'm guessing the numbers are similar in the US, Canada and parts of Europe.

In a thousand years, when historians are giving lectures on the decline and fall of Western Civilisation, there will be an entire semester devoted to this cult and culture of bimbo.

I suppose, if you're interested, GO HERE. (But only if you must.)

7 comments:

gothcat said...

I Have never ventured into a salon,But have often wondered if the act of attending one is the ego lift provider or if it was the visual end result of the pampering within.
By not attending one,Ive left a vacancy for a bimbo in waiting.

Anonymous said...

And don't forget more and more are opening targeting the new breed of himbos!

e said...

Well, you can't really complain that women are wasting time and money on these kinds of things -- men don't seem to look at women who don't have the perfect make-up, hair, nails etc. At least, not in LA. So the options are: be normal and ignored, or pamper up. Neither option is great.

Maybe I need to move.

Laurel said...

The obsession with youth/beauty is truly disconcerting to say the least. The priority it so outside in. We worship the body but the soul is empty. Sad.

Matsby said...

Well at least you have the right motives.

Identity Crisis said...

We must learn to transcend our ego based state of consciousness and embrace our inner weirdness.

FPrince said...

There's a difference between making sure your teeth are brushed before you leave the house and spending the GDP of a small country on making sure there is no hair on your body except voluptuous locks on your head.

Taking care of oneself is motivated by health from the inside out, but I believe obsessing about appearance denotes, as others have noted, an emptiness and diseased sense of worth from within.

I have found that men and women tend to "get what they paid for" when they choose style over substance. But that doesn't mean substance can't be sexy.