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Capitalizing on Changing Beauty Norms

It’s one thing to be obsessed with our looks, our beauty…

As the demands of beauty rise, not only do we have to do more all the time, but their nature also changes. Beauty becomes more important. It has begun to function as an ethical ideal. Beauty is often what we — rightly or wrongly — value most. It is what we think about, talk about and what we spend our time and hard-earned cash on. If we are good at beauty, we feel we are good, virtuous; if we are bad, we feel we are no good, almost no matter what else we do. We judge others too on how they look. We make assumptions about what people are like and how successful they are. We read character traits directly from looks, and we start doing this as young as four years old.

…but it’s another thing to confuse beauty practices for health practices.

Consumers are allowing themselves to be manipulated by obvious marketing tactics and the beauty industry is capitalizing on the opportunity. These marketing and advertising tactics remind me of the diamond industry, which I’ve written extensively about.

Let’s take hair for instance. “Shaving, plucking, waxing and lasering” have become so normalized that hair removal is no longer a “beauty practice” but has been “redefined as a hygiene practice, as part of so-called “routine” maintenance.” And these redefined social norms aren’t just for celebrities – they’re for everyone.

Hair removal becomes something we have to do, a requirement. It is not an option to refuse — like teeth-cleaning, but without any of the health benefits. Beauty practices are indulgent and optional; hygiene practices are necessary and required. You don’t have to do a beauty practice; you do have to do something that is required to meet minimum standards, just to be normal. Once the shift to routine is complete, the fact that this is a demanding beauty practice becomes invisible.

The Beauty Market

The Economist reported in 2003 (Real Men Get Waxed) that the US male grooming market was $8 billion. 15 years later, that number has nearly tripled and is on pace to grow by 12% annually.

(source)

Bottom Line: Societal norms and their changes drive huge shifts in spending – especially when there’s strong emotional connection or potential for embarrassment. What shifting & emotionally-charged norms can you capitalize on?

The Elephant in the Brain by Robin Hanson

Hidden Motives with Robin Hanson

The following quote from Robin Hanson is from Hidden Motives, an episode of the Waking Up podcast with Sam Harris. The topic is primarily Hanson’s new book, The Elephant in the Brain: Hidden Motives in Everyday Life, co-written with Kevin Simler.

Our usual institutions let us pretend to be trying to get the thing we pretend to want while actually – under the surface – giving us the things we actually want.

Policy analysts typically try to analyze how to give policy reforms that would give us more of the things we pretend to want. And we’re usually uninterested in that because we know we don’t actually want more of the things we pretend we want.

If you could design a policy reform that let us continue to pretend to get the things we pretend to want while actually getting more of the things we actually want, we’d like that. But we can’t admit it. If we stumble into it, we’ll stay there.

But if the policy analysts were just to out loud say “Well this is a system that will give you more of this thing that’s what you actually want. But admit it.” We don’t want to admit it. And then we won’t want to embrace that.

So yes, what we want to do is pay for the appearance of the thing we’re pretending to want and we’re often paying a lot for that appearance.

– Robin Hanson

The Elephant in the Brain: Hidden Motives

The Elephant in the Brain Hidden Motives in Everyday LifeGreat quote from Robin Hanson about how we’re often not honest with ourselves about our hidden motives and what that means for our policies regarding education, guns, healthcare, immigration, inequality, capitalism, and corporatism.

Hanson’s accessible book focuses on motives and norms but also covers selfishness, hypocrisy, norm violation, cheating, deception, self-deception, signaling, counter-signaling, social status (separated into dominance and prestige), power, money, and loyalty.

My 3 biggest takeaways from Hanson’s conversation with Harris were:

  1. How frequently we are dishonest with ourselves about our motives
  2. When it comes to what people want, you’re better off watching their actions than taking their word
  3. It’s okay to be agnostic on things you haven’t looked into deeply – you’ll probably be happier too.

Finally, Hanson is also known for his work in predictive markets and forecasting. If that’s also of interest to you, check out: Why are we so so so bad at finishing projects on time?