Epitome of Flawless: How Might Media Affect Product Usage?

Korean beauty products first emerged into Western cultures around 2011. Now, its popularity is increasing even greater than ever. South Korea’s beauty industry has grown phenomenally embedding new cult favorites into more cultures. This blog post consists of a variety of beauty sources and professional studies and reviews done to evaluate the business aspect of Korean beauty product sales in both Korean and other Western countries.   Korean beauty products are becoming more accessible and popular in the Untied States due to growing marketing of their effectiveness and the beauty standards they represent.

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It’s not at all foreign to see familiar products in television shows or movies whether it was placed purposely or not. Product placement is a very clever and subtle way of engaging the audience into becoming familiar with the product, drawing them into it’s benefits by using celebrities or models using such products. Advertising has only grown as much as the advancement of technology, and it has come a long way. However, other countries are still a little bit cautious as to how they strategically place their products. Companies need to statistically target a certain demographic in order to create the most income. An example of conservative product placements are companies in Korea or branches of such;  “Korea’ advertising industry of Korea, valued at about $6.1 billion, is the ninth-largest global advertising market as well as one of the largest advertising markets in the Asian-Pacific area (Madden, 2004).”

With the increasing popularity with Korean beauty products, many new trends have dominated the social media by beauty bloggers and aficionados alike. According to Fusion, “The growing influence of Korean beauty—from their intensive skincare routines to BB creams and cushion compacts—on Western culture is the culprit for the internet’s fascination with wanting to look like they “woke up like this.”” An article about the growth of Korean beauty on The Cut revealed that the first half of 2015, according to the Korea Customs Service, the total export value of Korean beauty products to the U.S. was $52 million, a 60 percent increase from last year. America is the third biggest export market for Korean cosmetics companies, after China and Hong Kong. Personally, I don’t blame the for the obsession, I myself is a fan of these products however one difference for me is that I was born into the expectation to have flawless, pale skin, free of blemishes. It’s quite difficult to do in an environment where tanning and contouring is currently the mainstream beauty fad. Nevertheless, that didn’t stop the influx of skincare products on monthly shipments from the motherland to cure and protect the one thing we hold to the highest value.

The vast popularity has certainly reached the ends of two worlds, Marie Claire dubbed Korea the new skincare superpower, calling them about 12 years ahead of skincare innovation globally. The beauty standard to have that flawless skin is without a doubt one of the biggest driving factors in market sales for product consumption. On top of that, Korean consumers have a voracious appetite for skincare, which in turn helps fund extensive R&D. With thousands of beauty brands all competing for market share, the result is a Hyper-competitive, incredibly innovative industry that's at the forefront of the beauty world. In conclusion, the media is a starting platform for new beauty fads to arise in popularity, heavily impacting the influence of product usage.