Consumer reactions to female and male cosmetic surgery beauty in Asian advertisements

Existing research shows that the attractiveness of advertising models enhances the effectiveness of firms’ commercial messages. However, it is unclear how consumers react to models who have enhanced their physical attractiveness through cosmetic surgery. We report on three empirical studies and show that when female or male advertising models have undergone cosmetic surgery procedures, both female and male consumers are likely to notice these changes. These perceptions of cosmetic surgery result in lower evaluations of model attractiveness, particularly when the consumers assess female models, which in turn affects other advertising outcomes. However, cosmetic surgery does not reduce consumers’ perceptions of models’ pride in their own identity, which are also relevant to consumers’ evaluations of model attractiveness.