Toxic Beauty: A Discourse Analysis of Toxic Beauty (2019) and Associated Consumer Survey On Concerns of Environmental Exposures in Health and Beauty Products
Persistent URL
Author(s)
Mullen, Emily
Date Issued
April 3, 2024
Abstract
Extant research has examined factors that may influence green consumption including demographic factors, personal values, behavioral factors, product factors, personal capabilities, and factors within the retail environment (Testa et al., 2021). The purpose of the present study was to expand understanding of “green” products and their users to the trend of “clean” health and beauty products and their users through both conducting a discourse analysis of the film Toxic Beauty as well as conducting a consumer survey. The discourse analysis found that the film Toxic Beauty challenges the consumer to consider larger cultural expectations on health and beauty and how that correlates with the products women, especially in the United States are expected to utilize. At the same time, however, the film perpetuates neoliberal ideas of personal accountability and perfect consumption by endorsing the idea that consuming the right, “clean” products will prevent illness from chemical exposure, even if in other parts of the documentary, they find prevention to be impossible on an individual basis. Additionally, a survey was conducted to assess attitudes towards clean cosmetics, as well as measuring Big 5 personality traits, self-efficacy scores, and demographic traits. Thirty one female-identifying participants completed the survey through the online platform Prolific. The findings indicated no significant associations between CCAS scores and any of the Big Five Personality Traits, CCAS scores and Self-Efficacy, nor any associations between demographic factors of age, income, or educational attainment and CCAS scores.
Major
Global Health Studies
Psychology
Honors
Global Health Studies, 2024
Psychology, 2024
First Reader(s)
Eckstein, Lydia E.
Silva, Vesta T.
Department
Global Health Studies
Psychology
Type of Publication
Senior Project Paper
File(s)![Thumbnail Image]()
Name
Final Comp Emily Mullen-Post Comp Oral (1).pdf
Size
872.79 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
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