It's Mine Because I Bought It: The Cost of Glamour
I want to touch upon modification and money in this entry. Today when we see celebrities on the cover of a magazine we often ask ourselves: is it real or fake? We often break people into parts when we wonder if that is real and if she bought them. For example: are her boobs real? Can also be said like this, “are those her real boobs?” or “are those really her boobs?” and “did she pay for them?” When we discover that someone has paid to have parts of them modified we tend to think of that particular part as no longer theirs. For example: she paid for her boobs to be modified so therefore, they aren’t really hers because they aren’t naturally that way. The same can said about tanning.
Tanning is also a modification. It’s not as permanent or severe as plastic surgery but we still look at celebrities who are unusually dark or orange and wonder – is it real or fake? Is that her real skin color or did she buy it? Tanning like plastic surgery is a thriving business. “The tanning industry earns over one billion dollars per year,” (hps.org). It’s an expensive operation to run. Tanning beds range from $750 - $10,000, space rental fees are $7,000 - $35,000, paying employees is expensive and operations cost about $115,000 each year (powerhomebiz.com). However, if successful the profits are great and in America there are many return customers.
I visited a few tanning salon websites to see the range of prices. It turns out that the average price is about $20 for one month of unlimited tanning, which isn’t much. There must be many people who tan in order to make a profit and to keep as many as six tanning salons in a small town of 18,000.
What really strikes me as strange is that in the past tanning had been a sign of the poor working class and now it is something that the rich purchase and consume. Movie stars, singers and dancers all tan because it makes them look thinner and healthier on camera. Evidence of this lies in choice of words used to describe a tan – gold, copper and bronze. All are precious metals used to describe riches rather than poverty. A tan makes a woman look “sexier, younger, healthier, wealthier,” [1]
Works Cited
[1] Segrave, Kerry
2005 Suntanning in 20th Century America: McFarland & Company.
