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Tiktok and Instagram are causing complexes among young people – and a boom in beauty practices. The Lucerne Clinic advertises particularly boldly.
Comedian Parshad Esmaeili explains how the countless filters on Instagram can be used to fix any blemish in your own image.
Screenshot: ZDF Store Royale
This makes people feel ugly and want to look like the filtered social media self.
Screenshot: ZDF Store Royale
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In the latest issue of “ZDF Magazin Royale”, Jan Böhmermann railed against new beauty trends on Instagram and Co.
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He also criticizes beauty clinics that take advantage of young people’s fears.
“It used to be the Kylie-Jenner comparison and today we compare ourselves to the better version of ourselves,” says Jan Böhmermann in the latest issue of “ZDF Store Royale». The German satirist and moderator is addressing the beauty craze that is intensified among young people through the use of social media.
Blue or rather green eyes? A snub nose, smooth skin and full lips? All this is not a problem with filters on Instagram and other social media. “Instagram changes my entire bone structure and the size of my head,” comedian Parshad Esmaeili explains to the moderator on the show. Today, retouched images are not only put online by celebrities and influencers, but also by young people themselves.
Beauty madness without regard to health
In doing so, Instagram has created a new, completely unattainable ideal of beauty, says Böhmermann. Although earlier ideals of beauty are unattainable, with the new filters it seems more tangible. This new ideal of beauty is also an issue in plastic surgery. “We have observed that the patients are getting younger,” says the specialist in plastic surgery on the show. It happens that young women want to look like the filtered Instagram versions of themselves and go to beauty clinics with these desires.
With Böhmermann’s all-round attack against the beauty craze, the Lucerne Clinic also gets its fat off. Because for beauty clinics like the Lucerne Clinic, social media and the ideals that result from it are a real gold mine. No wonder, then, that the clinic is heavily promoting cosmetic procedures on social media. There is no mention of the seriousness and possible health consequences of the medical interventions.
In an Insta-Reel of the clinic that shows Böhmermann, a patient is lying in bed waiting for the operation. Cheerful music sounds in the background, the singer sings: “Can we skip to the good part?” (Can we jump to the good part?) After a pan, it’s all over and the patient happily embraces the clinic staff.
Lucerne Clinic’s seems to be working. Young women cavort under posts from the clinic on Instagram. An 18-year-old writes, for example, under a before/after picture of a breast operation: “I’m really looking forward to my consultation!” The Lucerne Clinic has also been for several years with the “Bosom Friends” campaign, a discount on breast surgery if two people go under the knife at the same time.
Problematic role models are adopted
The federal government is also concerned with the topic of self-image and social media among young people. According to a study from 2020, 93 percent of 12 to 13 year olds in Switzerland have an Instagram membership and 41 percent of 12 to 19 year olds regularly post snaps and stories on social networks.
On the federal information portal «Youth and Media» says: “There are many retouched photos on social media – not only in advertisements, but also in the profiles of adolescents. Such distorted media realities have a negative impact on the body image of adolescents, who, due to puberty, were already overly critical of their own bodies.” Spending time on social media can therefore make young people feel ugly. Media use can lead to narcissistic disorders or the adoption of problematic role models, such as anorexia. In severe cases, this can trigger depression, suicidality or anxiety.
The Lucerne Clinic did not want to comment on the subject until the editorial deadline for 20 minutes.
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