Don’t Blame the Plastic Surgeon

This billboard in Zouk Mosbeh (via Blog Baladi) could be both a campaign against plastic surgery and a campaign against selling one’s body for sex. I’m going to assume it’s against plastic surgery because the word “beauty” in the tag line makes this interpretation more likely.

My problem with this ad is that it makes it sound as if poor, innocent women are being exploited by evil, greedy plastic surgeons. It’s nice and simple when there’s a bad guy and a good guy in a story, but reality is more complex than that. If it weren’t for demand (women wanting firmer backsides, bigger breasts and fuller lips), there wouldn’t have been supply (plastic surgeons).

Some plastic surgeons like Dr. Nader Saab have turned plastic surgery into profitable businesses and others exploited the demand in unsavory ways, but this doesn’t give a pass to the women who are asking for the services.

It’s obvious that the target of the ads is women. A simple message of “you are beautiful just the way you are” would have been much better than the intelligence insulting “you are being exploited by evil doctors”.