Appearance-Based Discrimination Is Costing the U.S. $501 Billion a Year, According to New Report

It’s no secret that consumers spend billions of dollars per year on products and treatments they believe will improve their appearance. But as a new study frames it, mainstream beauty ideals aren’t just fueling an industry — they’re fueling a multi-billion-dollar public health crisis. For instance, lots of people struggle with some form of body dysmorphic disorder — roughly 1.7% of the population, according to one Cambridge study — yet the impact of pervasive body image issues on society at large has been mostly been overlooked due to a lack of quantifiable data. The new Real Cost of Beauty Ideals… Read Full Article