It pays to be beautiful… :(

My current poll is related to this post. Mrs. MM was reading the International Herald Tribune the other day when she pointed to an editorial written by Daniel S. Hamermesh, first published in The New York Times, entitled “The ugly need not apply.” It’s a really interesting piece on how the ugly are apparently discriminated against… they earn less, have a harder time finding good-looking spouses and they get worse deals on their home mortgages, according to Mr. Hamermesh. It caught Mrs. MM’s eye because the article echoes a lot of sentiments I have expressed over the years… I have always been a bit surprised that want ads in the Philippines often specify the applicants age range, gender, skin tone and clarity, height, etc. In some foreign countries, such advertisements would be illegal, if not just simply offensive. I will admit that when we did dozens and dozens of interviews to find (and continue to find restaurant staff), I wondered out loud if it would cost more to find competent, amiable AND better looking crew and our HR manager answered “yes” it would… But I didn’t know for a fact if better looking staff would indeed lead to more business… Well, apparently, they do. Yipes. I guess it’s not really a surprise, but it does seem grossly unfair. But then again, who said life was fair…

Mr Hamermesh suggests that “(we) prefer as customers to buy from better-looking salespeople” and so on. The meat of the editorial poses the question whether the “ugly” should be given legal or anti-discriminatory protection; that is, if they even agreed to be rated or labelled as “ugly” to begin with. For years I have been fascinated with the political candidates people vote into office… most American presidents and other world leaders are often several inches taller than the average height of their respective constituencies (go figure the GMA win in the Philippines…), and they often look pretty good relative to other choices, and the same observation applies to top company CEO’s etc. So the editorial piece just confirms some of my hunches… that it does pay to be beautiful. Now the next layer of the onion or argument is what happens when the less attractive start partnering with less attractive folks and spawn less attractive kids… is it a downward spiral for that nation or community? Hmmm… I would like to think we all base decision making on rational parameters, like merit and competence over something superficial like looks… but apparently, maybe not. At the very least, it’s an interesting read…

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50 Responses

  1. It may mean the less attractive have to work harder and develop deeper character in achieving their goals, and perhaps become more of an asset in any group or enterprise.

  2. i agree, if you look at the job posts, most require ” with pleasing personality”. Also, we can in lude cokpanies which specifically look for graduates of reputable schools or frm the ateneo, lasalle or UP. I mean i have high respects for these schools, but what about those who studied hard and strived for a better future at other uni’s? Aren’t they looking for the skills and capabilities? My cousin from Australia said that thse ads can be sued with discrimination in their country. Well just thinking out loud.

  3. This is true based on my own experience. Beautiful/ well dressed people get better service/treatment than plain looking/poorly dressed people.

    As far as retail staff are concerned, if they are selling me food, I want the retail staff to have good hygiene– clean fingernails, combed-back hair (no straggly bits hanging around) and clean teeth. They would be in contact with my food after all. It doesn’t matter to me if they are good- or plain looking as long as they are clean. Good service with a smile helps a lot too. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and a sincere smile from a plain looking person trumps a pout from a good looking one specially if they are in the service industry.

    On having an anti-discrimination law to protect “ugly” people, how are the authorities even going to enforce this. Who in their right mind would claim they were discriminated against because they were ugly?

  4. Beauty is relative. If I was selling kakanin, I’d pick someone who looks like our kusinera. If cars, I’d hire Michael Schumacher (who is frankly not a looker). Jewelry, how about Paris Hilton or Imelda Marcos. I have some of the ugliest employees this side of SM but they are very good at what they do: know the product, know how to recommend and snap to attention when a customer needs their assistance.

    We all know appearances count. But to be discrimated against in home mortgages?!? Now, that’s bloody unfair! LOL!

  5. Incompetent Movie Stars voted to run the government; good looking men and women becoming certified celebrities but can’t sing, dance nor act; Vicki Belo and her products sought after; Block and White lotion and Glutathione soaps fly off the grocery shelves because Filipinas now abhor their kayumanggi skin. We’re not progressing as a country because we’re very good at doing things that don’t work. Beauty without integrity and brains does not work.

  6. Well, if you want an example that’s much more intrusive and less benign for the “less beautiful” and where they are discriminated against, simply look at what various local newspaper columnists have written about regarding discrimination by Bureau of Immigration personnel at NAIA masquerading as an Anti-Human Trafficking initiative.

    International travelers who look “provincial” or travel in clothes less than their Sunday best are asked for documentation such as bank account statements, income tax forms, etc when attempting to clear Customs for tourist trips abroad. Supposedly, this initiative has stopped tens of thousands of “trafficking cases” from flying abroad. But how many of these are actually bonafide tourists who are being discriminated against due to their looks or where they’re from? I mean who the hell goes on a trip abroad carrying their bank statements or tax forms as proof of being able to pay your own way?

  7. Not only ugly people but how about fat and ugly people?double whammy.It is sad indeed but true. Time for me to go on a diet!!!

  8. Oh, Carol! ;) ‘Facial discrimination’ made me laugh.
    I agree with @Marnie. I don’t care either if anyone I deal with looks like Chris Evans or ‘mukhang pusod’ (as my friend would put it), as long as he/she is clean and neat-looking and capable. And I always, ALWAYS prefer to give business to those who smile, kahit bungal.

  9. did you know that according to wikipedia, the widespread of whitening products in asia is a form of racial discrimination

  10. Very, very true – in all countries (YES, all). Allow me to indulge MM and apologies in advance. Let’s start with employment scenarios.

    In the Philippines (and we are not alone in this…), such discrimination is blatant. From the ad placement (“include a photo of yourself”) to the actual practice of hiring. It may even go as far as management stating or comparing the looks of their staff and pointing out the obvious. Here’s a small sample: how often are frontliners young, slim, pretty (which, actually in itself is subjective and is in the eye of the beholder)? With laws/regulations on discrimination, it has been minimized but not eliminated.

    In first world countries (US, Canada, UK, etc.), while it is against the law to place discriminatory ads like we do in the Philippines, discriminatory hiring is practiced – usually subtly but not all the time. An example: you put two people with the same qualities/credentials vying for the same position. Only difference, one is more pleasant looking, i.e., slimmer, prettier. The pleasant looking one will be hired at a better rate. The losing candidate, all they will hear and know is that the the hired one is more qualified.

    Now, living in Melbourne Australia, I have already observed and experienced such bias. In my former workplace alone, the number of applicants that my former boss would not consider just because they were old, ‘ugly’, etc. never mind if they meet & exceed our requirements!

    I have been on both sides of the hiring practice. If my interviewer is male, I make more effort to be pleasant looking than with a female interviewer. This does make a difference. Because of my personal experiences as a discriminated candidate, I make a conscious effort to be a very objective hiring manager, i.e., competency based. I blatantly ignore to include requests for photos, personal details such a marital status, age and number of children, especially if it has nothing to do with the job I am applying for. A company who is serious about their human capital will just focus on qualifications, competencies and potential of the candidate.

    I have also been treated differently as a customer because of the way I look (Asian, not pretty, not dressed, etc.). A favorite story to tell was my experience at Tiffany’s while living in the US. I had just done my groceries and decided to stop by to pick a gift for a wedding we were to attend. I wasn’t really ‘dressed for the occasion’. There were more associates than customers (and they were better dressed than me) when I went in but almost an hour later, no one bothered to even acknowledge my presence. Because I was intent on getting a gift and getting this chore done, I called one of the associates and said to wrap the gift chosen, gave my gold card and went my merry way, while the ‘dressed customers’ were still ‘looking’. Fortunately I do prefer being left alone while browsing so I was not so fussed with this experience.

    Another experience I had was in Bangkok. I was at a bag shop in the city by myself (without my foreigner husband), seriously considering buying a pricey bag when the saleslady approached me to say that the other customer would like to look at the bag I was currently holding. The other customer was a young Thai with a white male companion. Needless to say, I didn’t buy the bag nor did I go back to that place. If you think this was only in Asia – the same thing happened to me at a leading department store in Melbourne! And I was with my husband – was it because I was Asian?

    Ok enough of that from me…

  11. let me share my previous experience at a marketing agency i used to work with. while interviewinh a candidate for a mngt trainee, i was amazed by her scholastic records. i scheduled her for a final interview with the general mngr. the general mngr did not hire her! when i looked at his notes at the back of her resume, he noted there: “skin complexion is dark, looks like she had 3 kids”. turned out that our gen mngr has this motto of “better get a beauty that can be trained than an ugly that you can’t change”. well since we present projects to client, our gen mngr would also require us to wear mini skirts if our clients are male! after 2 yrs, i resigned from that company as all employees maybe pretty, but turned out to be bitches (sorry foy my language MM) and crabs and hard to trust and deal with

  12. As a white male living in the Philippines, I’m amazed how differently I’m treated. Sometimes I like it, say when I’m really tired or having a bad day. But, usually I’m embarrassed.

    Also, while I like the thought experiment that results from MM’s idea of giving the “ugly” protection … I could never go along with it legally. What is ugly for one person can be attractive for another.

    My barkadas love light skin. They like to see women who are curvier and taller. These women are more rare here in the Philippines but very common in my native US. Myself, I prefer women who are much darker, have native (exotic) looks, are shorter, and have slimmer, more Asian-style bodies.

    “ugly” is a matter of perception. Not something that can be measured. As such, we certainly can’t legislate it.

  13. This reminds me of my mother’s comment when she was looking at old classmates’ photos. She’s not one to blatantly disparage another, so her comment on one really not handsome person was “tabingi lang yung picture.”

    My take is that it is more a presentation of oneself than being ‘ugly’ or ‘beautiful’ in public. I know people who are ‘beautiful’ and well dressed when they leave the house, but on off days when their faces are devoid of make-up; they look “burado ang mukha.”

    It does pay to take care of how you look as first impressions do matter.

  14. in the philippines, most people “invest” their money to be beautiful, not to be smart.. UGH. even in the top notch universities, students look like their holding a fashion show everyday, instead of concentrating on their studies..

    Major in Beauty, if there was such a thing.. who would’ve thought people would be proud to have all beauty and no brains??? aiyayayayay!

  15. beauty without great character and good manners is just like beautifully plated food with bland flavor and bad textures. Makes you want to eat it but you wont come back for more.

  16. I was at SM few days ago my with my daughter in her buggy. There are just 3 of us in the queue at the cashier. I was the second in line. When the lady in front of me finished, the posh looking old lady behind me push in front of me and the lady bagger asked her ‘yes ma’am’ as if I wasn’t in the queue. Well, while the posh lady is handing her shopping to the bagger, I butt in and said ‘ excuse me, I am the next in line’. I was served first. They probably thought I am the nanny as I am in shorts, flip flops and not wearing any makeup at all :) Same thing with people giving out flyers for condos, house and lots etc. they don’t bother with people wearing shorts ang flip flops.

  17. Tell me about it… As joan said, There are celebrities here in the PHL who are in their current careers NOT because of their TALENTS. Funny you should mention this MM, I remember reading an article (my apologies for I have forgotten where) where there is a tendency for people with physical features of the same aesthetic value to be partnered with each other as a biological means of improving the human race (e.g. Tom Cruise + Katie Holmes). It explains further than this is the modern way of survival as “beautiful” people tend to find it easier to progress in life compared to those who were sleeping when the creator gave away beauty points. Well, there is a saying that “You can’t have everything…” so if you’re not THAT pretty… you’re probably smart? or rich? go figure! :)

  18. The nursing school where I graduated has the following requirements aside from the usual academic ones – At least 5 ft in height, fair complexion, complete set of fingers and toes, NO ACNE VULGARIS.

  19. I am already hating this topic. I mean, really, when we speak of attractiveness it always comes to mind that it’s about women. Many institutions are still trying to package, market, wrap and warp women into buying and selling such notions of beauty. It’s all but an illusion. To whose advantage is it? To whose pleasure? It merely establishes the patriarchy and demonstrates that a huge part of the economy is driven by men. It’s a crime, I tell you. Just look at all the tv commercials out there. It’s all about whitening products, glutathione this, placenta that, it’s ridiculous! Skinny jeans, l-carnitine, push-up bras, Marie France, Belo, all of these attempt to make us all feel ugly. Women are not Barbie dolls.

  20. I loved reading the comments! VERY interesting…beauty is measured differently everywhere…and to some, it can be both an advantage and a disadvantage :) i grew up not the Filipina’s idea of beautiful, but I’m OK..like Tonceq said, go figure if you are rich or smart…i can say i’m smart, and therefore I’d be rich…aesthetic beauty is not a bad thing, if you are the beautiful one…if it’s coupled with gracefulness, that’s a deadly combination…but aesthetics without a heart and brain, only amounts to the Barbie doll…this is Food for Thoughts MM :) Nice, really really nice post

  21. This is not at all surprising. I think everyone unconsciously knows this is true in the back of their heads but would/could not admit it since it is kind of diyahe to speak about it.
    We’ve been indoctrinated by countless hours of tv to only see the “beautiful” doing romantic comedies and the “regular” or “ugly” doing comedies in the movies or on tele-seryes. Unless the product calls for it or the actor’s fame outweighs their looks, most commercials employ “beautiful” people.

    If you’re pushing a product, you’re obligated to do your homework. Picking a pleasantly looking person(s) to man the counter is just the same consideration as picking the color of your walls, if you hang black and white pictures of said walls, if you use acrylic/clear glass panes to show off the lechon at the counter or if you put live and verdantly green plants at the counter up front. :-)

    But I think there are still some jobs that are immune to “facial discrimination”. Like software/tech/IT jobs, service sector jobs like plumbers, electricians, etc. where your skill set has much more weight than your looks.
    Sure, there’s the possibility that you could be offered less for not being attractive (it is the discretion of the manager doing the interview) but you do get the same negative points for going to the interview not looking your best; not cutting and cleaning your fingernails, having unkempt hair or bad breath, etc.

    Looks do matter for most people whether they’re willing to admit it or not. Otherwise, the makeup, fashion industries, and cosmetic surgery would have gone out of business long, long ago.

    I was talking with my wife a few days ago about something similar. I got the idea that humans are probably the only species with concerns about how they look or how another member of their species looks. I’ve never seen a dog not hanging out with another dog because it is an askal. They’re all equal opportunity butt sniffers. :-) (or if they hate other dogs, they display their wanton bloodlust for every dog they encounter)
    But then again there _are_ other species who do choose a mate based on physical characteristics: the color of their feathers, the potency of their pheromoes, the machismo displayed as part of their mating rituals…

  22. So, we gotta hand it to SM – they don’t practice “facial discrimination”…although they do practice religious discrimination. It doesn’t matter if one’s “ugly” as long as s/he is an Iglesia ni Kristo, they get hired for sure.. I am not sure which type of discrimination offends me more.

  23. Re PGMA, it’s not like the plurality of Filipino voters actually voted for her in 2005, right?

  24. On a serious note, sad, sad reality. It’s the height of discrimination, and only because (and I paraphrase F. Sionil Jose here) their looks do not conform to the anthropological aesthetics imposed on the world by the white men… :-(

  25. Mahirap din maging maganda, aba, one gets unwanted attention lalo na mula sa mga manyakis. I am jesting, of course, but there is a ring of truth in that.

  26. Who was it who said “You can be charming for the first fifteen minutes, but after that you better know what you’re doing”….

  27. The Davids of this world will always beat Goliath simply because they dont play by the rules. When Ali brought Foreman down, he did not box – instead he grabbed Foreman by the neck telling him wheat SOBs his parent were, with Foreman pounding away exhaustively running out of batteries – then the coup de grace by Ali in the 8th round. Gamechangers dont play your rules. They invent their own.

    These rules apply to entrepreneurs as well. Its not just the presence of opportunities, and strokes of good luck – but the combination of sheer cunning, intelligence, ruthlessness, knowing ur competitor, etc that makes these guys stand out – JP Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, Donald Trump, Bill Gates. But sometimes underprivileged outsiders get to the top – think Sidney Weiinberg, a new yorker whose hands were heavy with knife scars by his teens. He worked as knocking each room in a small building and was finally given a job as a janitor’s assistant. Read the book ” The Making of Goldman Sachs” and you get the idea.

    Employers lover personality tests but it will be Reethe Witherspoon who will get the job im sure.

  28. Helena Rubinstein was born in 1872 in Krakow’s Jewish ghetto, the eldest of eight daughters of a kerosene dealer. By her late teens, she had abandoned Poland for Australia, where she began cooking up vats of face cream. She called it Valaze, and claimed that it was the creation of an eminent European skin specialist named Dr. Lykuski and had been “compounded from rare herbs which only grow in the Carpathian mountains.” She rented a storefront in downtown Melbourne, and peddled her concoction at a staggering markup.

    In just over a decade, she had become a millionaire. She expanded to London, then to Paris, then to New York—and from there to almost every other major city in the world. She added one product after another, until Helena Rubinstein Inc. comprised sixty-two creams; seventy-eight powders; forty-six perfumes, colognes, and eaux de toilette; sixty-nine lotions; and a hundred and fifteen lipsticks, plus soaps, rouges, and eyeshadows. In December of 1928, she sold her business to Lehman Brothers for the equivalent of eighty-four million dollars in today’s money—and, when Lehman’s mismanagement and the Depression brought the stock price down from sixty dollars to three dollars, she bought her firm back for a pittance and took it to even greater success. She was four feet ten and spoke an odd combination of Polish, Yiddish, French, and English. She insisted on being referred to as Madame. At the time of her death, in 1965, she was one of the richest women in the world.

    Sometimes beauty is just a business – malcolm gladwell

  29. Unfortunately that’s the ugly truth in our society :-( That’s why everytime I see an inadvertent situation of a good looking one with an “ugly” one I always ask myself “hmmm what’s the catch?” Rich?, Intelligent? Smart? Talented? Anyways I’m just happy for them. I just hope in the future we will all be more mature enough and stop judging by the looks :-)

  30. So sad but so true. Just think about it, when you visit a friend / relative who just gave birth the first thing most people look at is the look of the baby – matangos ba ang ilong, maputi ba, buti na lang di nagmana sa pangit na tatay, etc. etc.

    Most Filipinos are guilty of this (including me).

  31. Unfortunately, history does bear out that premise. Ultimately, it must be linked to a basic animal “survival instinct.” Even your then 11-yr old nephew once supported his position in a school debate of whether beauty contests were good or bad — (he chose the politically unpopular side of “Beauty contests are good.”) As he pointed out, through the ages, beauty has always been desirable — you ever see ugly statues from ancient Egypt, Greece or Rome? (Note, he built such a strong case that he and the one other student who smartly joined his side, won the debate despite the teacher’s personal position against such superficial contests.) No, only perfect humans need apply. Even amongst animals, imperfections equal disdain if not outright social rejection — and “desirable traits” such as a lion’s darker, fuller mane usually mean pack dominance. However, I do agree that it is unfortunate that such is the case…

  32. Funny that I read about it in the Daily Mail yesterday and it seems that here in the UK you could sue for ” Lookiness ” if you are discriminated in landing a job because of the way you look, you could sue for compensation now, but how can you prove that it’s your looks that brought you down not your skills or experience, very hard to prove really.

  33. There is a premise that measuring intelligence is somewhat an imperfect science far different from what makes a person successful. A person’s beauty / handsomeness is also somewhat flawed. They need to go hand in hand. In fact, many in the Ivy League had these specific criteria put in diplomatically acceptable language. I’ve seen lookers g from bad to worse when put in difficult situations. Similarly, i’ve noticed ugly ducklings bloom under proper situations. Interesting topic though

  34. Interesting,will take a look at the article. I presume it could be an Asian thing, since reading want ads in shanghai, they specify everything including the height they prefer. It is not uncommon to hear of people in Korea or China undergoing surgery for better job prospects.

  35. We were in Zurich last summer and went to a clothing shop, exclusive kuno to. Anyway, the sales assistant was really nice and very accommodating. Kami pud nauwaw kay she looks like a Hollywood star. My husband always tell me that that’s their job. Comparing aning mga
    kababayan nato nga mga engineer daw working here in Norway, most of them di sad managad even if they hear us talking bisaya/tagalog. Whenever there’s a party or something they always like to be addressed as Engineer Dacoycoy etc. Here in Norway we don’t have titles even our PM we call him Jens. That’s his name no maams no sirs.

  36. It’s really a funny thing…here in Spain women will try everything to be “morenas” while in the Philippines, it’s exactly the opposite. Spain: solariums, tanning lotions, too much sunbathing wearing usually a two-piece bikini so that they can go topless … Philippines: Whitening pills, creams and lotions, long-sleeves and long pants with matching hat on the beach…

  37. HMMM … THE PSYCHOLOGY OF PHYSICAL ATTRACTION IS AT WORK 24/7. IF ONLY WE CAN SEE PAST THAT … SEE WHAT’S IN THE HEART AND THE BRAIN …

  38. Ha! In the Philippines, whitening agents are sold, faster than the proverbial hot/pancakes. But in the Western nations (think USA), tanning salons, bronzers, and lotions are very popular. The grass looks greener on the other side of the fence. Oh, let me paraphrase that: another person’s skin looks more attractive on the other side of the world. The fair-skinned Caucasians want to be tanned, and the honey-toned Asians want to be milky white. The good Lord must be shaking His head over this.

  39. I read something like beauty and charm would never be enough, because, after a few minutes, you’d better know what you are talking about!

  40. it’s a sad reality but still a reality. i think there have been studies by psychologists on that – how the taller seem to (naturally) command more respect as a leader, etc.

    i guess those who may not look it would have other gifts to take them to succeed (charm, wits, etc.) you know how they say there are no incompetent people, only competent people in the wrong jobs. perhaps it’s the same for the less attractive vs more attractive people. there are fields where certain people are better suited. and we can’t deny the fact that the pleasant looking ones become front liners, sales reps, receptionists, models, TV personalities, etc. same goes how the better sounding become phone operators, voice talents and DJs…

  41. This is especially true in Korea where servers and sales staff HAVE to be attractive. This was confirmed by a shopkeeper that I talked to. Receptionists at Lotte look like Korean pop stars!

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