Framing Cosmetic Surgery: Content Analysis of 62 YouTube Videos by 16 Influencers

Abstract

This article explores how cosmetic surgery was represented in YouTube videos. It borrowed Sun et al. (2020)’s the systematic examination of the cosmetic surgery frame in Chinese news to examine portrayals of cosmetic surgery on 62 YouTube videos by 16 influencers. The result shows that most of the videos focused on nose surgery content by using the case of patient issues that patients themselves reported. The benefit-focused frame dominated the sampled videos, and the major driver of cosmetic surgery was to pursue the ideal of beauty. Cosmetic surgery had a significant impact on physical aspects rather than psychological and social aspects of patients’ lives. The article concludes that influencers expressed a relatively positive attitude towards cosmetic surgery, evidenced by using the benefit-focused frame as the mainframe by all types of influencers. Implementation of online rules and regulations in each country could use the insight as a foundation to further explore how benefit-focused should be appropriately framed. Otherwise, overclaimed and misleading information may occur.