0:10:10 > 0:10:12Hi, I'm Stephanie Heart.
0:10:12 > 0:10:15I'm 24 and for the last four years, I've campaigned here in the UK
0:10:15 > 0:10:18for teenagers to value themselves for who they are
0:10:18 > 0:10:20and not just how they look.
0:10:20 > 0:10:23But in this film, I am going to be looking at how Western culture
0:10:23 > 0:10:25is impacting body image confidence around the world.
0:10:25 > 0:10:29And what better place to start than here, Heathrow Airport,
0:10:29 > 0:10:30the biggest airport on earth.
0:10:40 > 0:10:44Planes fly back and forth to 193 destinations right around the world,
0:10:44 > 0:10:50and every day, nearly 200,000 people arrive and depart.
0:10:50 > 0:10:52It really is a global village.
0:10:56 > 0:10:58People landing here in the UK are bombarded
0:10:58 > 0:11:02with thousands of images of super-slim women and six-pack men.
0:11:02 > 0:11:05But around the world, people still hold very different views
0:11:05 > 0:11:08of what they considered beautiful or handsome.
0:11:08 > 0:11:10But it is not just about the colour of our skin.
0:11:10 > 0:11:14It is about the way we dress, style our hair and apply our make-up.
0:11:14 > 0:11:17These are the outward expressions of global diversity.
0:11:19 > 0:11:23Everywhere on earth, beauty is absolutely in the eye of the beholder.
0:11:23 > 0:11:25Let's take a look at a few examples.
0:11:28 > 0:11:32For the women of the Suri tribe in Ethiopia,
0:11:32 > 0:11:36lip plates are all the fashion - and the bigger the better.
0:11:36 > 0:11:40They stretch their lips by gradually increasing the size of the plate.
0:11:40 > 0:11:43The women start with a four-centimetre plate,
0:11:43 > 0:11:46but they can go up to a 22-centimetre plate.
0:11:46 > 0:11:51In Indonesia, the Mentawi women file their teeth into sharp points.
0:11:51 > 0:11:54Straight teeth like ours are thought to be ugly.
0:12:01 > 0:12:05In parts of Afghanistan, women want their noses to be bigger.
0:12:05 > 0:12:09The first cosmetic surgery clinic has now opened in Kabul,
0:12:09 > 0:12:14where there is a large demand for nose enlargement jobs.
0:12:16 > 0:12:19I bet you guys are thinking this is all about the girls.
0:12:19 > 0:12:20You would be wrong.
0:12:20 > 0:12:23There are many traditional cultures where it is the men
0:12:23 > 0:12:24who do the dressing up.
0:12:29 > 0:12:34Only male birds of paradise have really beautiful plumage.
0:12:34 > 0:12:37In PNG, the human males take their fashions from the birds
0:12:37 > 0:12:40that share their jungle home.
0:12:40 > 0:12:44Once a year, they come together to party and it is the men
0:12:44 > 0:12:49who spend months making fabulous outfits, hoping to get the girls.
0:12:50 > 0:12:55The Woodabe tribesman in Niger take beauty so seriously,
0:12:55 > 0:13:00that the very first toy they are given as a child is a mirror.
0:13:00 > 0:13:04The young men compete in a beauty pageant wearing extraordinary make-up
0:13:04 > 0:13:09and dance for days to impress a panel of female judges.
0:13:13 > 0:13:15Those examples are just incredible.
0:13:15 > 0:13:18But there is a problem on our planet.
0:13:18 > 0:13:22All around the world there is a takeover going on.
0:13:22 > 0:13:28Massive companies looking to make lots of money are pushing out global diversity.
0:13:29 > 0:13:33In the beauty business, it is not about celebrating cultural diversity.
0:13:33 > 0:13:35It is about creating carbon copies.
0:13:38 > 0:13:41And the impact can be devastating.
0:13:41 > 0:13:43I have come here to meet up with Philippa Diedrichs
0:13:43 > 0:13:47from the Centre for Appearance Research based here in Bristol.
0:13:49 > 0:13:51Great to see you, Philippa.
0:13:51 > 0:13:53Really nice to see you too, Stephanie.
0:13:53 > 0:13:55So there have been a few studies looking at the impact
0:13:55 > 0:13:58of Western fashion and beauty on people around the world.
0:13:58 > 0:14:00Can you tell me more about that?
0:14:00 > 0:14:04One study really stands out which was done in Fiji.
0:14:04 > 0:14:06What they did was... In 1995,
0:14:06 > 0:14:09there were very few islands in Fiji that had televisions.
0:14:09 > 0:14:11They asked lots of women about their body image
0:14:11 > 0:14:14and how they felt about the way they looked.
0:14:14 > 0:14:17Three years later, there were televisions in almost every household
0:14:17 > 0:14:20on the island and they measured the girls' body image again.
0:14:20 > 0:14:24What they found was they felt a lot worse about themselves in terms of how they looked.
0:14:24 > 0:14:27What this suggests is television and a lot of the beauty ideals
0:14:27 > 0:14:32that we see on TV can have quite a damaging effect on young girls.
0:14:32 > 0:14:35Also, looking at these magazines from Taiwan, China
0:14:35 > 0:14:40and for the black community, they have a lot of skin lightening.
0:14:40 > 0:14:41What do you think about that?
0:14:41 > 0:14:45What I find is it is really ridiculous because as you suggested
0:14:45 > 0:14:47in magazines that are targeted towards black girls or Asian girls
0:14:47 > 0:14:51or any girls which might have a darker skin tone,
0:14:51 > 0:14:55they get sold and marketed products about making your skin lighter.
0:14:55 > 0:14:58But when you look at magazines that target white girls,
0:14:58 > 0:15:02they are also told their skin is not OK either, and they should be darker.
0:15:02 > 0:15:06We get nobody winning in the situation. Nobody is perfect.
0:15:06 > 0:15:10The global beauty business is big business,
0:15:10 > 0:15:13making close to £200 billion every year.
0:15:13 > 0:15:17This is an industry whose future growth depends on making men,
0:15:17 > 0:15:22women and children around the world feel bad about the way they look.
0:15:22 > 0:15:25Selling dream products that indeed are just dreams,
0:15:25 > 0:15:29and in the process making the world a boring place.
0:15:29 > 0:15:32Let's appreciate our natural beauty and not forget how exciting
0:15:32 > 0:15:36the world is with all these different, gorgeous people in it.
0:16:09 > 0:16:11Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd