The first argument, Ingram stated that “traditional notions of physical beauty are changing rapidly as a huge wave of advertising and other western factors influence the country.” The author did not cite any sources to back up his claims so the statement was just an over view about the situation at the moment and also based on his bias.
In the second point, Ingram asserted that the shops overflow with whitening cosmetic due to large demand from customers who want to turn a brown skin white. In fact, having a bright skin is still the beauty standard in Vietnam for thousand years. It represents for an innocent beautiful lady. That explains why many girls on the road cover themselves carefully with mask face and gloves to avoid the sun. Moreover, Ingram fails to recognize that bronzed skin was no longer being “the mark of a lowly manual labor”, that was just the author’s opinion.
The last point, the author claimed that Vietnamese women prefer using plastic surgery to “make comfortable living trimming nose, creating double eyelids and expanding the busts”. However, not all patients feel satisfy with the result and usually they have to be extra careful with their new nose or it will two time easier to be broken.
In conclusion, in this article, “Vietnam: West is the best for beauty”, Ingram mentioned that Vietnamese people are chasing western beauty so women buy cosmetic to have white skin or using plastic surgery will embellish a Vietnamese look buy making her nose in a western shape. However, the author failed to convince the readers as his claims were not backed by any supporting documentation or reliable resources. Moreover, Vietnam beauty is well known over the world proven by high prices in the beauty contest world wide every year. Each country has its own best and all the Vietnamese women are uniquely beautiful.
Ingram, S. 1999, ‘Vietnam: West is best for beauty‘, BBC News, January 11, viewed 4 July 2007,
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