Went in for Botox and left with a rhinoplasty

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate how customer relationship marketing (CRM) activities are utilized by plastic surgery providers to encourage the sale of non-surgical cosmetic procedures (such as Botox). These procedures are considered to be an important gateway for future, more invasive (and profitable) services. As a result, the techniques used to build relationships with clients may be unethical, as they prioritize increased financial performance and profitability over customer well-being. Design/methodology/approach Conceptual models are presented that compare and contrast the CRM activities, mediators and expected outcomes for plastic surgery providers, motivated primarily by profit, with those primarily motivated by mutual betterment. Findings It is suggested that when accompanied by sales promotions, problem augmentation – an approach used by plastic surgeons to broaden the scope of a patient’s aesthetic problem to other areas of concern – may generate increased sales in the short term, but reduce the opportunity of positive word-of-mouth to recruit new clients. Originality/value This paper applies relationship marketing to a novel context to demonstrate how practices to retain and improve clients may harm their well-being and commoditize the service, unless mutual betterment is a key objective.

Registered nurses' perspectives on medically safe practices and sound ethical standards in aesthetic nursing: An interview study

“…As such, the participants described a "self-moderating" market where patients would select clinics they perceived as trustworthy and serious, while less-trusted clinics would not be sustainable. This parallels findings from Vlahos and Bove (2016). They observed that when plastic surgeons used "problem augmentation"-a strategy to broaden the scope of their patients' aesthetic needs to additional areas of concern, it produced short-term sales increases.…”

Exploring the emotions and decision-making of consumers for elective healthcare and hedonic adaptation

“…This underlines to the industry, the need for a top-down approach that responsibly sets and manages consumer perceptions. More stringent welfare and policy related to elective health care needs to be in place, whereby practices, such as psychological evaluations, counselling sessions and cooling-off periods are made mandatory for practitioners (Vlahos and Bove, 2016).…”

“…Studies have probed into the cognitive aspects of elective procedures (e.g. Karami et al , 2016; Vlahos and Bove, 2016) but few into the affective aspects, (e.g. Henderson-King and Brooks, 2009; Milfelner et al , 2017).…”