Sunday, April 5, 2009

What is it with extreme makeovers?

There's a story in the Mail on Sunday today. A few years ago, a woman went onto a new makeover show. It was on Channel 5, and was called Brand New You. They spent a fortune on surgery and dental work. She was delighted. Her life started to change. She found the confidence to walk away from her 15-month-old marriage, and met a scaffolder called Andy. But, tragedy! ... her left breast implant has deflated. She can't afford the cost of putting it right, but the TV programme is refusing to help. Contractually, it doesn't have to.

From her point of view, the positives of a Brand New You are still worth it. Her confidence increased; she was motivated to take more care of herself; people paid her more attention. But on the downside, when things went wrong, "all those self-conscious fears came flooding back".

Perhaps every status improvement comes at a cost. We can obtain an advantage compared with other people. But, in doing so, we create a new problem: the hard work necessary to protect that advantage when things go wrong.