Lipstick Effect

If college aged women are "primed" with news of bad economic, they may increase their purchases of beauty products to enhance their chances of finding a mate.  This is my conclusion from an article by by Sarah Hill.

Which brings us to lipstick and designer jeans, high-heeled boots and perfume. Would recession cues increase women’s desire to buy these products?

Four separate experiments, along with real-world data, all say yes. Our findings consistently supported the lipstick effect, as college-age women, when primed with news of economic instability, reported an increased desire to buy attractiveness-enhancing goods, along with a decreased desire to purchase goods that do not enhance one’s physical appearance. Our experiments also found that this increased desire for beauty products, clothing and accessories was fully mediated by a heightened preference for mates with resources. 

I think both men and women actively try to look attractive to each other because looking attractive has many benefits besides attracting a mate.  For one, a clean and attractive person signals many employable traits.  Both men and women want to look as good as they can to improve their chances in any economic time.  I think it's time to kiss this topic good-bye.