Reclaiming Taipei’s public image

Upon entering Taipei Railway Station, what greets us at the interchange of Taiwan’s three major rail systems are not testimonies to the city’s technological development or cultural heritage, but an inescapable barrage of cosmetic surgery and aesthetic medicine advertisements.

Advertising itself has always been more than commercial activity; it is a manifestation of the collective unconscious. When the entranceway of the nation is lined with legions of cookie-cutter perfect faces and plastic surgery adverts, it both reveals and provokes society’s collective body-image anxiety.

From a psychological perspective, these advertisements are an exercise in social conditioning of the public. They do more than sell treatments; they pass judgements which say that aging naturally is to let oneself go. Narrow aesthetic standards see age and body fat as flaws, and mainly target women. Diverse forms of beauty are replaced with artificial, mass-produced appearances, pushing ordinary people deeper and deeper into self doubt. It is a perversion of aesthetics, and in the long run amounts to commercial capital holding our collective values hostage.

Among the central transport hubs of neighboring countries’ major cities, Taipei Railway Station’s medical cosmetics advertising problem is singular. Tokyo Station’s historic architecture is subject to strict controls on its visual environment, with billboards largely promoting new technologies and brand identities. Seoul Station was once similarly plastered with plastic surgery posters, but the Seoul Metropolitan Government has since banned such advertising in the subway system. Major MRT stations in Singapore have regulations that completely prohibit advertisements for cosmetic medical procedures involving treatments such as Botox and hyaluronic acid fillers. These stations and metro systems instead showcase technological innovation and urban confidence. Taipei, in contrast, has allowed its most important transport hub to become a marketplace for selling fear over appearances.

There are two parts to addressing this problem.

First, authorities must intervene and impose strict regulations to limit the extent of cosmetic medicine advertising. Inflammatory imagery that discriminates on the basis of gender or imposes coercive and singular beauty standards should be prohibited, restoring commuters’ basic right to a visually clean environment.

Second, we must reclaim control over the city’s public image by reserving prime advertising space for Taiwan’s technological innovation, cultural and artistic achievements, and public service campaigns.

When exactly did Taipei become a city that cannot handle aging? Age should not be reduced to wrinkles with price tags in the halls of its main station.

Cheng Ting-yao is a lecturer at Tamkang University’s Chinese Language Center.