2023 Volume 59 Issue 5 Pages 201-206
In Japan, female employees in the hospitality industry are often required to wear makeup. In this study, we experimentally examined whether customers would feel uncomfortable if waitresses in restaurants did not wear makeup. The participants were shown video clips of waitresses serving customers, and were asked to evaluate their impressions. To make it difficult for participants to know the study’s true purpose, we also added a facial expression condition （smiling/straight face） and asked them to evaluate multiple waitresses. The results showed that smiling clearly improved participants’ impressions regardless of their gender, but makeup had little effect. In addition, there was no effect of makeup on the evaluation of impressions even among those who noticed the experimental manipulation of make-up （13 participants）, as well as those who did not notice it （29 participants）. We believe that the results of this study will be one of the materials for discussing the pros and cons of the makeup requirement for women in the future.
