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The purpose of this study is to propose a conceptual framework of beautification/modification services, to introduce the special issue on the topic “Mirror, Mirror on the Wall! Examining the Bright and Dark Side of Face and Body Beautification/Modification Services” and to provide a future research agenda.

Building on the available literature, the authors developed the “Nip and Tuck” service framework of beautification/modification services depicting the motives, benefits and outcomes while it identifies current industry trends.

The authors explore the antecedents and consequences (positive and negative) of consuming face and body beautification/modification services and integrate these in the “Nip and Tuck” service framework. In the framework, the authors acknowledge the critical role of new technologies such as augmented reality apps and the internet in enabling and transforming beautification/modification services into commodities. The framework also identifies the benefits consumers seek and derive from these services while it recognizes current trends that shape the industry. The authors conclude with a set of future research directions that arise from the framework and the papers in the special issue.

The attained insights are useful to managers of beautification and modification services seeking to understand and satisfy their customers’ needs while securing their well-being.

Understanding the role of beautification and modification services in consumers’ well-being is essential for business managers and policymakers.

The authors propose a novel, “Nip and Tuck” framework of face and body beautification/modification services and its key antecedents and consequences while considering both their bright and dark sides.

To better understand the uptake of cosmetic procedures in the wake of Instagram, this study aims to unravel how the aesthetic labour of influencers acts as the packaging of the cosmetic servicescape. In doing so, the authors contribute to theorising of aesthetic and emotional labour within the services marketing literature, fleshing out the bodywork of influential others not as employees but endorsers, who act like the “walking billboards” (Zeithaml and Bitner, 2003) for the cosmetic service industry.

This study adopts a dual qualitative approach to data collection, coupling netnographic material from Instagram posts with 16 in-depth interviews with female Instagram users who have undergone or hope to undergo cosmetic surgery. Using mediated discourse analysis, the authors weave their visual and discursive data together for a richer account of the commoditisation of cosmetic surgery.

Adopting a postfeminist neoliberal lens, where women are viewed as aesthetic entrepreneurs who are constantly working on the body and the self, the findings of the study reveal how influencers’ aesthetic and emotional labour help package, propagate and demystify the cosmetic servicescape. Through their visual storytelling, we see how influencers help endorse (local) cosmetic services; commoditise cosmetic procedures through the conspicuous display of their ongoing body projects whilst masking the labour and pain involved; and how face-filters that use augmented reality (AR) technology foster new forms of (digitised) body dysmorphia.

The authors shed light on the darker side of social media and body-enhancing technologies, where tales of body transformation trivialise cosmetic intervention and AR technology induces a digitised body dysmorphia.

This editorial aims to identify new research priorities in the service marketplace that are emerging because of consumer and organizational trends in the shadow of the global pandemic.

A conceptual approach is used that draws on observations from practitioners to synthesize changes in consumer values, motivations and behaviors as they pertain to service consumption, design and delivery. This editorial draws on current trends and recent service research to discuss the current state of the marketplace and to uncover areas in which research voids exist.

This editorial offers ten research priorities for service researchers. These research priorities are supply chain and staffing shortages; sustainable services, older consumers embrace digital technologies; digital financial services; consumer pursuit of personal and spiritual awareness; participating in virtual communities, networks and worlds; affinity for peer-to-peer commerce; transformative places; seeking self-love services, and social distance concerns.

Academicians are provided with a series of research priorities that are interesting, timely and relevant for the new service marketplace.

Service academicians are encouraged to pursue empirical and descriptive investigations in-line with the priorities developed in this editorial. These research priorities are relevant, timely and interesting.

This work presents scholars with a historical overview of trends in service research. The challenges posed by the pandemic represent the beginning of a new era in service research thought and practice as many previously held theories and understandings of consumers’ marketplace behaviors have permanently changed due to behavioral changes that transpired during governmental mandated lockdowns.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce emulation marketing as an important strategy to consider for services marketing researchers and practitioners, given the ability to plant an aspirational goal in consumers' minds. Building on theories of lifestyle, values, self-concept and others, this conceptual paper presents the case for emulation marketing as an important consideration within services marketing.

To explore mechanisms that will define service research in the future, this conceptual paper reviews the literature across the spectrum of social comparison and learning, social adaptation, conformity, values, persuasion and role modeling. The authors analyze existing theories while proposing a new mechanism, emulation, to advance research in service literature.

This paper suggests mechanisms to promote emulation in services marketing through the consumer decision process. A research agenda for future work is provided with emphasis on lack of emulation, emulation and status, emulation and aging, emulation and technology, emulation and linguistics and the dark side of emulation. Within each area, a series of considerations are discussed.

This paper introduces emulation as an important mechanism within services marketing. It offers a research agenda focused on a variety of emerging areas in the field. The paper contributes to services marketing and future research by proposing a novel approach, via emulation, to services marketing.