Asia 'dethrones' Latin America at international beauty pageants

More and more beauty queens from Asia are winning major pageants, while Latin America is losing interest.

In previous years, Asian countries rarely had a chance to make it to the Top 15 of Miss Universe, but recently, more and more contestants have been shining. Looking back at the Big 6 contests (the six largest beauty pageants on the planet) this year, there were four beauties from the Asian region crowned. Miss Korea won the Miss Supranational crown. Miss India was Miss World 2017. Miss Indonesia was crowned Miss International. Karen Ibasco of the Philippines was Miss Earth. The only contestant from the Latin American region to win this year was María José Lora of Peru at Miss Grand International.

With the continuous rise of Asian beauties, the level of interest of the audience in this region in beauty pageants is increasing. According to statistics from The Great Peagant Community, more than 50% of the followers of the Miss Universe Organization (MUO) personal page are from Southeast Asia, of which the Philippines is the majority. The rapid growth of the Miss Grand International contest - organized by Thailand - also shows how passionate the Asian region, especially Southeast Asia, is about beauty pageants. This region is considered the new Latin America in the field of beauty pageants.

Four beauties were crowned Miss Asia this year.

Meanwhile, beauty pageant powerhouses in Latin America such as Venezuela, Mexico... no longer hold high positions.There was a time when the Miss Universe pageant, which seeks out hot, dynamic beauties, was thought to be made for this region. The Miss Universe Organization (MUO) even wanted to produce a reality TV series called Miss Latina Universe, in which the winner would represent Latin America at Miss Universe 2014. However, this plan was opposed by pageant watchers around the world. Telemundo later canceled the series without disclosing the reason. When Univision (Latin America) signed a multi-year contract with MUO in January 2015, the region's position at Miss Universe seemed even more secure.

* India crowned Miss World 2017

That all changed when Donald Trump sold the Miss Universe Organization to marketing and talent agency WME/IMG in September 2015 to run for the White House. In his campaign speech, Trump insulted Mexicans and thereby incited the Latin American community. MUO's Latin sponsors (includingUnivision) dropped out of the Miss Universe and Miss USA pageants just weeks later.

Miss USA 2015 flopped when both NBC and Univision pulled the pageant, and viewership plummeted. For many, this was a sign of the end of the Miss Universe organization. Many believed that MUO could never recover without the support of the Latin American region. Faced with this situation, MUO was forced to look to other regions and come up with alternative plans. They began to see that Southeast Asia had a significant amount of support for the pageant.

* Indonesia crowned Miss International 2017

In addition, due to the emergence of social media, TV viewership is no longer the only criterion for judging the success of a contest. In fact, social media also helps to spread information related to the contest throughout the year. In addition, it is more cost-effective and easier to reach fans. The number of followers of MUO or Miss World's social networks mainly comes from Asia.

Economic and political factors have also had a significant impact on the region, making beauty pageants no longer a major priority. Venezuela - a country considered a beauty queen training ground for many years - has struggled to cope with an economic crisis over the past year.

Pia Wurtzbach - Miss Philippines (right) - won the crown from the Colombian representative, after a controversial award ceremony in 2015.

In the past, when the Latin American region favored beauty pageants, the organizers gave this region a lot of favor. It is undeniable that many Latin American beauty queens were crowned with full merit. However, there were also cases where the crown was given to satisfy the expectations of millions of fans. Now, that scenario is happening with Asia.

The Great Peagant Community believes that the contestants in the Top 5 are all worthy of being crowned. The winner will be chosen based on many factors, including the level of interest in the competition from the audience in that region. This "bias" is considered an economic problem by the organizers. Whichever market has the potential to bring in large profits, they will invest heavily in it, including a crown.

According to VNE