International beauty contests: Quantity flourishes, quality fades

Dozens of large and small regional and international competitions took place in 2016, confusing the audience, while many events were poorly organized.

Miss Earth Philippines relinquishes crown for badmouthing new Miss Earth. According to The Wall Street Journal, the four biggest beauty pageants in the world today are Miss World, Miss Universe, Miss International and Miss Earth. In recent years, many more pageants, large and small, have been held with similar names. For example: Miss Global (held since 2013), Miss Grand International (held since 2013 by a Thai corporation), Miss Asia Pacific World (since 2011), Miss Global Beauty Queen (since 2005), Miss Tourism International (since 1994)...

Many viewers said they could not differentiate between beauty contests and felt confused by information about the beauties.

The beauty queens were crowned in late October. From left to right: Miss Grand International, Miss Earth and Miss International.

The sudden emergence of competitions has led to a decline in the organization, quality and selection of contestants, and control of scandals after the finals... Many competitions have been criticized by the audience for being poorly organized and unprofessional. Miss Earth 2016 welcomed the contestants with a wrinkled, untidy, and misspelled backdrop. The sub-competitions were held in small halls, likened to "village competitions". At the Missosology beauty forum, many viewers said they did not think that the organizers of Miss Earth 2016 this year would organize so carelessly.

The lack of professionalism and carelessness was evident throughout the main competition night. Vietnam's Nam Em was assigned an interpreter by the organizers and she had no prior contact with this person. The person assigned to convey the language did not understand the meaning of the questions and did not translate Nam Em's answers clearly and accurately, causing her to not be able to enter the Top 4. Although Nam Em affirmed that the organizers were very professional and did a good job, the incidents that occurred throughout the competition disappointed many viewers.

The banner welcoming contestants to the Miss Earth 2016 pageant was wrinkled and had "Welcome" written as "Welcomes".

Miss World is still considered one of the biggest and most prominent beauty events in the world. However, over the years, the activities of this event have also declined. This year, throughout the contest, poor promotional information made it difficult for the audience to know the activities of the contestants.

In the final night of December 18, the script was boring as the MC announced the results one by one, leaving no chance for the contestants to express themselves. The two most attractive competitions that allowed the contestants to perform a lot, Bikini and Dances of the World, were eliminated. The stage was judged to be copied from Miss Universe 2015. The contestants' dance to greet the audience was very similar to what happened at Miss Earth 2016 held two months earlier.

The Miss International 2016 finals held in Japan and Miss Grand International in the US at the end of October both bored the audience with their length of more than three hours and lack of entertainment when they only performed and announced the results one by one. At Miss International, the MC often used Japanese instead of English, making it difficult for many people to grasp the content.

The quality of contestants in competitions is not guaranteed when there are too many competitions taking place at the same time. In October, there are five major competitions held: Miss International, Miss Grand International, Miss Earth, Miss Global Beauty Queen, Miss Intercontinental. Each country must send many representatives, leading to the difficulty of ensuring the level of contestants. For example, at Miss Earth or Miss Grand International this year, many contestants have disproportionate bodies, revealing fat, and large thighs when wearing bikinis. On the social networks of these competitions, fans do not hesitate to express their attitudes towards each unflattering photo of the contestants.

The organizers were also aware of the poor quality of the contestants and tried to influence them. At Miss Grand International, Mr. Nawat Itsaragrisil - the head of the organizing committee - sent a private message to Miss Iceland advising her to lose weight and fast. The beauty felt offended and then withdrew from the contest.

In addition, many countries also use "rotation" of contestants, leading to the phenomenon of a beauty participating in many competitions, as long as the time does not overlap. Contestants constantly meet each other in international competitions, causing the competition and freshness of each event to gradually disappear. A typical example is the Mongolian beauty - Bayartsetseg Altangerel. She appeared in both Miss Earth 2015 and Miss World 2016. Although Bayartsetseg Altangerel's face is lovely and attractive, viewers still feel bored.

Miss Earth and Miss Grand International contestants revealed their fat rolls and big thighs in revealing outfits.

The noise surrounding the winners also makes the competitions underrated. At the end of this year's Miss Earth, the national director of Denmark accused the new Miss Katherine Espín of sleeping with a sponsor to win the title. The representative of the Philippines also confirmed that Katherine Espín had undergone plastic surgery. In the face of much controversy, the Miss Earth organization did not correct or calm public opinion, only Katherine Espín spoke up to defend herself and promised to clarify everything so that fans would not misunderstand.

Miss World 2016 also faced opposition from the audience, who said the contest was not transparent when the national directors of Indonesia and Puerto Rico were on the jury. Representatives from these two countries won the title of Miss (Puerto Rico) and 2nd runner-up (Indonesia) respectively.

Despite the noisy results, the activities of the beauty queens after the coronation were completely quiet. For example, the audience only knew about some charity activities of Miss World 2015 - Mireia Lalaguna Royo - when she introduced herself when she was about to hand over the crown to her successor. Or Pia Wurtzbach - Miss Universe 2015 - was only remembered for her love life or the incident of giving the wrong crown, she did not show any outstanding activities to the community.

With international and regional beauty contests springing up like mushrooms, Vietnam is also bustling with contestants.

There is almost no beauty contest where Vietnam is absent. Many beauties competing at the same time makes the audience confused and distracted when watching. There is almost no focus on one "fighting cock".

Nguyen Thi Loan participated in too many contests, making the audience bored and less excited. She participated in Miss Vietnam 2010 and won Miss Sea, was crowned 2nd runner-up at Miss Ethnic Vietnam 2013, participated in Miss World 2014 and entered the top 25, and was empty-handed at Miss Universe Vietnam 2015.

In 2016, Nguyen Thi Loan competed in Miss Grand International because Yen Nhi had visa problems and lost the right to compete. She was chosen to replace her when the event was only two weeks away. Nguyen Thi Loan herself admitted: "I was a bit reckless when competing in Miss Grand International."

At Miss World 2016, beauty Dieu Ngoc did not leave any impression. She was not highly rated in the sub-contests, was obscured among hundreds of contestants and lacked a media strategy in her home country, leaving the audience unclear about how she would present herself in the US.

Some European and American countries have long been indifferent to beauty contests. On many forums, audiences believe that it is time for organizations to review how to organize and control the increasingly growing number of contests.

According to VNE