Are national beauty pageants such as Miss (insert country name) popular and get attention from the media (e.g. broadcasted on national TV) and do the winners get recognition as celebs?
Is there a corresponding version for men that is popular or only the girls’ one is mentioned?
Have they changed in the past few years because of issues such as feminism or body positivity?
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Not popular at all, standing out like that is not tolerated here. There is a men’s magazine that chooses the most beautiful woman of the year, not sure if there’s a hottest man of the year version of that.
>Are national beauty pageants such as Miss (insert country name) popular
Every country has something like that, but I wouldn’t say it’s popular or widely discussed in Greece.
>Is there a corresponding version for men that is popular or only the girls’ one is mentioned?
Yeah, I saw a men’s version briefly mentioned once in the regular TV news, because the Greek guy either won or got like second place, or something like that, so they congratulated him. It looked like it was some sort of physique contest. I would imagine men’s versions are more physique-related, and not all these different categories like the women’s.
Not much of a big deal I think.
Does anyone in Germany really care about that, apart from older ladies reading gossip magazines, the people that make money with the beauty pageants, and the participants?
There is a festival called “The Rose of Tralee” held in the Co. Kerry town of Tralee every August. It is named after an old song of the same name and aims to find a woman who best fits the “lovely and fair” characteristics mentioned in the song.
Each county in Ireland selects a Rose and there are international Rose conventions held all over the world. It’s particularly popular with Irish diaspora in the US. Ultimately, 32 Roses are selected to compete at the festival. It claims not to be a beauty contest but everyone who gets selected is slim and attractive in the conventional sense. There’s also a side competition to select 32 male “Escorts” who each accompany their designated Rose throughout the Festival but they don’t get much attention really.
The final two nights of the competition broadcast live from Tralee on the national broadcaster every year and attracts a lot of press coverage. The winning Rose gets to spend the next 12 months jetting around the world, doing charity work and representing the festival.
I actually had to look up to see if they still exist. Apparently, they do – and they’re even televised though not on public channels – but they don’t seem particularly popular, nor are they talked about on the internet. The only time a beauty queen ever became a celebrity was when Miss Polonia became Miss World in, uh, 1989. Otherwise, they’re unknown, I believe. So nope, not popular at all.
As they’re not popular, the male version is completely niche – there’s such a thing as Mister Polski organized by some modeling agency, but it’s on and off, not every year, and I’m pretty sure 99% of people have no idea it exists.
Can’t comment on whether they’ve changed though, as I’ve never watched one.
Well, they exist… Beauty pageants were more popular in the past, but they still get some attention in the media, particularly in gossip magazines and tabloids. The Miss Finland winners often become low-level celebrities for a while.
It’s mainly the Miss Finland pageant that receives any significant attention. There *is* a Mister Finland competition too, but according to Wikipedia it has only been held twice in the last ten years.
Generally not so popular, but partly these shows is financed thru product placements in countries where are allowed that. Because of that, these shows are relatively cheap to produce.
Answers
1. Not that popular. Yes, they have their own 15 minutes fame.
2. Definietly the girl version is more popular.
3. Might be the bikini catwalk is obsoleted in some countries