Lessons From Ugly Betty: Business Attire as a Conformity Strategy
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1080569909340684
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  peer-reviewed

Burgess-Wilkerson, Barbara and Jane Boyd Thomas
Business Communication Quarterly
2009

Abstract:

In today's marketplace, a premium is placed on corporate image and business attire. The rationale is that appearance reflects on the employer. We tell students that first impressions, made within the first 60 seconds of meeting, are critical to their future success. As professors of management and marketing, we are routinely engaged in preparing students for professional occupations inclusive of an awareness that business attire is often reflective of a willingness to conform to workplace norms. We have known for quite some time that appearance can be indicative of conformity. Countless stories and lawsuits reveal lost career opportunities because employees failed to “look the part.” This reality is exemplified in the sitcom Ugly Betty, which provides weekly challenges encouraging us to consider the value of conformity as reflected by our appearance. Betty is an aspiring editor of a major fashion magazine. Raised in a blue-collar, working-class family, Betty does not conform to contemporary notions of style. Clothes in her world have a practical application that should not overshadow the individual's inner beauty. Betty functions with the utmost integrity in a world of competition and greed as her counterparts claw their way up the corporate ladder. Interestingly, they, unlike Betty, remain under the radar as their fashionable sense of style provides a veneer of honesty, fair play, and an unquestionable willingness to conform to the company dress code.