The literature on aesthetic labour provides some definitions. Martin describes aesthetic labour as ‘the requirement to have the management-determined mix of appearance, age, weight, class, and accent characteristics.’(2001, 106). He cites the work from Strathclyde University with ‘a hotel seeking to project a total image concept, with the hotel building representing the hardware and the staff the software’ (2001, 106). He remarks further that staff are expected to mould themselves into the required characteristics. Martin builds on the work of Lamb (1999) whose views on the subject of discrimination states ‘Qualified staff whose “faces don’t fit” are being shown.
