Beauty Beyond The Permit: Power Relations of Illegal Cosmetics Traders in Bone Regency, Indonesia

Abstract

Introduction: Illegal cosmetics continue to circulate in Indonesia despite layered regulation, repeated seizures, and public warnings by the national food and drug authority. This study examines the power relations that enable business actors to sustain the circulation of illegal cosmetics in Bone Regency, South Sulawesi. A descriptive qualitative design was applied through in-depth interviews with a business actor who sells illegal skincare, consumers from different economic, educational, gender, and age backgrounds, and officials of the district food and drug control office, supported by observation and document analysis. The findings show that power over the illegal cosmetics market is not held by a single actor but is exercised within a network linking regulators, brand owners, distributors, resellers, digital platforms, and consumers. Regulation does not merely suppress the trade; it generates new business strategies, including self-made brands, mismatched notification numbers, claims of foreign origin, and prices kept low by avoiding registration costs. Power operates in a capillary manner through domicile-based reseller teams, social media accounts, marketplace listings, and market stalls that reach villages beyond the effective range of supervision. Official knowledge embodied in safety standards and notification numbers competes with counter-knowledge produced through testimonials, sellers' visible skin, and consumers' own experience, so that many users continue to apply harmful products even after redness and dark spots appear. The persistence of illegal cosmetics is therefore a relational and discursive outcome rather than a simple failure of enforcement. Collaborative supervision, credible criminal sanctions, platform accountability, and community verification literacy are required.