Hey everyone,
So since we are blogging about something other than our medium we picked, I'm going to talk a little bit about advertising in magazines. My personal favorite magazine is Cosmopolitan, and there are tons of advertisements in there, and lot's of pictures of beautiful people. It almost lowers your self-esteem sometimes.
Many of the advertisements shown in the magazine are using beautiful women to sell their products. They use sex appeal to sell things. It is hard to look at some of the things sometimes and not wish that you looked like one of those women. I think that some of the advertisements are a negative thing. Some younger girls look at these and decide that they aren't good enough and may decided that they aren't "pretty" enough. Many girls even develop eating disorders. The eating disorder link gives a few stories of young girls who died from eating disorders, due to media exposure. There is hope though for some of the girls who have problems with themselves. There is a advertising deal going on with the Dove company, Called the "Campaign for Real Beauty".
It uses real women to advertise, women unlike the one's in the magazine all made-over.
In my opinion the world could use more advertising like that. It shows women that there is more to beauty than external beauty. And, that not all beauty in magazines is what everyone is after. I believe that Fruit of the Loom also uses real women in their advertising, no matter what their weight, or looks. They aren't all stick thin like the ones in the magazine. I think that kind of advertising is a good start to getting people to feel good about themselves and live with what they have.
So What is your opinion on media advertising? How does it make you feel?
Ash, I really enjoyed this post because I also really enjoy reading Cosmo, along with all its information those funny crazy stories always give me a giggle. But I definitely am a big believe in companies that use “real life, real women” in their campaign ads, if we were to take a percentage of the amount of people who look like those women or the women who are defined as “models” I think more women in today’s society would be able to relate to the “real life, real women” ads.
ReplyDeleteVery good post! I think that advertisements should gear towards their audience more, instead of trying to sculpt what people should believe. Obviously every person reading the Cosmo magazine is not going to be a stick person, so therefore they should use regular sized people in their advertisements. It is sad that a magazine can bring someone to feel so low that they turn to eating disorders. It is even more sad that it really does happen.
ReplyDeleteI'm gonna come out and say it, I enjoy reading cosmo as well. I'm not into reading the other mindless material like which outfit is right for you, but I do find some of the articles amusing. I especially like reading about what they say guys like because they are always way off. Apparently guys like having hot oil poured all over them and their toes sucked. Some of the things they say in this magazine are absolutely insane. So a word from the wise girls, if your trying to figure out what a guy wants, it doesn't have anything to do with oil or toes.
ReplyDeleteLove this magazine Ash! My boyfriend and I love the embarrassing stories about break ups or hook ups, I always laugh so hard at them even when I’m by myself! I really can’t think of one girl who doesn’t read this magazine. I like how you pointed out that all the girls in the magazines are stick skinny, like come on we aren’t all like that!! I can definitely see how it puts other girls down. The way I think of it is that really these girls aren’t real, how much technology touchups have they done? Like legs, face, stomach everything! I think if every girl thinks of these pictures like that then there will be no upsets and you can enjoy the funny embarrassing stories!
ReplyDelete