I decided to go through a popular womens magazine, which is directed to my target audience, to look at advertisement material. I have concentrated on the advertisement of products my questionnaire audience selected as being classed as 'Fakery' and products which enhance your appearance, this included all makeup, tanning products and hair dye. I have also included articles in which the magazine focuses of appearance and the application of such products. I wanted to get a sense of how misconstrued some advertisements can be and misleading, against the scale which can be found in a magazine.
Within one particular womens magazine I found 25 full page and double page advertisements promoting a range of cosmetics. I was surprised at the large amount, considering this counts up to nearly 20% of the magazine content. It's no wonder young women feel pressure to look a certain way and feel such cosmetics are the answer, with all their misleading messages and promises.
The below image just one example, as the opening page to the magazine it spreads across two pages. A foundation promoting itself as being 'flawless perfection', alongside a flattering description of the product:
"The new everlasting tailer-made foundations infused with a perfecting skincare essence. They become one with the skin like never before for a flawless complexion that lasts all day."
On paper it is suggesting it can work wonders, but doesn't this simply by telling you it does. The brand is trusted and popular, we read and believe what it has to say, even though it has no statistics or proof of what its telling us about the product; consumerism at its best, we have become 'docile bodies', we don't react, just listen and believe.
This is what I want to campaign against, or atleast highlight to young women, products don't do what they say on the box necessarily, just because they have stated they do.
From looking at the adverts I have noticed some brands do state statistics about the popularity and message of the product, but this information is often in small print - I also want to highlight this issue, to argue that it should be a policy to 'prove your product'.
The most disturbing thing I found within this magazine
is a large range of cosmetic surgery advertisement - The magazine claims its target audience is 18 - 29, so why would such young people have a need for cosmetic procedures? What matters more is why allow this kind of advertising in your magazine? Young people are being pressured not only by false pretences, and messages communicated through cosmetics, but the REAL idea of going under the knife whilst still in their youth.
Within one particular womens magazine I found 25 full page and double page advertisements promoting a range of cosmetics. I was surprised at the large amount, considering this counts up to nearly 20% of the magazine content. It's no wonder young women feel pressure to look a certain way and feel such cosmetics are the answer, with all their misleading messages and promises.
The below image just one example, as the opening page to the magazine it spreads across two pages. A foundation promoting itself as being 'flawless perfection', alongside a flattering description of the product:
"The new everlasting tailer-made foundations infused with a perfecting skincare essence. They become one with the skin like never before for a flawless complexion that lasts all day."
On paper it is suggesting it can work wonders, but doesn't this simply by telling you it does. The brand is trusted and popular, we read and believe what it has to say, even though it has no statistics or proof of what its telling us about the product; consumerism at its best, we have become 'docile bodies', we don't react, just listen and believe.
This is what I want to campaign against, or atleast highlight to young women, products don't do what they say on the box necessarily, just because they have stated they do.
From looking at the adverts I have noticed some brands do state statistics about the popularity and message of the product, but this information is often in small print - I also want to highlight this issue, to argue that it should be a policy to 'prove your product'.
The most disturbing thing I found within this magazine
is a large range of cosmetic surgery advertisement - The magazine claims its target audience is 18 - 29, so why would such young people have a need for cosmetic procedures? What matters more is why allow this kind of advertising in your magazine? Young people are being pressured not only by false pretences, and messages communicated through cosmetics, but the REAL idea of going under the knife whilst still in their youth.
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