As a consumer of designer clothing, when I look through fashion magazines of an elite culture such as Vogue, who are analyzed by more affordable magazines. I can see the same common occurrence...
This is that all the women modelling these clothes are tall, thin models, with mostly big boobs, and a tiny waist.This is not representative of our society, and is ridiculously artificial!
We are living in a world which is so superficial, no wonder girls feel so much pressure to look good! Our image of beauty is so distorted, that we are made to think we must look like the women modelling these clothes. When in fact, we should be happy with being ourselves!
The media used in these magazines are putting so much pressure on us women. And why are they doing this? They want us to feel insecure, as this is the only way they can sell their products, and earn money off us. By making us as consumers, feel degraded enough to buy what they tell us too. This is where our reality is being distorted, and our image of beauty is being mediated for us.
You can argue that the magazines are taking a market liberalist approach, that they are supporting capitalism. This is a system in which people are driven to produce goods, and services for profit. That these fashion magazines are in competition with each other to get us consumers, to buy their products. 
The techniques being used to sell these clothes on the front cover of Vogue magazine, are first the models. On the front cover of the Vogue magazine above, you see an attractive, thin, model, is wearing designer clothes. The model is trying to sell the clothes to the consumers (us). They do this by selling a narrative, that when you look at the item of clothing modeled above. It makes me as the consumer, want to buy it. This is because I want to be her, and I want to look like her. A consumer will buy because they want to look like the person modeling the clothes, when wearing them.
The pose and body language used by the model is also another advertisement technique. Which aims to show the clothes off at their best, attracting the reader. For example If we decode the front cover, it shows a medium to long range shot of the model. This enables the reader to see the whole outfit, (except the shoes) and how it fits. She has her hands on her hips, which gives a 'sassy' vibe that this is an strong, independent, woman. Which would be approved by feminists. However the models pose also gives off sexual intention, that you can look both sophisticated and sexy, which can help women attract a man. And by having her arms out of the way of her body, this doesn't hide the outfit. Which is important as this is the product the magazine is trying to sell.
Another technique used by Vogue magazine, is the text used. It uses serif font, this connotes that it is a 'stylish' and 'fancy' magazine. Which suggests that the clothes are too. The magazine uses anchorage, this is when the text used on the front cover like 'Very Sexy,' and 'Ethno Chick.' Fixes to the meaning with the image, of the women wearing the designer clothes.
Another technique used is the colour of the background, and font. The background is white which connotes sophistication, and it is enigmatic. Then a pastel/maroon colour is used for the title, we can denote that this is a feminine colour. Then it has icons located on the cover in black, which highlights the key stories.
Edward Bernays was one of the first to recognize the power of psychological techniques in advertising, and persuasion. He showed co-operations how they can make people want things that they didn't need, by linking mass produced goods (clothes,) to peoples unconscious desires.The idea of these 'unconscious desires comes from Edward Bernays uncle Sigmund Freud. Who says we all are born with instinctual desires, but these are repressed as we grow up. However Freud says these cannot be eradicated all together.
Bernays was able to recognize that these 'unconscious desires,' could be tapped into successful techniques of persuasion. He proposed advertising should operate at the level of feelings and emotions. He argued that products (clothes) should make people feel better about themselves, by engaging with hidden emotions. In order to make an object desirable, its more effective to manipulate the nature of consumer desire, than to manipulate the object.
These are some of the different advertising techniques used by magazines to make us as the consumers, feel swayed to buy their products, which increases their profit. Overall capital goods are used to produce these consumer goods, which supports capitalism.
Marxism's Frankfurt School theorist Herbert Marcuse says "the desire to consume is an expression of 'false needs,' created by advertising industry". This is in contradiction to our real needs which should be happiness, and freedom of choice. This is what Marcuse meant by his 'One Dimensional Man' study. This is that capitalism conditions us to a confined world, with limited opportunity, and no individuality.
There is also a association of desirable identities with objects in advertising. Advertisements invite target audiences to place themselves within a story, in which objects provide access to 'the person you always wanted to be'. This is when a women wants to look like the models on the front pages of Vogue, in their clothes. This shows that fictions play a role in the sales of designer clothes.
However you never seem to see any larger women on the cover, or in the pages of magazines, specifically Vogue...
However recently, plus size singer and song writer Adele. Actually appeared on the Vogue cover in March 2012, and is the first ever plus size women to be on the march issue. And overall is the second plus size woman after Jennifer Hudson, to be on a Vogue cover.
The pose and body language used by the model is also another advertisement technique. Which aims to show the clothes off at their best, attracting the reader. For example If we decode the front cover, it shows a medium to long range shot of the model. This enables the reader to see the whole outfit, (except the shoes) and how it fits. She has her hands on her hips, which gives a 'sassy' vibe that this is an strong, independent, woman. Which would be approved by feminists. However the models pose also gives off sexual intention, that you can look both sophisticated and sexy, which can help women attract a man. And by having her arms out of the way of her body, this doesn't hide the outfit. Which is important as this is the product the magazine is trying to sell.
Another technique used by Vogue magazine, is the text used. It uses serif font, this connotes that it is a 'stylish' and 'fancy' magazine. Which suggests that the clothes are too. The magazine uses anchorage, this is when the text used on the front cover like 'Very Sexy,' and 'Ethno Chick.' Fixes to the meaning with the image, of the women wearing the designer clothes.
Another technique used is the colour of the background, and font. The background is white which connotes sophistication, and it is enigmatic. Then a pastel/maroon colour is used for the title, we can denote that this is a feminine colour. Then it has icons located on the cover in black, which highlights the key stories.
Edward Bernays was one of the first to recognize the power of psychological techniques in advertising, and persuasion. He showed co-operations how they can make people want things that they didn't need, by linking mass produced goods (clothes,) to peoples unconscious desires.The idea of these 'unconscious desires comes from Edward Bernays uncle Sigmund Freud. Who says we all are born with instinctual desires, but these are repressed as we grow up. However Freud says these cannot be eradicated all together.
Bernays was able to recognize that these 'unconscious desires,' could be tapped into successful techniques of persuasion. He proposed advertising should operate at the level of feelings and emotions. He argued that products (clothes) should make people feel better about themselves, by engaging with hidden emotions. In order to make an object desirable, its more effective to manipulate the nature of consumer desire, than to manipulate the object.
These are some of the different advertising techniques used by magazines to make us as the consumers, feel swayed to buy their products, which increases their profit. Overall capital goods are used to produce these consumer goods, which supports capitalism.
Marxism's Frankfurt School theorist Herbert Marcuse says "the desire to consume is an expression of 'false needs,' created by advertising industry". This is in contradiction to our real needs which should be happiness, and freedom of choice. This is what Marcuse meant by his 'One Dimensional Man' study. This is that capitalism conditions us to a confined world, with limited opportunity, and no individuality.
There is also a association of desirable identities with objects in advertising. Advertisements invite target audiences to place themselves within a story, in which objects provide access to 'the person you always wanted to be'. This is when a women wants to look like the models on the front pages of Vogue, in their clothes. This shows that fictions play a role in the sales of designer clothes.
However you never seem to see any larger women on the cover, or in the pages of magazines, specifically Vogue...
However recently, plus size singer and song writer Adele. Actually appeared on the Vogue cover in March 2012, and is the first ever plus size women to be on the march issue. And overall is the second plus size woman after Jennifer Hudson, to be on a Vogue cover.
However when published Vogue was slashed by the public, for the fashion labels obvious radical weight loss, and airbrushing, to the singer Adele. Who is in fact a size 16, but is made to look much smaller. Her cheek bones are shaded to make her face look slimmer, and her arms and waist has been shrunk. Also they have positioned her body in a way which would not indicate her actual body size. For example they cut the image slightly below the boobs, which makes her look like she has a smaller stomach. However this is completely artificial as we know Adele is a size 16, but why is Adele made to look this way? Because her body does not conform with today's ideology of the perfect, slim, figure.
This shows that magazines and the media in general, can be very artificial. They project the idea of the 'perfect body' to sell clothes. By making us as consumers feel insecure about ourselves, magazines are able to sell their products to us, and get our money.
As a consumer I am upset that magazines have to use techniques and tricks, to make us buy their designer clothes. Are we no longer allowed freedom of choice? And do magazines now only care about making money?
As a consumer I am upset that magazines have to use techniques and tricks, to make us buy their designer clothes. Are we no longer allowed freedom of choice? And do magazines now only care about making money?
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