Title: Suggestive Selling, How Magazine Ads Increase Body Exposure as Readership Ages
Two sentence summary of findings:
Models in advertisements tend to be more exposed, having one or more body parts associated with sexual display visible and unclothed, in adult oriented women’s magazines, such as Cosmopolitan. However the presence of exposed models in advertisements is not exclusively restricted to magazines meant for an older audience, and they oftentimes find their way into teen-oriented magazines.
Summary of previous study:
The previously published content-analysis I chose to shadow is by S. Plous and Dominique Neptune (“Racial and Gender Biases in Magazine Advertising,” 1997, Psychology of Women Quarterly). Among other studies within their content analysis such as body position, racial/gender representation, and clothing worn in advertisements, Plous and Neptune coded male and female models in magazine ads. They deemed all persons in fashion advertisements, fashion layouts and fashion related magazine covers as being either “exposed” or “unexposed” according to which portions of their bodies were visible in the ads. They chose to survey two magazines with a predominantly white female readership (Cosmopolitan and Glamour), two magazines with mostly black female readership (Ebony and Essence) and two magazines with mainly white male readers (Esquire and Gentleman’s Quarterly). They found that white women were exposed in 42.5% of all magazine advertisements they appeared in, black women were exposed in 37.7% of all advertisements they appeared in, along with 13.3% of black males and 9.9% of white males. The study also found that the amount of overall body exposure of white and black women increased significantly over the ten year period of magazines studied, as well as the amount of breast exposure.
Most important foundation literature and how it relates to your own project:
The most relevant study that set the foundation for Plous and Neptune’s study was the first content analysis of gender biases in magazine advertisements by Alice E. Courtney and Sarah Wernick Lockeretz in 1971. Courtney and Lockeretz found that magazine advertisements generally placed women in one of four stereotypes: (1) “A woman’s place is in the home,” (2) “Women are dependant and need men’s protection,” (3) “Women do not make important decisions or do important things,” and (4) “Men regard women as primarily sex objects, they are not interested in women as people” (Plous and Neptune 628-629). In the last 40 years, women have infiltrated the workplace, and whereas the “women belong in the home” stereotype is not as relevant in present times, the lack of that stereotype is made up by the explosion of ads that use women as sexual objects Plous and Neptune 629).
Corpus and method:
I used the December 2007 issue of Cosmopolitan, Cosmo!Girl and Teen Magazine and the April 2007 issue of Seventeen to conduct my research. My method was qualitative and quantitative in nature. I went through all four magazines, and coded each individual in every full-page advertisement (including fashion spreads), as a “1”, “2” or “3”. To qualify as a “1”, the model had to be very modest in dress, the neck or shoulders could be showing, but both could not be shown at the same time. Persons receiving a “1” had little to no skin showing, and were counted as “unexposed”. To qualify as a “2”, the model was deemed “semi-exposed.” All models receiving a “2” had both the neck and shoulders unclothed and visible at the same time. To qualify as a “3,” the model’s stomach, buttocks, upper-legs, back and/or cleavage had to be unclothed and visible. The model was also counted as a “3” if special attention was paid to the mouth or lips. All models who earned a “3” were deemed “exposed”. In Plous and Neptune’s study, they used only a “1” and “2” in their coding system – each and every person in the ads they viewed were exposed or unexposed, there was no middle ground. I incorporated a “semi-exposed” element into my coding technique, so that I could better differentiate between the levels of body exposure. I also chose to use Hearst Magazine Company’s line of female oriented magazines to code (Cosmopolitan, Seventeen, Cosmo!Girl, and Teen Magazine), instead of comparing white female oriented, black female oriented, and white male oriented magazines.
Findings:
In the December 2007 issue of Teen Magazine, 16 out of 18, or 88.9% of both male and female models were coded as a “1” – unexposed. Zero percent of the models were coded as “2s” – or semi-exposed. Only 11.1%, 2 out of 18, were coded as “3s” – exposed. In the December 2007 issue of CosmoGirl!, 43.6%, or 24 out of 55 images, were deemed as unexposed “1s” while 25.5%, or 14 out of 55, were coded as being semi-exposed. Seventeen out of 55 models were exposed, and were coded as “3s” – which amounted to 30.9%. In the April 2007 issue of Seventeen, 27 out of 69 advertisements had models who were coded as “1s”, this counted for 39.1% of all models. Just under 12%, or 8 out 69 models were coded as “2s”. Almost half, 49.3% - or 34 out of 69 models were coded as “3s”. In the December 2007 issue of Cosmopolitan, only 32.6%, or 29 out of 89, were coded as “1s”. Nearly a fourth, 14.6% - or 13 out of 89 models were coded as being “2s”. Over half, 52.8%, or 47 out of 89 models were coded as being “3s”. From Teen Magazine to Cosmopolitan, the number of “3s” gradually increased from 11.1% to 52.8%.
Conclusion:
My study verifies that as young women age, the Hearst Magazine Company provides a publication which theoretically ages with them, at least in respect to advertising content. Teen Magazine appeals to girls in their pre-teens and young teen years, Cosmo!Girl and Seventeen both reach the young adult crowd who are theoretically seventeen years or older (Seventeen has the edge on adult content in stories and advertisements, from what I observed), and Cosmopolitan appeals to every 20something and 30something-year-old woman. Although these magazines are meant for a specific readership, nothing confines young teens from reading older-teen oriented material, or older teens from reading something like Cosmopolitan. I believe that advertisements, many of which are not just exposed men and women, but exposed celebrities, play an integral role in the shaping of our youth, engraining in their mind what is right and what is wrong. Collectively among all four Hearst magazines I surveyed, 43.3% of models, men and women combined, were rated as having exposed body parts that are commonly associated with sexual display. Magazines have the power to provide our young women with evidence that sexual activity is the preferred pastime of sophisticated, alluring and glamorous protagonists (Platt Liebau 76). One journalist who shadowed at twelve-year-old girl estimated that she had been exposed to about 280 sexy images in the course of a day, and we wonder why age compression is rapidly occurring – why our sons and daughters go from children to adults in the blink of an eye (Platt Liebau 8, 145). Over time, pre-teens and teens receive the message that it is expected, even desirable, for them to present themselves as overly sexual beings, long before they are old enough to handle or understand the accompanying responsibilities (Platt Liebau 145). I do not believe that fashion should be reduced to an almost completely naked model who is trying to get our pre-teens and teenagers to buy a particular lip-gloss, pair of jeans, or deodorant.
References:
CosmoGirl! Magazine December 2007.
Cosmopolitan Magazine December 2007.
Platt Liebau, Carol. Prude.
Plous, S., and Dominique Neptune. "Racial and Gender Biases in Magazine Advertising." Psychology of Women Quarterly (1997): 5-9.
Seventeen Magazine April 2007
Teen Magazine December 2007
Attachments:
At least one example of a “1,” “2,” and “3” from Teen Magazine, CosmoGirl!, Seventeen and Cosmopolitan.
My shadow study: “Racial and Gender Biases in Magazine Advertising,” 1997, Psychology of Women Quarterly
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