Perfume advertisement E-Book

Mayer Taylor

• Herausgeber: GRIN Verlag
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2014

Beschreibung

Thesis (M.A.) from the year 2012 in the subject Communications - Public Relations, Advertising, Marketing, Social Media, grade: A, University of Kent, course: MASTER OF ARTS, language: English, abstract: When opening a women’s magazine from the 1970s you immediately notice the provocative perfume advertisements that sometimes featured a highly sexualized idea of women and men. This thesis compares perfume advertisements featured in Cosmopolitan and Redbook magazines. By using qualitative and quantitative content analysis when analyzing the various perfume advertisements, the messages of these advertisements were analyzed. Advertisements of perfume products create and reflect cultural notions regarding the status of women and gender roles. Trends from Cosmopolitan and Redbook perfume advertisements revealed:

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ABSTRACT

When opening a women’s magazine from the 1970s you immediately notice the provocative perfume advertisements that sometimes featured a highly sexualized idea of women and men. This thesis compares perfume advertisements featured in Cosmopolitan and Redbook magazines. By using qualitative and quantitative content analysis when analyzing the various perfume advertisements, the messages of these advertisements were analyzed. Advertisements of perfume products create and reflect cultural notions regarding the status of women and gender roles. Trends from Cosmopolitan and Redbook perfume advertisements revealed:

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT

CHAPTER I

1.0 INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW

CHAPTER III

3.0 METHODOLOGY

3.1 Research Philosophy

3.2 Research Approach

3.3 Research Choice and Strategy

3.4 Time Horizons

3.5 Data Collection and Data Analysis

CHAPTER IV

4.0 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

4.1 Descriptive Statistics

4.2 Hypotheses Testing

4.3 Discussion

CHAPTER FIVE

5.0 Summaries of Finds, Conclusions, and Recommendations

REFERENCES

CHAPTER I

1.0 INTRODUCTION

 Through content analysis, this study explores perfume advertisements printed in Cosmopolitan and Rebook magazines from the 1970s era. Both of these magazines are crammed with sexual advertisements, most of them perfume ads. Sexual content in perfume advertising is usually shown in the following ways: models showing chests and breasts, open shirts, tight fitting clothing, touching, kissing, and embracing. These scenes of sexual content are often woven into the promises to make the wearer of the perfume more sexually attractive, more likely to engage in some type of sexual behavior, or simply "feel" sexier. Chapter One provides a brief history of both Cosmopolitan and Redbook magazines from the 1970s and their targeted audience, discussed sexual appeals used in advertising, the problems of “ideal beauty”, and the specific ways perfume is advertised,and a preview of subsequent chapters. This study uses content analysis and the perspective of the cultivation theory to examine how women are represented in perfume advertisements published in Redbook and Cosmopolitan from 1970 – 1974 and how the advertisements in both magazines differ from one another.

Rationale

Cosmopolitan and Redbook magazines are being studied based on their demographic reach across the United States. By 1976, Cosmopolitan circulated 2.515 million copies monthly; whileRebook’sreadership reached 5 million per year in the 1970s. The target audiences for both magazines were women ages 20 to 30 years old. It is important to study the advertisements of this time period within the historical context in which they occurred. Examining these two magazines gives insight as to what it was like to be a young woman during this era.

 This thesis argues that perfume advertisements influence opinions and behaviors of the women who read them and society as a whole. Although magazines are only one type of advertising vehicle that can be examined from that time period, they are important to examine, because so much of their content comes from advertising. “Advertising occupies almost 60% of newspaper space, 52% of magazine pages, 18% of radio time, and 17% of television prime time” (Collins &Skover, 1993, pp. 698). According to McCracken (2003), women’s magazines are a perfect way to advertise because, “Advertising occupies up to 95% of the space in some women’s magazines, earning these publications the more appropriate title, ‘women’s advertising magazines’”(pp. 4). Vaughan (2003) suggests that people are more emotionally invested in the content of their magazines, which gives one more reason why magazines are an important medium to study. Redbook and Cosmopolitan issues from the 1970s were chosen because the perfume advertisements in this era constructed images of what being female meant.

The 1970s were alive with feminism, which was reborn in the 1960s as women sought to liberate themselves from society’s traditional roles of being a wife and mother. Women's liberation was a powerful movement, but the second wave of feminism crashed with the defeat of the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s. “Social historian Ruth Rosen notes that it was the year 1979, when media pundits declared – with a collective sigh of relief – that the women’s movement was dead, and it was 1976 when the first blatantly dissonant magazine advertisement found its way into an issue of Cosmopolitan” (Crymble, 2009, pp. 74). By studying perfume advertisements in these two magazines we are able to see the “blatantly dissonant” advertisement mentioned above that was alive in the 1970s.

Cosmopolitan

Cosmopolitan, or Cosmo, is a monthly magazine for young women, with 50 international editions that feature short fiction and advice articles on relationships, sex, fashion, entertainment, and careers. Schlicht& Field Company founded Cosmopolitan magazine in 1886 as a “family journal of fashion, household décor, cooking, and other domestic interests” (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2011). Two years later the Schlicht& Field’s company filed for bankruptcy and sold the magazine to Joseph Newton Hallock who added book reviews to the magazine. In 1889 John Brisben Walker took over the magazine and expanded circulation from 20,000 to 400,000 making it “a popular literary magazine featuring poetry, travel essays and short stories” (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2011). William Randolph Hearst bought out the magazine in 1905 and shortly after, it adopted a format containing short fiction, celebrities and public affairs articles. By 1940, Cosmopolitan’s circulation reached 2 million readers.

In 1965 Helen Gurley Brown, the author of Sex and the Single Girl, became Cosmopolitan’s first female editor and gave the magazine a drastic makeover for the changing times. At a time when Reader's Digest and The Ladies Home Journal still insisted that a "nice" girl had only two choices, "she can marry him or she can say no," Brown openly proclaimed that sex was an important part of a single woman's life. According to Brown, "The single girl is the new glamour girl." The magazine’s new motto became, “fun, fearless, female,” and covered topics from birth control, independence, premarital sex, and corporate careers. Brown (2000) admitted, "I like skin, I like pretty. I don't want to photograph the girl next door” (pp. 16).

The 1969 demographics showed the following characteristics of Cosmopolitan readers: two of every six women readers were younger than twenty-four and three of every six were ages twenty-five to forty-four; six of nine were married and two of nine had never married; one of eight was a manager or professional person and three of eight were “pink-collar” employees, while another three of eight did not work outside the home; one of eight earned a median income of $5,050 and five of eight earned above the median; three of eight attended or graduated college; and two of three lived in cities or suburbs. During the 1960’s, the number of women employed outside the house increased by 45% or 11 million workers. Most women were first-generation office workers and first generation collegians. Many possibly were insecure about themselves because they were unfamiliar with workplace etiquette and behavior. Cosmopolitan perhaps assisted many young women in navigating a world their mothers had not known.

At the start of the 1970s women made up 2% of engineers, 4% of architects, 5% of lawyers, 13% of scientists, and 26% of accountants (Landers, 2010).Full time employment for women ages 20 to 34 in the early 1970s was 15.1 million. The median income for women in 1969 was $5,100 and $8,900 for men. The magazine, like its editor, was filled with advice on how to move ahead in a career, meet men, lose weight, and be a good sexual partner.

In the April 1972 issue, Cosmopolitan ran a near-nude centerfold of actor Burt Reynolds that created great controversy, propelling Cosmopolitan to the forefront of American popular culture at the time. Advertising expanded the magazine in the early 1970s to between 328 to 352 pages per issue. At one point so many advertisers wanted to buy advertisements in Cosmopolitan that Hearst executives had to set a strict limit of 200 advertising pages per issue to be able to print the magazine. Cosmopolitan became 55% advertising pages. “The preponderance of ads did not bother readers, who continued to buy an extremely high percentage of copies placed on store shelves and checkout counters” (Landers, 2010, pp. 282). To put this in perspective, Cosmopolitan carried twice the number of ad pages published in Ladies’ Home Journal, McCall’s or Redbook. Cosmopolitan circulated 2.515 million copies monthly by 1976, an average annual gain of 209,000 copies after the Burt Reynolds centerfold had brought the magazine notoriety. Data from a readership survey conducted for the Hearst Corporation in 1969 and 1983 indicated that Cosmopolitan attracted all sorts of women readers, although proportional representations were sometimes surprising. Helen Gurley Brown’s vision is still being carried through the current issues of Cosmopolitan magazine.

Cosmopolitan is the world's number-one magazine for young women, 61 editions are published in over 100 countries, reaching 78 million readers worldwide - nobody talks to more women globally. Cosmopolitan evokes glamour and aspiration. The editorial philosophy is built on the cornerstones of fashion, beauty, body, sex and relationships making Cosmopolitan a complete lifestyle experience. (The Loop)

Cosmopolitan acknowledges itself, “We don’t just sell magazines, we sell desire and aspiration…speaking one voice – a voice that is worldly, adventurous and of course sexy.” Cosmopolitan also comments on the importance of advertising the magazine, “Our readers don’t flick through Cosmopolitan they devour it, advertisements and all” (ACP Media, 2011). Cosmopolitan readers see the advertisements as a vital part of the whole magazine and they consume every printed part. “We speak in a really authentic voice to women,” Kate White editor-in-chief at Cosmopolitan in 2005 said on The Early Show, “We don’t try to be their sister or the authority. We’re like that smart, fun, girlfriend who is going to tell you like it is. I think women really crave empowerment, someone that says to them: ‘Yeah, go for it, baby!’”

Redbook

Red Book Magazine began in May of 1903 as The Red Book Illustrated by a group of Chicago retail firms of Stumer, Rosenthal, and Eckstein. Red Book was considered the “baby sister of the ‘Seven Sisters’ women’s service magazines,” but exemplified how consumer magazines constantly redefined themselves to maintain their place on the newsstand (Endres, 1995). The first editor, Trumbull White, left Red Book in 1906, and Karl Edwin Harriman took over until 1912. He incorporated several ideas from Red Book’s sister publications the Blue Book and the Green Book, such as increasing the short stories per issue, adding non-fiction pieces, and printing a full novel in monthly sections and Red Book became known as “The Great Ten Penny Short Story Magazine” (Endres,1995, pp. 298). The magazine’s name symbolizes the theme conveyed from the pages; best stated by the first editor Trumbull White, “Red is the color of cheerfulness, of brightness, of gayety” (Endres,1995, pp. 298). The magazine’s name was later changed to the Redbook, and it soon became famous for publishing short fiction and monthly novels by influential writers such as Jack London and Sinclair Lewis, at this time, various advertisements for cosmetics and skin care attracted a vast audience of women.

With the rise of travel and radio in the 1920s, Redbook tried to appeal to every member of the family, for if the whole family read the magazine the publishers felt it could survive on the newsstand.This tactic of appealing to a wide age range to both genders made Redbook a success. Within the first two years of this method,the magazine established a circulation of approximately 300,000 issues (Endres,pp. 298).

Although Redbook was perceived as a family magazine, many of the authors were women. Throughout the 1920s, front covers of the magazine always depicted an elegant young woman in front of a red background. During Harriman’s period as editor, the magazine claimed to be the “Largest Illustrated Fiction Magazine in the World” and described the advertising section as the “Great Shopping Window of America,” which captured the eyes of many consumers who considered Redbook to be a wholesome and family oriented magazine (Endres, 1995, pp. 298).

The magazine’s format changed from editor to editor in order to maintain its prominent position in both the consumer’s household and within print culture. After being bought by the McCall Corporation in the summer of 1929, the flapper and her male counterpart the flipper were considered the new audience of Redbook and the fiction and entertainment pieces became the main attraction to the consumer (Endres, 1995, pp. 300). During this time Redbook featured non-fiction pieces by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Booth Tarkington, Gertrude Temple, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Cornelius Vanderbilt, Jr. allowing the new editor, Edwin Balmer, to entice a younger generation of readers and still portray Redbook as a general interest magazine (Endres, 1995, pp. 300). Part of Redbook’s success is due to the fact that it was never a leader of women’s magazines, but always a steady competitor. The fiction and non-fiction pieces continued to be printed along with the monthly book chapters, yet with the rise of television, Redbook quickly began to lose circulation and advertisements.