Young Women Advertising

How many times have you seen a jacket in a magazine ad that you just had to have? We both know that we see many things both in print and on television that we want to buy because we want to look like the model that is wearing the particular jacket being advertised. According to Jib Fowles, author of Advertising’s Fifteen Basic Appeals, “The desire to exhibit ourselves in such a way as to make others look at us is a primitive, insuppressible instinct” (Fowles Pg.8). People are made to believe that they absolutely need the item advertised because that is going to make people notice them. Clothing and cosmetic companies strive on people’s need for attention. Advertisements target young women ages 16-30 of Generation Me to buy their products in
Women follow this trend because they have been influenced at a young age to believe that outer beauty is everything. Many girls are introduced to Barbie at a young age, and that image of a perfect well rounded female is set in their minds for the rest of their lives. Commercials show Barbie in her three story dream townhouse, driving her convertible, and walking her precious little dog. All of these marketing schemes make young girls believe that Barbie is perfect from head to toe and want to be and look just like her. There is one commercial that really set apart from most; it had Barbie sporting her totally stylin’ tattoos. In the Barbie’s totally stylin’ tattoo commercial, contains a catchy song that sings “B-A-R-B-I-E totally tattoo’s it’s totally me.” Then the young girl says “Perfect tattoos” and it proceeds to show you how the product works, and at the end of the commercial it says “Be who you want to be, Barbie girl.” As Jean M. Twenge mentioned throughout Chapter 3 “You Can Be Anything You Want to Be” on self esteem, this very commercial targets young women to do what you want to do, and to be who you want to be. According to Jean M. Twenge in her book Generation Me, “Tattoo’s are no longer the sole province of bikers and sailors, but a trendy self-decoration employed by large numbers of young people, including the rich and famous” (Twenge Pg.96). Both young
According to Jean M. Twenge, author of Generation Me, “We have come to equate looking good with feeling good, and to say that we should do whatever makes us feel good or makes us happy” (Twenge Pg. 94). Most young women are not pleased with their looks, have low self-esteem issues, or feel the need to replicate their favorite celebrities so they end up doing something about it, plastic surgery to auto correct whatever it is that they don’t like. Celebrities in the media are very open to talking about their procedures, they will tell the whole world that they got a certain body part cut and sewed back. For example, Heidi Montag of the MTV show The Hills stated, "For the past three years, I've thought about what to have done, I'm beyond obsessed." Heidi Montag is widely seen in the media, especially in tabloid magazines. Young women, specifically teenagers are being influenced by the media, and may have negative results such as wanting to go through plastic surgery because they want to have the same nose as the celebrity has in the picture. Some magazines have articles about plastic surgery, and some particular magazines will even encourage readers to go out and get work done. The need for attention, mentioned in Jib Fowles article Advertising’s Fifteen Basic Appeals, since