Blog#31- Stereotypes in Fashion Magazines

 

By examining the articles, advertisements, and overall style and layout of the two magazines: Vogue and GQ, we can see that the magazines, or rather the corporation that owns these magazines, are creating false consciousness to alienate the consumer in order to maximize capital. The false reality that is created assures that the consumer forgets about the material-value of the products being advertised the labour, value of materials to create the product, and so forth and instead they are more concerned with the prestige and luxurious lifestyle that the products may bring (if one was to buy the product). The consumer enters a constant, vicious cycle of buying in order to fit in (social norms, gender stereotypes and identity) and to attain a certain status for himself. Not only can the corporation maximize profit by creating these false realities and affect the spending habits of consumers, but these magazines also affect the very definition of sexuality, and condition and impose specific normal gender roles and identities upon society the target audience the magazines mask its true, dark nature of being a giant advertisement with so-called articles that inform the reader of the latest trends or publishes articles dealing with politics. Examining these topics is important when trying to understand the relationship between media (fashion magazines), society, gender and identity.

The company that owns GQ and Vogue employs fashion advertisements and articles that mimic the stylish, luxurious lifestyle to create false realities that encourage the audience to continue to consume and strive for these realities that would in turn continue to profit the organization. These advertisements and articles encourage and impose traditional gender roles upon people as well. The very definition of gender and sexuality is constantly changing or in this case not due to the great influence the media has on each and every generation. If we reexamine and put an effort into changing media, it is possible we can change social norms.