The Disconnect of Fashion Advertising with Young Females Dissertation

The Disconnect of Fashion Advertising with Young Females - Dissertation Example Researchers suggest advertising media may adversely impact women’s body image† – [Online] Available at: www.healthyplace.com [Accessed February 2011] â€Å"For centuries individuals or societies have used clothes and another body adornment as a form of nonverbal communication to indicate occupation, rank, gender, sexual availability, locality, class, and wealth and group affiliation. Fashion is a form of free speech. It not only embraces clothing but also accessories, jewelry, hairstyles, beauty, and body art. What we wear and how and when we wear it, provides others with the shorthand to subtly read the surface of a social situation.† -[Online] Available at www.fashion-ersociology_semiotics.com [Accessed February 2011] With the peer pressure of being socially accepted in different environments, fashion is even more so an issue with the younger generation of females. Research has shown that 70% of women who regularly read fashion magazines consider them t o be an important source of beauty and fitness information. -[Online] Available at www.healthyplace.com [Accessed February 2011] In a study carried out by Peck and Loken in 2004, entitled â€Å"When will larger-sized female models in advertisements are viewed positively?† It was stated that a quarter of those that were analyzed, were women that reported they did have a strong interest in imitating fashion models, hence there seems to be a disconnect between the images used by fashion advertisers and the impact on female consumers. As consumers, we are always being bombarded with fashion in many different ways. The newest look or the trendiest color is constantly in our faces by many different methods- if it is not by billboard it is by magazine, television and even on the foods that we eat, Influences even come from music that we listen to with music videos. Fashion is everywhere and it is something we can’t get away from. â€Å"Fashion style is important. Your clot hes make your fashion statement, and how you're perceived. Stand straight and carry yourself with grace. You will radiate self-confidence.† -[Online] Available at www.zinearticles.com [Accessed March 2011] However, the way in which advertisers of fashion clothing portray young females in their advertising, does not necessarily seem to correspond with the way that young females want to be viewed. Rational/Usefulness of the project The aim of this dissertation is to analyze and determine whether fashion advertising uses relevant imagery to have an impact on young females today.  Thus the research will try and provide advertisers of fashion clothing with a deeper insight and helpful observations into understanding their audience, their young female customers. Overview of the role of female imagery in fashion advertising †¦ Research Objectives The main aim of the project is to try and prove whether there is or there is not a disconnect between how advertisers advertise fash ion to females. The focus will be on an audience of 18-25-year-old female students at London South Bank University that are fashion conscious.