Advertising in Women’s Magazines

by Orsolya Halmi
Introduction

Advertisements are present everywhere, and women’s magazines are no exception

to the rule. As it is the case with ads, they always target a specific group and seek for
their attention and sympathy by using various means to achieve the desired effect, that of
buying their products. In the case of women’s magazines, all advertisements are naturally
directed towards its general readership, namely the women.
Since advertisement aims at manipulating the masses, advertisers have to rely on
human psychology to trick the viewer or listener into buying their products (Gender
Revisited 59), even if they have no need for it. These rely on man’s permanent need for
improvement of oneself and one’s way of life. Unless somebody is absolutely satisfied,
there will always be a need for newer and better products. Women’s magazines also take
advantage of this strategy by pointing out to women their own position in the social,
cultural and economic etc. environment they live in.
In the Western world, as far as women are concerned, modernity has placed a
great importance on physical appearance creating standards that have proven quite
difficult to rise up to. Every era has its ideals of beauty, and today’s ideal is the
exceptionally thin, skin-and-bones female, preferably not under 170 cm tall with the
measures of 60-90-60 cm, prefect skin and hair. These are stereotypes that are exploited
with delight by advertisements in women’s magazine. It is not by chance, therefore, that
young, pretty faces and (half) naked slim bodies pervade the ads which try to sell mostly
cosmetic products to the readers. The cosmetics may vary from hair lotion to skin
products, but whatever the product, the message is always the same: “you will look like
the woman in the ad, if you use this product.” Berger calls this the Cinderella function,
which is basically “the promise of personal transformation through the use or ownership
of a product” (Eroticism 18). Not only does this apply to cosmetics, but also a wide range
of other products designed to improve looks, like pills, drinks and food that perform
miracles in weight-loss, clothing and accessories, gadgets and others.

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1. Stereotypical Products for Women
“The purpose of advertising is to make the spectator marginally dissatisfied with
the present way of life” (Eroticism 18). By analyzing several magazines for women, one
can clearly see the impact of these advertisements: they are definitely designed to
implement dissatisfaction and lack of self-confidence and then to counter this by
providing the perfect solution, thereby announcing the indispensability of the product in
question.
One good example would be the anti-aging creams, which are present in virtually
every women’s magazine. Two whole pages are dedicated to the “innovative” Vichy anti-
aging face-cream in magazines such as the Romanian Ioana and Femeia de azi, where the
face of a relatively young woman is shown as proof of its effectiveness on the left side of
the page, along with a general description of the skin aging problem. Underneath further
explanation is provided on how and why the product works, what technology it uses (note
that it always uses the latest and most efficient technology available), and, in addition,
advice is given by a specialist for several skin problems recommending the use of Vichy
products (pp. 52-53). Furthermore, to further enhance the ad’s effectiveness, the
advertisers have not only included a scientific explanation of its technology, but also
visual elements to accompany the text showing a “before” and “after” picture with
numbers from scientific research included. The images, numbers and scientific details are
a powerful manipulative element for women of in a society that strongly believes in the
power of science. Thus, although they may not perfectly understand the chemical
reactions, they nevertheless believe in its efficacy. Therefore, aging is no longer
considered a natural process, but something that has to be fought against. Since women
age and will continue to age for as long as they exist, advertising anti-aging products
seem to be the best way to keep women unhappy as long as youth will remain in-vogue.
Another frequently recurring theme for advertisements in women’s magazines are
the health-care products. Sometimes whole pages are dedicated to items of health such as
hygiene, medicine, drink, food, books etc. With much emphasis on health, advertisers
take advantage of the unhealthy conditions which many modern women live in. These
types of advertisements again subconsciously draw attention to the dangers awaiting

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women, like obesity, osteoarthritis, loss of hormones, vitamin deficiencies, viruses,
headaches and so on. In return they offer pills and the like, which, women might buy
whether or not they actually need it. Such ads are, for example, the Omegactive
advertisement in Ioana, which gives a brief overview of what how beneficial the product
is, what its ingredients are, and even gives the price of a pack of two bottles with an
image the Omegactive pack next to it (p. 26.)
Finally, another leitmotif of advertisers seeking to address women in these
magazines, are again related to looks: fashion. No women’s magazine exists without
fashion advertisements and some take it as far as allotting even ten pages to all items of
clothing, shoes and accessories. Advertisers take advantage of the stereotypical image of
women’s delight in shopping, and by showing what is the latest trend is, they are trying to
persuade women to buy their products by implying that their old clothes have become
démodé. Such ads covertly convey the message that being stylish will boost their self-
confidence and make them happy. In Ioana, for instance, models are placed within a
mall, showing young women with shopping bags in their hands joyfully walking through
the City Mall of Bucharest, whose address is given at the bottom of the page (pp.6-7).
This ad not only aims at encouraging readers to buy the items presented, but also to opt
for that specific mall when going for shopping.
In relation to fashion, however, advertisers very frequently employ another
method of compelling women to buy. They often use the image of pop stars to achieve
sympathy for a certain product. The image of success is represented by the pop star who
is photographed possessing the same or similar product as advertised in the magazine.
This association serves as“validation” of the product’s efficiency and covertly connects
the product with the idea of success. In other words, the subliminal message is that those
who buy the given product will be successful.

2. The Visual Aspect

Advertisements in women’s magazines heavily rely on the visual aspect. This
visual aspect is basically “an image of [the reader] made glamorous by the product or
opportunity it is trying to sell.” As a result, the viewer is becomes the image projected
into the future by the picture she sees in the advertisement:

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 The great promise implied in such adverts is that, if you buy or own a certain
product, your personal image will be improved, and you will become more
attractive. The spectator-buyer is the envy of him/herself, namely, the person
s/he will become if s/he buys the product. S/he is meant to imagine
him/herself transformed by the product into an object of envy for others, an
envy which will justify his/her loving of him/herself. (Eroticism 18)
It is not by chance, therefore, that the choice of photography in women’s
magazine ads is principally one-sided. These photographs are in accordance with the icon
of the ideal woman: every photograph of a woman is that of a model, beautiful-skinned,
looking perfectly healthy, smiling and having great fun or totally relaxed. These women
seem to bear no trace whatsoever of any imperfection in any way. This is precisely what
the adverts point to: this is what a woman should look and feel like and this is what the
product provides – glamour.
Glamour, nevertheless, is strongly connected to sex appeal. The great significance
of physical beauty can be directed back to sexual attraction. Women are looked at by men
for aesthetic pleasure and this is what the advertisers have taken advantage of (Eroticism
19). Photographs of (half) naked women are very often in women’s magazine adverts, but
in opposition to ads with similar content directed at males, these photographs retain their
typical sexual content and rather seek to convince women that they are measure up to the
standard and that they need the given product to achieve that. One typical ad of the sort is
the ad for the collection of books “Healthy Life” advertised in Ioana which shows the
image of a naked woman sitting with a joyful smile on her face (p. 2) - the picture is an
extract from one of the books, yet was is not unintentionally chosen. The photograph’s
presence underlines the importance of physical beauty for women.
Other images of women in advertisements, like those of promoting fashion, also
use supermodel-type women put against a background that further encourages the
“irrational hunger” for new brands and new styles. Because trends are meant to be
ephemeral, fashion ads serve as reminders that the modern woman also needs to be active
and adaptable while always ready to incorporate innovation – the right formula for
happiness. In the case of Ioana, the background of the mall and the inclusion of its
address provides and example for the upper-mentioned ideas.

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 Another type of photography that is used in women-aimed ads is the one that
serves the Enchanted Palace function, to use Berger’s terms. This is the function
“according to which the partners [and people involved in other, non-romantic types of
relationships] will enjoy an improved relationship if they use a certain product – e.g. a
nice house, coffee etc.” (Eroticism 18). In this sense, advertisers use a different type of
photography depending on the type of relationship. Women’s magazines usually include
ads that persuade women to consume by alluding to the idea that it will improve their
social relations. An ad for lip balm, for example, in Ioana is associated with photographs
of a mother and her child both of whom are shown together sitting and laughing out in
the cold weather (pp. 22-23). The subconscious unwillingly associates the image and the
lip balm with the idea of a closer bond and a healthier and happier child. Note that this
advert is specifically targeted at mothers.
On the other hand, advertisers also attempt to sell products by using subliminal
messages about man-woman relationship. In the case of women, however, simply using
the motive of sex does not work as it does for men. So, there is no use for using sexual
photos as it is for male-oriented ads:
For a woman, sexual desire is a complex mixture of factors, most of which are
extremely difficult to inject into an ad in the time and space available. A
man’s physical appearance plays a role, suggesting health and strength, but
her instinctive concern is the long-run, not the short-term. …Advertising
cannot take advantage of a woman’s instinctive sexual desire, because
advertising’s job is not to build for the future, but to sell the product now”
(Gender-determined 61)
Instead, advertisers try to appeal to the romantic side of women, and employ stereotypical
images (Gender-determined 62), like photos of a woman and a man in a happy
relationship.
Furthermore, women’s magazines also feature humoristic ads. Especially
inventive are those that advertise so to say “boring” products, like medicine, but which
capture the reader’s attention by being entertaining. Photography here plays a very
important role since the humor effect in a magazine relies on the visual. One such attempt
at humor in Ioana, is the Nasic (nose-drops) advert, which shows an astronaut in

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astronaut suit on the Moon trying to blow his nose through the glass, looking quite
distressed and the slogan underneath saying: “Nasic. And you can breathe peacefully”
(32).

Conclusion

Advertisements for women have changed radically during the past few decades
due to the gradual change of status of women in society. During World War II, women
were being encouraged to work in factories and take over the jobs that were left by their
husbands, while the end of the war produced propaganda that was sending women home,
back to the kitchen. Since the 1950s through the 1970s women’s emancipation brought
along with it a change in advertising. Women role as housewives were slowly pushed out
of adverts of the time in order to meet the demands of the new independent women who
were now gaining more and more power in advertisement as well (Eroticism 19).
The women now presented in advertisements for women’s magazines reflect their
altered status in social, economic and political matters. They suggest a strong,
independent woman, who is capable of making her own decisions.

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 Bibliography

Ioana. 3/22.1, 2009.

Zdrenghea, Mihai M. “Eroticism in Advertising”, in Studia Universitatis Babes-Bolyai 1-

2, XLVII, 2002, pp. 15-22

---. “Gender-Determined Advertising”, in Studia Universitatis Babes-Bolyai XLIX, 1,

2004, pp. 57-63

---. “Gender in Advertising Revisited”, in Studia Universitatis Babes-Bolyai, L, 3, 2005.

pp. 59-66.