Influence of fashion/fitness magazine - Research Paper Example

Module Module ID: Influence of Fashion/Fitness Magazine By critically exploring the history of cultures and civilization of the world at large, it becomes crystal clear that humans have always been the slaves of latest fashion, has been in vogue in their social surroundings. Consequently, people wear dresses, shoes and watches, and purchase purses, handbags and other articles of everyday use keeping in view the designs, colors and size of different utensils and brands, which have gained popularity in their cultural environment. Although the phenomenon captures the attention of the people in respect of adopting hair cut, make up, and decoration like brooch, earrings, nose-pin, bangles, bracelets etc on the one hand, and in respect of keeping mobile-phone sets, I-pods, computers, motor vehicles, and hundreds of home appliances, crockery and other things on the other, yet fashion is not confined to the selection of appearance and attire only. On the contrary, it encompasses long list of the activities, attitude and behavior observed and exercised by the individuals en masse. Consequently, the ways of maintaining health and fitness, travelling and dwelling, and professional obligations and recreation and amusement—all come under the vast fold of fashion, escaping of which is hard nut to crack. “Fashion is the ever-changing pattern of consumer tastes, driven by a wide range of random events. Events such as war, a shift in house prices, the introduction of a new technology, or the emergence of a new musical sound, can influence the consumer taste curve.” (Drury & Lewis, 2005) Technological advancement has also added its share in respect of popularizing fashion trends. There was a time when transmission of cultural traits, social norms and moral values used to take plenty of time, and slow information flow used to keep a large majority of the individuals quite unaware of the alterations taking place all around them. However, technological revolution has introduced fast and comprehensive transfer of ideas, information and knowledge, and changes occurring in one region of the globe immediate reach in every corner of the world within a jiffy even. Literature has also played dominant role in this regards where the printed and electronic material can be accessed very easily in order to have acquaintance with the technological, political and social life of the pole-apart zones. The same is applied to the fashion and fitness magazines, which significantly contribute to deciding and determining the liking, disliking and tastes of the people by adopting various fashion aspects out of the multiple choice the brands and products offer to them. Thus, fashion advertizing tremendously affects cultural patterns of the societies. “Fashion advertising is an excellent example of identity-image producing media. The nature of the product is tied directly to identity—those objects with which we encase our bodies for public display—and fashion is acknowledged as a cultural language of style.” (Rhodes & Zuloago, 2003) Fashion and fitness journals, magazines and periodicals are not only creating awareness among the masses regarding the latest trends, but also are highly supportive in respect of creating hegemony and universality by the powerful ideas and refined inventiveness. Had there no literature available in the market, there could be overwhelming diversity in culture, in respect of selection of attire, behavior and professional activities. “Vogue magazine functioned in America not only to provide sketches and patterns of fashions derived from Paris models, but also to promote French couture.” (Brown Education) Thus, people could not admire artistic talents and fascinating innovations changing fashion trends bring to society is their wake without following the fashion modes explicitly described and mentioned in the printed and electronic fitness material. During 18th and 19th centuries, drawing and then photographs were used to inform the individuals regarding the latest designs of clothes. However, since photography was limited one, and was confined to the elite stratum only, the middle and lower classes used to imitate the leisure class for adopting the cultural patterns. Hence, uniformity of ideas and modes used to take time in one single society. However, modern age has gathered divergent human societies under one platform, where the products made by some specific multinational brands are used and demanded everywhere in the world. “In the realm of High Fashion advertising—those products and identity-image advertisements at the top of the socio-economic spectrum: products such as Dolce Gabanna, Gucci, Prada, media such as runway shows, W Magazine, Zoom, Allure—the goal of producing an attractive identity product is pursued with an affluence of money and artistic talents.” (Rhodes & Zuloago, 2003) The credit certainly goes to the magazines including Cosmopolitan, Elle, Esquire, Men’s Fitness, Self, Shape and others not only guide the individuals what to wear on particular occasions, but also play leading roles in keeping them fit, healthy and vigorous by determining the methods of maintaining fitness at large. Statement of the Problem: The present study looks for exploring the significant role of fashion and fitness magazines on individuals. The main reason behind selecting the topic is the changes market trends that globally influence humans and keep them updated with the modernity on the one hand, and turn out to be supportive and beneficial in keeping them fit and energetic. Magazines and journals not only give the readers tips and guideline to consume specific diet, which contains protein, minerals and carbohydrates essential for the growth of young ones on the one hand, and for the mental and physical health of the adults on the other, but also select color and design combinations of outfits, which could present them as gorgeous, graceful, attractive and wonderful before society. Hence, fashion magazines are vehemently productive in saving time that used to be consumed in selection of design, variety and color of one’s choice. Sociological Significance: It has very well stated that ‘God makes you man, and tailor makes you a gentleman.’ Hence, selection of appropriate dresses not only captures the attention of others, but also earns respect for him in the eyes of society. Magazines are the intellectual guides due to the very reality that they are the outcome of intellect of the writers, which provides a detailed outlook of who and where some particular patterns of behavior, language and expressions should be adopted to keep healthy, good looking and pleasant. Fashion and fitness magazines help out people’s moving and penetrating into society by elaborating ceremonial, formal, informal and recreational as well as sports and casual outfits. The same is applied to people’s fitness, as magazines explain the diets and exercises to be taken on different occasions on the basis of the age, physical condition, health situation and immunity of the individuals. Fitness magazines warn the people the consequences of alcohol, chemical dependency and smoking etc on their health, and recommend remedies for the same for the sustenance of their energy and vigor at large. Since a fit and healthy nation can lead the world in the fields of science and technology, and in politics and entrepreneurship, the significance of magazines cannot be denied in making of a healthy and up-to-date society. Literature Review: Since technological advancement of contemporary era has revolutionized every field of life, it has also provided the people with the vast opportunities of having access to the magazines and journals of their choice through the internet. Consequently, people do not buy print copies of fashion and fitness magazines, but could also study them at their computers in order to get acquaintance with the modern fashion trends and fitness tips. Frederick et al (2004) have conducted their study on the topic under analysis under the title “Do representations of male muscularity differ in men’s and women’s magazines?” where the authors have elaborated the similarities and differences in description of muscularity in male and female magazines. The writers are of the opinion that since both males and females look to attract each other on the basis of their level of fitness, they emphasize and accelerate the same by exaggerating their fitness magnitude in order to capture the attention of the members of opposite gender to a great extent. Consequently, males pretend to be more muscular and brawny by highlighting their body muscles and claim to be having high stamina and vigor; similarly, females tend to display extreme slimness and smartness with excellent figure and light weight, in order to present themselves as the most delicate creatures in the eyes of the male readers. However, the trends of presenting one as most attractive and bewitching before others is a universal phenomenon, and has been in vogue for centuries, no one can escape from the same altogether. Since one individual cannot exhibit his/her physical traits and charms to a large number of the people simultaneously, fashion and fitness magazines have solved their problem of getting popular with one single shot by getting the fitness and vigor published through a platform that could circulate their charms to the public at large. Since the readers are always in search of beauty tips as well as the beautiful faces and physiques, they purchase and study the fitness magazines in order to adopt the ways observed by the most glaring youth celebrities on the one hand, and for getting acquainted with the popular names and pictures of celebrities of their choice on the other. “Women in the contemporary West find male bodies that are more muscular than average most attractive, and men recognize that women prefer these body builds.” (Frederick et al., 2004) Hence, fashion magazines are extremely helpful in establishing fashion trends as well as in bringing people closer to each other through their pages popular among the readers. In addition, fitness magazines also determine the ideal or required fitness level essential for a healthy and normal body, and hence influence in shaping the body in an appropriate and attractive form. “Studies have assessed men’s body type preferences by presenting participants with an array of male bodies that vary in percentage.” (Frederick et al., 2004) Consequently, men get familiar with the average fitness scale in the light of the instructions manifestly mentioned in the magazines. Cohen (2006) has conducted her study with the title “Media Exposure and the Subsequent Effects on Body Dissatisfaction, Disordered Eating, and Drive for Thinness: A Review of the Current Research”, where the researcher emphasizes upon the impact of disclosure of facts and figures related to human fitness on their health and activities. Cohen laments over the concepts mistakenly adopted by the females from the fashion magazines, and start surrendering the hygienic food that is essential for the development of their productive cells and hormones. She is of the view that constant and continuous increase in the eating disorders in society, because of lack of their knowledge about proper and hygienic food, which is really challenging for the health of individuals. Fitness magazine despise consumption of the food that causes obesity and increases cholesterol level in body to a dangerous point. Moreover, inaccurate and improper attempt to lose weight also causes several diseases and deficiencies of various kinds in human body. It is particularly the case with females. In pursuit of losing weight and gaining adequate fitness, “females develop anorexia nervosa (AN) and bulimia nervosa (BN), the two eating disorders mainly associated with a drive for thinness, about ten times more frequently than do males.” (Cohen, 2006) Such deteriorating health condition appears because of females’ eagerness of becoming smarter and smarter within days. Consequently, serious deficiencies attack on body by putting immunity level at great stake. Media plays decisive role in this regards and directs the individuals to take the quality and quantity of diet essential to keep them active and efficient for performing personal and professional obligations. “Media serves as both a means of perpetuating as well as preventing negative body images and disordered eating patterns. It explores how social comparison theory may serve as a pathway between media consumption and body dissatisfaction, drive for thinness, and disordered eating.” (Cohen, 2006) Prevos (2005) has conducted his study under the title “Differences in Body Image between Men and Women”, in which he has described the variation in the thoughts and choices of both the genders regarding their body and fashion and those of the members of their opposite genders. The researcher discovered that women lay stress upon thinness by taking it the sign and symbol of attraction in the eyes of males. On the contrary, they look for stiffness and muscularity in their male partners and lovers, which is quite opposite to their own sense of attraction. However, it is not the case for males that they only love very thin and under weight girls. Rather, every person has developed his personal scale of beauty and attractiveness, which he aims to explores in women. “Fallon and Rozin concluded that 33% of men and 70% of women rate their current figure as larger than ideal and that body dissatisfaction among women is much larger than for men. They found that men judge the female figure they found most attractive as heavier than women's ratings of the ideal body shape.” (Prevos, 2005) The writer alludes to the negative influence of magazines, which falsely portray that thinness is desired by males, and hence misguide the girls to continue losing weight up to the dangerous point by reducing their diet and decreasing their immunity subsequently. Hence, the literature above-discussed vehemently admits the significance and influence of the fitness magazines especially on the lifestyle and fashion mode of the young men and women. Somehow, magazines also leave negative impacts too, where they are making the young individuals as slaves of fashion by keeping them busy in paying all heed to their appearance instead of concentrating upon studies and professional activities. Although fashion magazines have played very positive and constructive role in respect of determining the latest patterns of style, yet influx of cheap media personnel forcing the youth to get engaged into the fashion race by putting aside all their responsibilities and obligations. Hypothesis Studying fashion and fitness magazines and critically analyzing the tips and techniques they offer may turn out to be highly beneficial in respect of observing fitness and vigor. Independent Variable: Studying of fashion magazine and following their instructions Dependent Variable: Maintenance of latest fashions, activeness and physical fitness Research Methodology Universe: Since I have been studying in New York University for the last one year, I have selected university students and visitors of health clubs, libraries and beauty saloons, belonging to the same city as the population for my study. Thirty five respondents belonging to different age groups, genders and professions have been taken for the present research. The major reason for interviewing the people from various classes, statuses and age group is to ensure the quality of the research by taking divergent social classes and racial groups into research process. Sampling: 21 females and 14 males would be the units of analysis for the present research. Main objective behind selecting the members of both the genders was to give representation to the readers of fitness and fashion magazines. Since females have developed more interest in attending health and fitness clubs as well as visiting beauty parlors and salons, they have given sixty percent representation in the data selected for the present research. Research Tool: I have developed interview schedule as the tool for data collection for the present study. Interview schedule is also helpful in respect of assessing the answers of the respondents through body language, tone and expressions as well. The following close-ended question technique will be applied in the interview schedule by using the scale: Scale 1-5. 1. Strongly disagree: 2. Slightly disagree: 3. Neither agree nor disagree 4. Slightly agree: 5. Strongly agree: Discussion: The present research aims to concentrate upon the people belonging to age group from 16 years to 35 years. Since young individuals serve as the most up-to-date stratum of society, and immediately adopt every new change appear in the environment, they pay due heed to fashion and fitness in their everyday life. It is therefore the young individuals have been selected for the present study in order to estimate their trends in reading the fashion magazines. Sixty percent (i.e. twenty-one) respondents are taken from female gender, while forty percent (i.e. fourteen) respondents are representative of male stratum. The quota (non-probability) sampling has been applied to give representation to different age-groups, occupations and both the genders. Students, nurses, doctors, lawyers, writers, fashion designers and librarians have been interviewed during the course of research process. I personally visited beauty salons, libraries and residences of the respondents in order to conduct their interviews in order to obtain first hand knowledge about the views and opinions of the respondents. The respondents co-operated with me during the data collection and did not display any reluctance in respect of disclosing their liking and disliking. Female respondents were more enthusiastic and displayed extreme excitement while discussing their favorite topic i.e. fashion and fitness. The female respondents admitted to the very fact that they were interested in the fashion and fitness attributed to both males and females. However, they denied that the girls only preferred and idealized the muscular males only. On the contrary, one third of the respondents supported sober dressing, decent fashion, graceful looks and mannerism in males, rather than sticking to the latest fashion following and muscular physique only. While taking into account the replies made by the male respondents, they declared that they bought and studied fashion magazines most of the time in order to examine the latest fashion designs observed by the girls, so that they could purchase the same things for their wives, beloveds and girlfriends. They also admitted that reading of the female fitness magazines maintain romantic motives behind them. They also endorsed the very fact that they read male fashion magazines in order to present themselves more and more attractive in the eyes of female stratum of society in the same lines described in the fashion and fitness literature. Over one third of the male respondents declared blind imitation of fashion and fitness tips as mere wastage of time, as it is not only fashion that grows feelings of love and attraction towards the opposite sex; rather, many other factors also contributed in love maikng, they argued. One of the gay respondents also exhibited the presence of sexual motifs behind buying male fitness journals; though the girls did not show any signs of same sex attraction while giving answers to the open-ended questions expressed in the interview-schedule. Somehow, an overwhelming majority admitted to the influence of fashion magazine on their lifestyle and selection, though few respondents declared it mere the wastage of time, money and energy due to the very reality that they did not draw out the accurate picture of the priorities of an overwhelming majority of the public. After the data collection and analysis, the interpretation of results was made, which supported the research question, and thus hypothesis was upheld. Appendix Interview Schedule Name of the Respondent: _________________________________ Age: _____________________________________________ Education: _____________________________________________ Occupation: _____________________________________________ Income (per month): _____________________________________________ Ethnicity/Race: _____________________________________________ Address: ________________________________________________ Tel: ____________________________________________________ Mobile: _________________________________________________ Email: __________________________________________________ Date: ___________________________________________________ The chosen population: Upper, Middle and Lower strata of New York Size of the chosen population: Thirty-five _________________________________________________ The criteria used to decide on the chosen population: ________________________________________________________________________ The sample population: ________________________________________________________________________ Size of the sample population: ________________________________________________________________ Give details of the goals set to be achieved through this survey: Goal: Measurement of the magnitude of influence of fashion and fitness magazines on the health, fitness and style of regular readers References Cohen, Sara B. (2006) Media Exposure and the Subsequent Effects on Body Dissatisfaction, Disordered Eating, and Drive for Thinness: A Review of the Current Research Mind Matters: The Wesleyan Journal of Psychology Vol. 1 57-71 http://wesleyan.edu/psyc/mindmatters/volume01/article05.pdf Frederick, David A., Fessler, Daniel M.T. & Haselton, Martie G. 2005 Do Representations of Male Muscularity Differ in Men’s and Women’s Magazines? Science Direct Body Image 2 81–86 Retrieved from http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/comm/haselton/webdocs/frederickbodyimage.pdf Prevos, Peter. (2005) Differences in Body Image between Men and Women Psychology 1A Monash University retrieved from http://prevos.net/ola/body_image.pdf Rhodes, Alan & Zulaogo, Rodrigo (2003) A Semiotic Analysis of High Fashion Advertising retrieved from http://www.garhodes.com/Semiotics_of_Fashion.pdf http://www.tune-in.info/files/custom/Marketing/2008/Berg_Fashion_2008.pdf http://www.arcchart.com/reports/dl/fashionhandsets_PROMO.pdf Brown Education The Influence of Fashion Magazines http://tirocchi.stg.brown.edu/514/story/fashion_magazines.html Read More