Detailed Proposal

1) Topis area is advertising

2) The effects of the images of women in fashion advertisements for high street fashion brands on the female audience

3) Yes, teacher approval in principle

4) Print advertisements

5) The question of size zero and thin models is a hot debate in the press/media and the effects of the images of thin models on the female audience it is targetting. I also want to find out how women actually respond to the representation of women in fashion advertisements, and if they feel there is an idealised/unbalanced portrayal, looking at adverts using both thin and "real" models/women.

6) I will be looking at similar research into the effect of advertising on its targetted audience and if thin models create a negative effect of how women feel about their bodies.

7) Institutional context -

• the representation of women in fashion advertising and the effects on its female audience


• the theory that the use of thin, beautiful, young models in fashion advertisements creates a negative effect for its audience


• issues, such as the inbalance of "plus-size" or "real women" used in fashion adverts


• how does the female audience actually respond to fashion adverts and the effects on them

8) Audience context -

• Females aged between 14 - 50


• Focus groups in school


• Speaking to family and friends - questionairres/surveys
  

9) The key concepts -

• Audience - how they respond to fashion advertisements and the effects on them


• Institution - the high street brands


• Forms and Conventions - visual and textual codes in fashion advertisements


• Representation - the representation of women in fashion advertisements
  

10) Secondary research sources -

• Websites - Media Awareness
• Times Online
• Fashion Capital
• International Debate Education Association
• BNet Find Articles
• Daily Mail website

11) Primary research sources -

• Response from audience (focus groups, questionairres, surveys)
  
• My own textual analysis of fashion advertisements

12) My teacher has agreed on my focus

13) Not having a wide enough debate for my focus could be a limit - for example if the audience all respond the same to the adverts

14) None

15) Yes, teacher approval

John Lewis size 14 promoting "Real Women"

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/femail/article.html?in_article_id=483219&in_page_id=1879

http://www.fashioncapital.co.uk/index.php?option=content&task=view&Itemid=27&id=1916

Debenhams, H&M, and Marks & Spencer are the most popular shopping destinations for women aged 20 and 45. A survey carried out for Vogue magazine by Taylor Nelson Sofres revealed that 92 per cent of the 2,500 women questioned shopped for clothes at department stores, with 70 per cent regularly visiting Debenhams, followed by House of Fraser at 62 per cent and John Lewis at 56 per cent.


An increasing number of studies shows that exposure to thin ideal bodies in the media has negative effects on young women's body images, at least in the short-term. However, this research has (a) consistently confounded the effects of thinness and attractiveness, and (b) not investigated the potential use of alternative images in advertising that do not decrease women's body esteem. This study examines the impact of three types of advertisements—featuring thin models, average-size models, or no models—on adult women's body-focused anxiety, and on advertising effectiveness. As expected, exposure to thin models resulted in greater body-focused anxiety among women who internalize the thin ideal than exposure to average-size models or no models. Yet, advertisements were equally effective, regardless of the model's size. This implies that advertisers can successfully use larger, but attractive, models and perhaps avoid increasing body-focused anxiety in a large proportion of women.
Author(s): Emma Halliwell 1 Helga Dittmar 2
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Initial Proposal

1) The topic area for this proposal is advertising

2) I am aiming to focus on how the female audience responds to images of women in fashion advertisements for high street brands.

3) The main focus is how women are represented in the adverts and how this affects the audience - is it a realistic or idealised image?

4) I would choose this, as i have a specific focus and there are a lot of sources for research both on the internet and in books.

5) I am concerned about making my research too broad, i need to focus specifically on the effects of the adverts on the female audience - whether they like the "typical" portrayal of thin, young beautiful models or if they feel it is an unfair/unbalanced representation.

6) 4/5

Research on response to advertising

In a 1992 study of female students at Stanford University, 70% of women reported feeling worse about themselves and their bodies after looking at magazines. (A British study also had a similar finding.) Roughly 50% of teen girls in the U.S. read teen or adult fashion magazines.

Lanis and Covell (1995) conducted a study on images of women in advertising and their effects on beliefs about sexual aggression. Both men and women were less supportive of feminism and the Women's Movement after being exposed to sexually explicit advertisements.

According to a study (Posavac, Posavac, & Posavac, 1998) on the effects of exposure to pictures of fashion models from popular women's magazines on young women's concerns with body weight, even passive exposure to such images resulted in negative body image and increased weight concern. Negative body image is often the result of a social comparison process, in which discrepancies are perceived between the cultural ideal of attractiveness, usually characterized in the media by a particular emphasis on thinness.

Research ideas websites

http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/issues/stereotyping/women_and_girls/women_beauty.cfm

http://www.healthyplace.com/Communities/Eating_Disorders/body_image_advertising.asp

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article521097.ece

http://www.fashioncapital.co.uk/content/view/232/63/Appealing_or_Appalling_Images_of_Women_in_Advertising/

http://www.mad.co.uk/Main/News/Articlex/9973438b20b54b7385129c236125f86e/TV-programme-challenges-fashion-brands-to-use-

http://www.idebate.org/debatabase/topic_details.php?topicID=276

http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Students/del0001.html

http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2007/09_03/modelDM2109_228x691.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/femail/article.html%3Fin_article_id%3D483219%26in_page_id%3D1879&h=691&w=228&sz=49&hl=en&start=7&um=1&tbnid=p9KHkB6SDFEzgM:&tbnh=139&tbnw=46&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dthe%2Buse%2Bof%2Bwomen%2Bto%2Bpromote%2Bproducts%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26cr%3DcountryUK%257CcountryGB%26sa%3DN

http://www.nowtoronto.com/issues/2005-03-17/news_feature.php

http://www.adrants.com/2005/03/american-apparel-ad-campaigns-dance-with-.php

http://www.visit4info.com/brands/D/

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1272/is_n2620_v125/ai_19029242

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2294/is_n11-12_v37/ai_20391904/pg_1

Initial Proposal

1) This proposal is for the Advertising topic area

2) I am aiming to focus on the representation of women in perfume adverts

3) At the moment, i don't have a distinct question in mind, but i am aiming to research into how the portrayal of women in perfume adverts targets the audience, and if they are effective

4) I have chosen this focus, as i can cover a wide range in my research, such as studying institutions and the history of perfume adverts, whilst having a specific focus on one or two particular adverts.

5) I currently do not have any concerns for this proposal

6)4/5