Representation of Aging Women in Fashion and Non-Fashion Advertisements

Publication Date

4-6-2018

Document Type

Poster

Department

Family and Consumer Sciences

Mentor

Ui-Jeen Yu

Mentor Department

Family and Consumer Sciences

Abstract

Representation of Aging Women in Fashion and Non-fashion Advertisements Authors: Abby DeWane, Marissa Wuethrich, Kenzie Brown, Katie Cavanaugh, Claire VanDerGinst, Emma Walton, and Ui-Jeen Yu Presenters: Abby DeWane, Marissa Wuethrich, Kenzie Brown, Katie Cavanaugh, Claire VanDerGinst, and Emma Walton Mentor Department: Family and Consumer Sciences Faculty Mentor(s): Prof. Ui-Jeen Yu ABSTRACT Women over forty are seldom included in fashion advertisements. Fashion media focus mainly on the representation of youth and young women. The ageist practices of fashion media potentially harm the body image of older women and classify the aging body as undesirable. Media's portrayal of older women negatively influences society' views on aging women, and builds a distorted view of older women and their aging process. Previous studies overlooked the differences in the inclusion of older women in both fashion and non-fashion magazines. Thus, the purpose of this study was to investigate how older women are represented in fashion media compared to non-fashion media, based on the social comparison theory (Festinger, 1954). A content analysis is conducted by collecting and analyzing a total of 200 advertisements from fashion and non-fashion magazines. Results indicate the majority of women featured in high popularity fashion and non-fashion magazines are young with few to no wrinkles, usually in their twenties. Non-fashion advertisements feature more women in their thirties and older than the fashion advertisements, but are often portrayed younger than they truly are. Both fashion and non-fashion advertisements prefer using younger women instead of aging women to market their products, even if the product is marketed to the aging demographics. Overall, aging women are highly underrepresented in both fashion and non-fashion advertisements in the American, youth-oriented culture.

Comments

DeWane-undergraduate, Cavanaugh-undergraduate, Weuthrich-undergraduate, Walton-undergraduate, Brown-undergraduate, VanDerGinst-undergraduate

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