Cross-Cultural Examination of Women’s Fashion and Beauty Magazine Advertisements in the United States and South Korea

Abstract

To compare differences in the construction of women's images across the United States and South Korea, this study examines advertisements in fashion and beauty magazines of the two countries. The content analysis includes product/service types, models' characteristics, and the degrees of female objectification in this advertising venue. More body-related than non-bodyrelated product ads are prevalent in magazines from both countries, yet Korean magazines feature more body-related ads than those in the United States. Caucasian models are predominantly used across the two countries, including Korean publications. Although both Korean and U.S. women are predominantly portrayed as decorative objects, models are more often shown as submissive and passive in Korea but a greater emphasis is on body and sexuality in the United States. The homogenized beauty standards and high levels of objectification observed across the two countries demand marketing strategies that are more inclusive of diverse, active images of women.

Identifying Antecedents of Risky Appearance Management Behaviors

“…For example, researchers have suggested that beauty for Korean women is constructed from facial attributes rather than the body, while the reverse appears to be true for U.S. women (Frith, Shaw, & Cheng, 2005;Jung & Lee, 2009). Namely, Korean women reported engaging in cosmetic procedures followed by extreme dieting as compared to U.S. women who reported engaging in the use of diet aids followed by extreme dieting.…”

“Putting on” Sexiness: A Content Analysis of the Presence of Sexualizing Characteristics in Girls’ Clothing

“…The body ideal promoted for women in Western cultures is unrealistically thin and increasingly "sexy." About one-half of advertisements in a variety of magazines were found to depict women as sex objects (Stankiewicz and Rosselli 2008), and the sexualization of women in advertisements increased significantly between 1983 and 2003 (Reichert and Carpenter 2004). Peter and Valkenburg (2007) concluded that there is increased sexual content in the media, particularly with the advent of the internet.…”

Offensive advertising in the fashion industry: Sexual objectification and ethical judgments of consumers

“…Further, the women in the advertising images look S.Y. Bae et al 242 perfect and absolutely beautiful, which indicates the role of the media in idealizing beauty and maximizing attractiveness (Jung & Lee, 2009). D&G portrays the woman as a provocative housewife who spends money on beautifying herself to represent an object provoking sensual thoughts in her husband.…”

“…Even though this figure represented fecundity and was shown as a decorative element, a sexual object, and dependent on men, D&G Facebook visitors appeared not to consciously notice the stereotyped images of women portrayed in the ads. Further, the women in these advertising images reflected idealized beauty to maximize attraction (Jung & Lee, 2009). Most of the Facebook visitors evaluated the models and products.…”

“…Goffman (1979) suggested that advertisements are often used to construct the ideals of femininity and to stereotype different gender roles. He identified subtle cues of gender stereotyping in advertisements: women lying down on a bed, touching themselves -indicating the soft and precious female body -and looking toward the air, whereas men are depicted grasping objects, leading sexual moments and directly looking at the reader, indicating the tough, rugged male body (Jung & Lee, 2009). Objectification theory provides a framework for understanding how women are objectified differently in the advertisements of the two companies under study, Dolce & Gabbana and American Apparel.…”