Research Paper on:
1990s' Consumer Influence of Fashion Magazines

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
in relation to cultural influences, consumerism and the projected images of women and men in todays society has led to a great deal of research in the fields of sociology,  psychology and economics. While fashion magazines have changed their format a great deal in the past century as today their pages contain over one third in advertisements, their content has  also changed a great deal. Initially the focus of fashion magazines was womens clothing and the models were portrayed as older elite women who replaced the dolls previously used. Although  women models replaced the dolls, there was no emphasis on the body of the woman. Men did not appear in advertisements and no close-ups were taken of the models. The  influence of the fashion magazine on the female consumer at the beginning of the 20th century reflected the expectations of society in regards to conservative or opulent looks depending on  the decade. Today, fashion magazines tend to reflect the standards, or lack of standards, as now seen in the music and media industries. Models within fashions magazines, both men and  women, are seen as the disturbingly images that continuously reflect not necessarily the expectations of society but the unreal and artificial world of the media. Womens groups are concerned  that models depicted in todays magazines, because they are tall and thin, only represent 5 percent of the population and are impossible for women to live up to. Studies in  focus groups however have found that most women and men feel that they can discern from the images presented in fashion magazines those images which are more "realistic" than others.  In addition, it appears that in regards to consumer choice, fashion magazines are considered one of the less reliable sources available to consumers who prefer peer, family and local store