Research Paper on:
Women's Magazines And Color

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
to a social divide among women from different ethnic background. The magazines that tend to exclude such women include Vogue and Cosmopolitan; magazines that do cater to the minorities  tend to opt for women who are very light in skin complexion, a point that has also caused a divide within the black community. When one ponders the reasons why  the exclusion of women from different ethnic backgrounds exists in contemporary popular culture, it is important to analyze such elements as the influence of advertising, the power of patriarchal control  and the overwhelming sense of whiteness that continues to perpetuate in modern-day womens magazines. II. ADVERTISING Targeting specific markets is a critical  component to establishing a secure consumer base; however, it is becoming more and more difficult to define the ever-blurring line of clear-cut barriers within the magazine industry. Gender, race,  income, age, lifestyle and usage are no longer presented in rigid, easily defined components, but rather, these demographic elements are in a constant state of change. Because of this  perpetual fluctuation, media focus must remain ever pliable. Such is the case with, for example, two mainstream lifestyle magazine publications: Black Beauty and Cosmopolitan. While both magazines market  their product to a primarily female audience, it can readily be argued that Black Beautys target is decidedly more ethnic in nature. Cosmopolitan, on the other hand, caters more  toward women of primarily Caucasian background, inasmuch as its targeted readership is not so ethnically oriented as to warrant the inclusion of minority races.  Utilizing these specific target audiences as a commodity allows both Black Beauty and Cosmopolitan Magazines to tailor their content to suit its respective readership. Inasmuch as Black Beautys