本科毕业设计-时尚杂志广告对女性消费者的影响

Abstract
Since 1980s, obviously, fashion magazine advertisements in China have an enormous change both culturally and commercially. Fashion magazine advertisements came into being much earlier in the west than in China, so there is a big gap between China and western countries. Chinese fashion magazine advertisements fell behind. With the improvement of the quality of life, fashion magazine advertisements exert significant effects on female consumers. A foreign scholar named Veblen mentioned that people would consume once their demands for basic materials were satisfied. In this paper, the author will analyze the effects of “RUILI” and “FASHION”on female consumers. According to some present problems of fashion magazine advertising, some strategies are applied to fashion magazine advertisements. This paper mainly focuses on how to improve the fashion magazine advertisements so as to provide female consumers with good advice. Hence, they will be able to cultivate rational consumption behavior.
Key words: fashion magazine advertising; female consumers; effects; strategies
摘要
自二十世纪八十年代以来，时尚杂志广告已经成为引人注目的文化和发展的商业。

时尚杂志广告在西方社会早有发展，中西时尚杂志广告有很大的差别，中国时尚杂志广告发展落后于西方国家。

随着生活质量的提高，时尚杂志广告对女性消费者的影响越来越明显。

国外学者维布伦提到消费者在满足基本物质后会继续消费。

本文首先分析“瑞丽”，“时尚”对女性消费者的影响，根据女性消费状况以及存在的问题，然后给出策略，分析如何提高时尚杂志广告的质量，希望能给消费者提供一个理性的消费建议。

关键词：时尚杂志广告；女性消费者；影响；策略
Contents Abstract (i)
摘要....... .. (ii)
1. Introduction (1)
1.1 Research Background (1)
1.2 Introduction of Fashion Magazine Advertisements (1)
1.3 The Significance of Research (2)
2. Literature Review (4)
2.1 Domestic Research Conditions (4)
2.2 Foreign Research Conditions (4)
2.3 The Prospects of Fashion Magazine Advertisements (5)
3. The Effects of Fashion Magazine Advertisements on Female Consumers (6)
3.1 An Analysis of the Effects of Fashion Magazine Advertisements (6)
3.1.1 Impact of Brands (7)
3.1.2 Competition in the Same Industry (7)
3.2 Female Consumption under the Guidance of Fashion Magazine Advertisements (6)
3.2.1 Changing Consumers’ Comsumption Behavior (6)
3.2.2 Lacking Humane Care (6)
3.3 Development Strategies (7)
3.3.1Understanding Female Consumer s’ Hearts (8)
3.3.2 Urging Rational Consumption (9)
3.3.3 Education with Humane Care (10)
4.Conclusion (11)
References .................................................................................................... 错误！未定义书签。

Acknowledgements...................................................................................... 错误！未定义书签。

1.Introduction
1.1 Research Background
Since 1980s, obviously, fashion magazine advertisements in China have seen an enormous change both culturally and commercially. Fashion magazine advertisements developed so early in the west. The levels of development are quite different. Chinese fashion magazine advertisements fell behind. Many people have focused on the development of fashion magazine advertisements, who have kept pace with fashion all the time. With the help of advanced technology, the forms of advertisements are also diversifying. However, fashion magazine advertising is one of the most popular advertising media to female consumers, who is the most potential group to read these fashion magazines. As for some housewives, reading fashion magazine is a good choice to kill time. As for some white-collar females, when they are wealthy enough to afford something more expensive, they will try to find something new to refresh themselves after work. Consequently, the relationship between female and fashion magazine advertisements is really a good research issue that is worthy of further study.
In these years, lots of scholars have done researches on the effects of fashion magazine advertisements on both female and male consumers. A scholar named Chen Taozhen pointed out the reasons for successful fashion magazine advertisements, including market division and accurate positioning, innovation, strategies for the second sale, and customers’ satisfaction. If there are some shortcomings of these five parts, fashion magazine advertisements will not be successful. The author holds that the most important thing is to satisfy customers. The author would like to analyze this part rather than other four parts. The reason is that once consumers are satisfied, the sales of fashion magazines will be great. However, to some extent, fashion magazine advertisements cannot meet all people’s needs. Under such circumstances, many problems may arise. In this paper, the author will analyze the effects of these problems and takes some effective measures to resolve them. The author will focus on how to improve the quality of fashion magazine advertisements so as to give good advice to consumers, and then they will have good consumption behavior and consume rationally.
Nowadays, “f ashion”has become a hot topic in our daily life. Since fashion is globally concerned, it has affected the public. Fashion advertisements attract a lot of public attention. There is no doubt that fashion magazine advertisements have effects on female consumers that are inevitable. To a certain extent, they can be minimized. As we know, each coin has two sides，with both advantages and disadvantages. Two advantages will be listed here. Fashion magazine advertisements can provide female consumers with fashion and make female feel their status elevated invisibly. However, fashion magazine advertisements lead female consumers to consume irrationally. The author will analyze the disadvantages in the following parts.
1.2 Introduction of Fashion Magazine Advertisements
We will pose a question when we see this title. What exactly is fashion magazine advertisement? In response to this question, people from different areas hold different points of
view. In my opinion, fashion magazine advertisement means that the advertisement is not only promoting new product or dresses and even making give useful knowledge to consumers.
There is a sentence, “haojiu bupa xiangzi shen, haojiu wuxu qingtengzhi.(好酒不怕巷子深，好酒无需青藤枝)”, we can see that there was such an advertisement like that in the history, but its function was not noticed. Advertisements are more and more prominent as economy grows. Nowadays, we can see that fashion magazine advertisements bear many functions in our daily life, such as economic function, social function, and informative function, persuasive function and so on. Firstly, advertisements offer female consumers the latest information of products and persuade them to buy these products and make the life of people convenient. Advertisements have become an essential economic factor of promoting products. Secondly, advertisements can set up a good image for products. Advertisements can explore a new potential market for the sales of products. Thirdly, advertisement enriches people’s life with humanism knowledge.
With the rapid development of fashion magazine advertisements, various new forms will become advertising media. However, fashion magazine advertisements are one of the most popular advertising media to female consumers. Fashion magazine advertisements tell much knowledge about ideology through the text, arousing people’s desire to consume and instructing people to buy things as told in the advertisement. It attracts more and more passers-by to dress them up fashionably in order to follow the fashion. Under the influence of this phenomenon, some people believe that fashion magazine advertisements will take place of news in the future.
In fact, the distinguished character of fashion magazine advertisements is that the text is embedded into pictures and texts just take a small proportion of fashion magazine advertisements. People don’t need to spend much time in thinking, so they can receive much information simultaneously. The statistics of researches show that women are the biggest consumers of fashion magazines. Fashion magazines are guides to female life, which will make them keep pace with fashion. Perhaps, they cannot afford goods advertised in fashion magazines, but they can enjoy themselves while reading fashion magazine advertisements. As we know, every commodity symbolizes fashion, bringing ineffable temptation and expectations to consumers. Consumers’ expectations are not just to buy things they want and they want to be admitted in the fashion area during this purchase process. Without the guidance of fashion advertisements, fashion magazines will lose its value.
1.3 The Significance of Research
Since 1990s, fashion magazines have fully developed with the rapid development of China's economy, such as “ELLE”,“RUILI” and other kinds of such fashion magazines. They began to be flourished. Since 2000, Chinese male fashion magazines appeared, such as “Fashion Sir”, “Demeanor”, “FHM”and so on. From that time, many scholars have spent much time conducting researches on many aspects about male’s view towards fashion magazines. However, little attention is focused on the effects of fashion magazine advertisements on female consumers. Indeed, as the status of female is improved, more and more fashion magazine advertisements are targeted to female. Female consumers constitute a high proportion of readers. It is necessary to
do a research on them.
Generally speaking, the analysis of the effects of fashion magazine advertisements targeting female consumers is flexible. Because of the popularity of fashion magazines in our society, the data sources of the analysis are plentiful and diversified. Furthermore, the researches on fashion magazine advertisements will be contributed to the improvement of promotion strategies. Meanwhile, female consumers can benefit from researches. Female consumers are more sensitive to such advertisements. Finally, the influences on consumers’ psychological motivation may be helpful for manufactures, admen and consumers at the same time.
The 21st century is considered as the century of information, the importance of advertising becomes significant. Advertising is playing an increasingly important role in our society. Dyer claims that “advertising is one of the mechanisms used by modern capitalism to organize and ensure markets for its goods. It contributes to the growth and prosperity of the society. Despite its positive effects, the negative sides are great, which are not supposed to be neglected (Hu，2009).” The author will discuss the negative effects of fashion magazine advertisements by the analysis of some representative examples, exploring the features and existing problems. What’s more, some effective strategies might be applied to solve these problems.
2.Literature Review
2.1 Domestic Research Conditions
In February of 1980, the first fashion magazine entitled SHIZHUANG came into being in the mainland of China. While in 1988, “ELLE (世界时装之苑)”created the history of Chinese fashion magazines (Wang, 2001:203-204). According to statistics, in 2005, Chinese fashion magazines are in the top sales. It took up more than 40% of the market shares of the magazine industry. At present, the “FASHION”, “RUILI”, “ELLE(世界瑞丽时尚之苑)”，these three fashion magazines dominate fashion markets with their history of over ten years, abundant international resources, and absolutely competitive brands.
Nowadays, the consumptive space is the possibility for enlarging and expanding. The styles of Chinese magazine advertisements are copies of those in western countries. Although fashion magazine advertisement industry was originated in western countries, it spreads from countries to countries, regions to regions and therefore absorbing diverse elements. As for Chinese fashion magazines, there are many differences as compared with other countries. For one thing, Chinese people cannot adapt themselves to the thought of westerners. For another, the thought of westerners breaks into our thoughts. Due to this different way of thinking, Chinese try hard to grasp the idea from fashion magazine advertisements but they are not sure what they mean. We just pursue the fashion, ignoring the local culture, so that the content of advertisements should be localized.
2.2 Foreign Research Conditions
The advertisements have been in existence for a long time, advertisement can be said that they are here and there.With the development of society and the improvement of the quality of life, fashion magazine advertisements become closer to people. The leisurable lifestyle is gaining popularity among people with the progress of modernization. It is not a bad thing, because fashion magazine advertisements make people relax and joyful. Foreign studies have shown that people will get 150 pieces of advertisements that are exciting from news paper, radio, television, and other media every day. But there is an average of about 11 to 20 advertisements being absorbed by people, and there is some attention to fashion advertisements（Yao，2001). It is possible to touch consumers' hearts when there is some attention to people. As time goes, advertisements become one part of our life.
As what I have mentioned in the previous part, fashion magazines came into being much earlier in western societies. In 1867, the American fashion magazine, “HAPPERS BAZAAR”became the first fashion magazine in the world. In 1921, the Parisian fashion magazine, “L’OFFICIEL”, became the first fashion magazine in Europe. Similarly, they are publicized on the basis of fashion. Gradually, they developed, including fashion, beauty, and other aspects of life. For nearly a century, occident fashion magazines have been increasing. It means that the business of fashion magazines is flourishing. Since 1980s, occidental countries have expanded their fashion magazines oversea. There are many editions all over the world. For example, there
are 34 editions of “ELLE” in the world, including Chinese edition.
Recently, foreign scholars have had a further understanding of fashion magazine advertisements. Podrida put forward a concept of “the value of symbols”. He thought that we have experienced the times of “the value of use”and “the value of exchange”. Now we have entered the times of “the value of symbols”. This way of consumption not only develops for new need of consumption, but also promotes full community participation（Podrida, 2000:92). As a result, this consumptive magazine meets the society’s needs or demands.
2.3 The Prospects of Fashion Magazine Advertisements
In recent years, fashion magazine advertisements have become more prominent in advertisements industry. The annual turnover of fashion magazine advertisements goes up from 20% to 30%. The success of its sale is related to the content of magazine advertisements, layout, and pattern. Actually, fashion magazine advertisement was originated from western countries, so Chinese advertising is dependent on foreign models. It lacks competition. In addition, foreign journals have entered China’s market, which makes the road of Chinese fashion magazine advertisements still be full of twists and turns. The market for Chinese fashion magazine advertisements is rather small. Compared with markets in western countries, the market for fashion magazine in China is still not mature. But it has potentiality to subdivide location of the market. The adviser would like to open new markets in the market segments, which can be developed well and meet the reader’s individuality. Meanwhile, it can extend the space of development of fashion magazine advertisements. After all, how big the market demands is, how much consumer needs is. So it must be proceeded through tangible things, such as art, literature work, clothing and intangible concept, history, knowledge, law, morality, custom etc. that embed in a fashion magazine advertisements, which make the reader have comprehensive development and all-round education in this aspect（Wells, Burnett, Moriarty,2005:112).
Actually, advertisements had ever been ignored before, but today they have the value of reference in our daily life. They exist all over the world. Firstly, they take the first place for readers. Advertisements attract readers’ attention through a lot of valuable contents. Secondly, western media criticized so many things, noting that magazines cannot tell female what to do. As a female consumer, she should have her own ideas for what she wants to do and she should know how to act in the daily life. Thirdly, advertisements should encourage female to contribute themselves to magazines, so that they can naturally feel that they are in an area of fashion. It can equalize women's social status and it has also played an active role in society, which means that men and women are equal.
3. The Effects of Fashion Magazine Advertisements
on Female Consumers
Fashion magazine advertisements exist at home and abroad. It has brought about many effects on female consumers. As we know, everything has two sides like a coin, the effects of fashion magazine advertisements are no exceptions. On one hand, fashion magazine advertisements enrich our sensory world and aesthetic life. On the other hand, they can guide consumers to purchase what they need and enrich their fictional world. Nevertheless, there are some negative effects. As the market for fashion magazine originated in western countries and Chinese fashion magazine advertisements were copied from the model of those in western countries, female consumers catch up with the trend of western fashion. Sometimes, it will induce people to buy things that are unnecessary for them.
3.1 An Analysis of the Effects of Fashion Magazine Advertisements
There are many plausible explanations for these phenomena. The author will analyze the impact of brands and the competition in the corresponding industry.
3.1.1 Impact of Brands
Fashion magazine advertisements may have sold in the market for many years and enjoy high popularity. Their quality of goods advertised can be represented by their brands. This fashion magazine has many advertisements of famous brands. Take “XINCHAO” as an example, the magazine, “XINCHAO”, makes a position as: “modern ideas, fashionable life.”When consumers read advertisements, they can get some persuasive themes that they cannot get from our daily life, because readers receive pure information, self-awareness and mental satisfaction. Generally speaking, consumers like brands deeply. They like to pay high for brands. However, the significance of consumptions is neglected. In fact, the brand is deeply rooted in consumers’weakness of human nature.
3.1.2 Competition in the Same Industry
With the fierce competition of fashion magazine advertisements, advertising is developed similarly. They were copied from each other. The seller will find a way to sell magazines well. For example, consumers buy a product with a gift. Paradoxically, each magazine doesn’t have promotional gifts. In this case, it causes side-effect of promotion. The problem is that readers will produce psychological desire. Female consumers will spend more money on buying fashion magazines that they like. So the competition of advertising will bring about negative effects.
3.2Female Consumption under the Guidance of Fashion Magazine Advertisements
Under the guidance of fashion magazine advertisements, female consumers pay more attention to the value of fashion rather than the value of use. In this mode of consumption, people buy goods on the basis of fashion not the value of use. Perhaps, small group of consumers’
consumption is to buy the value of use, while others pay high for the pursuit of fashion. For example, consumers buy a lot of products that they may never use, for the simple reason that such products are fashionable. As a result, those products just stay over there, which is just the irrational consumption.
3.2.1 Changing Consumer s’ Consumption Behavior
Veblen put forward the concept of conspicuous consumption in “the theory of freedom”. He thought that people would consume when their demands for basic materials are satisfied. They consume in pursuit of social status, prestige, honor and the necessities. In other words, their consumptions are investments in fame and status.
As we all know, thrift is one of virtues cherished in China. However, this has been changed since western fashion magazine advertisements entered China. Chinese like imitating the lifestyle of westerners. They enjoy their life so much instead of doing many things.
3.2.2 Lacking Humane Care
Attractive fashion magazine advertisements will catch consumers’eyes. With the rapid development of fashion magazines, the content of fashion magazine advertisements is superficial. It emphasizes much on stimulation of sense, dreams and materials. Facing the diffusion of western magazine fashion advertisements, female consumers buy something that is of little value, but just pursue fashion.
3.3 Development Strategies
It is necessary for editors of fashion magazines to grasp the value of advertisements and female consumers’ mental desire. The advertiser should regard fashion as a popular thing and a kind of culture. Fashion magazine advertisements create the ambiance of modern fashion culture.
As mentioned above, these problems are inevitable. Some effective strategies should be adopted for fashion magazine advertisements. First of all, fashion magazine advertisements should be trusted with brands advertised in fashion magazine advertisements. That is the first step for successful fashion magazine advertisements. The second step is that fashion magazine advertisements should be deeply rooted in the soil of local culture. The last step is to teach people with humanistic spirit, in order to urge female consumers to consume rationally. For instance, fashion magazine advertisements should be diversified between cultural and educational programs in order to cater to people’s spiritual and cultural needs.
In the face of this situation, local advertising content must be run through the whole process of the journal. Advertisements should absorb western philosophy and add up special culture of the history of China and be embedded creative thinking into fashion magazines, in order to educate consumers with humanism.
On the surface, advertisements give promotion to the goods, which are made by the advertising campaign. In short, advertisement makes a psychological propaganda through promoting goods. The key to successful advertisements depends on whether advertisements can
make consumers at the first place or not. Consequently, fashion magazine advertisements are not merely representatives of commercial culture, but important components of modern fashionable life, taking the responsibility for creating fashionable life. It will become a legalization of cultural phenomenon that it can provide people with humanistic contents, aesthetic appreciation. At the same time, people can make their dreams come true. They are always encouraged to buy something that they think can raise their status intangibly. Gradually, advertisement is changed from shopping guide to cultural guide.
3.3.1Understanding Female Consumers’ Hearts
Fashion magazine, “FASHION COSMO”, seize s female characteristic of consumption. It can sell well and also cater to consumers’appetite. The representative fashion magazine, “FASHION COSMO”, gives female an answer to what advertisement tells. At the same time, consumers can get some important themes from advertisements. Female consumers can predict fashionable things in the future.
Whether we realize the fact or not, beauty is a hot topic in our society, which will never be neglected by people, especially those female with strong self-aesthetic consciousness. The pursuit of beauty will never stop. If advertisers want to establish seller-customer relationship with female consumers in the long time, they should understand female consumers’ psychology.
It is obvious that new generations admire brands. They are loyal to brands. They pack themselves up by using suitable brands, because people want to be beautiful and attractive, those advertisements should give readers the hint if they use this product, they will be beautiful and glamorous, too. We know that “Yishion” and “G2000” are brands. But we are not sure that why “Yishion” is very popular for common casual clothes, but “G2000” is popular for professional suits. Female would buy“Yishion”when they want to buy casual clothes, while female consumers buy “G2000” when they want professional suit. The reason is that brands can give consumers a sense of promotion for his status, and brands can create cultural values. They trust brands because brands are close to their status, rank, fame, honor, and confidence. Consumers can gain psychological satisfaction.
As is known that the 21st century is fashion century, female consumers admire fashionable clothes, shoes and things that they are using. Under such circumstance, sometimes it is easy to lead female consumers to show themselves off. The famous fashion magazine, VOGUE, can successfully lead consumers to buy the products according to the suggestions made in advertisements. The reason is that those fashion magazines are publication with high credibility in their mind. In fact, it is essential to pay attention to brand identity in that the brand plays an important role in fashion magazine advertisements. The advertisements should be penetrated with brand images in the whole, in addition, with stars. According to the statistics, about two thirds of female like identifying brands. It is obvious that the brand personality is crucial for magazine advertisements and it caters to people’s psychology.
What female consumers concern about is not only external beauty but also healthy beauty. One typical example will be presented to illustrate:
E.g. Whisper：Female Renew, Protection Renew (女人更新，保护更新).
As we know, “Whisper” is one of the best brands for female sanitary napkins. An advertiser should understand two aspects on female consumers. The one aspect is that female like renewing for herself. The other aspect is that female need to protect themselves. From this advertisement, it shows that female consumers can be self-renewal and be protected when they use “Whisper”. Female consumers can renew themselves anytime. It means that the brand strives for progress and innovation, so that it can protect female well. This advertisement reflects a new sense of independence. Hence, female consumers can be impressed.
Three things for successful fashion magazine advertisements will be listed below. First of all, if fashion magazine advisements want to be special, it should be specialized on itself, otherwise it just wastes money. Besides, fashion magazine advisements should be identifiable. It can be easily recognized among many magazines with its brand. Last but not least, advertisements should please consumers with methods and skills that give consumers good impressions.In consequence, brands are displayed with their own features. People hold that they raise her status in the same crowd, trying the best to pack themselves with brands, because brands help them to be identified in the society.
3.3.2 Urging Rational Consumption
Generally speaking, when people are stimulated by some factors, no matter they are good ones or bad ones, people will do something accordingly. As to consumers’psychological motivation, sometimes, female consumers buy products for instinctive demands, but most of time, they seek for diversified material and spiritual life and like to compare this advertisement to another one and try to acquire more information about products before they buy the goods.
Actually, many consumers pay attention to advertisements emotionally. Directional reflection is a response after stimulating by the objective, so an advertisement remains as a stimulus. Its own characteristic will attract consumers' attention. In times of information, the overwhelming advertisements are as promotional tools and there are few reasonable advertisements. However, if fashion magazines want to be strong in this industry, the advertiser should make sure that their advertisements are trustworthy. Facing this competitive market, rational advertisements are needed in fashion magazines. In fact, rational advertisements have a positive effect on consumers’ psychology, leading them to consume rationally. We will see that female consumers will master the right consumption behavior when their sense of attention is awakened.
Rational advertisements contain several steps. The first step of rational advertisements is that advertisements should be attached with good designs so as to rationalize residents' consumption selection. The content of advertisements should be informative that teaches female consumers how to consume rationally. The advertisers should make female consumers know the comprehensive knowledge and the implicit meanings of advertisements as much as possible. That is to say, female consumers should understand the principle of education from fashion magazine advertisements. Advertisements lead female consumers to consume rationally, at the。