Is fashion
Daniel durose n0448465
CONTENTS Behaviour change Report FASH20031 2731 words 1-4 // Introduction 5-6 // Self-Esteem 7-8 //#Makelove 9-10 // Calvin Klien 11-12 // Generation Y 13-14 // Hot & Cold States 15-16// Geofencing 17-18 // The Consumer 20 // Conclusion 21 // References 22 // Bibliography 23 // Illustrations 24 // Research Methodology 26-34 // Appendix
Introduction
FIg.1 Dapne Selfe
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The fashion industry is jaded by stereotypes of what beauty actually is. Everyone is tanned, gorgeous, skinny and wrapped up the ideal fashion promotes. Women come in many ages, shapes and sizes, but you would never know it from looking at adverts. Every day we are bombarded by advertisements encouraging a way in which we should look in order to fit into society, and in each generation advertisements issue a new paradigm of female and male perfection. They invite comparison to ourselves and change our behaviour and feelings towards others, and in the likely event that the comparison with the advert is something we don’t favour, the adverts suggest we attain the ideal by buying another product. The problem with this is the fact that there is truly a lack of diversity in the things we see and read. It is said that this negative stereotype of the older generation in fashion can be changed “through exposure to pictures and descriptions of admired older woman” (Nelson,2004) How often do you see a 70 year old woman spread over a billboard, or modelling the latest collection by Chanel. The unfortunate truth- we never see this. In a study, which analysed editorial and advertising images it is shown that brands nearly never portray older women “despite proportions of older readers ranging as high as 23 percent, fashion magazines portray women over 40 sparingly, if at all. Even in magazines geared toward aging baby boomers, the images collectively present a thin, youthful, wrinkle-free ideal that’s impossible to maintain later in life.” (Pappas,2011). This is further evidence that nowadays older women are presented with an idyllic state, in which they know they will never be able to fit. Miuccia Prada, one of fashion’s most powerful figures, at 64 even agrees with the notion that there is an ideal within fashion- saying when confronted for not using older models - ‘Mine is not an artistic world, it is a commercial world. I cannot change the rules,’ (Prada, 2013). The impact of this is that designers are not willing to stand out of the group in order to encourage diversity with in fashion and also rises the fashion – will this aesthetic stereotype in which we subconsciously link with fashion change? And without figureheads fronting campaigns will our behaviour ever change towards having older models with in fashion advertisements? This was further explored when, Dapne Selfe [See fig.1] the oldest supermodel in the industry – asked Nicholas Coleridge (the publisher of vogue) “Will I ever get on the cover of Vogue?” And he said: “Darling, you just won’t sell.”(Selfe, 2012), further backing up the fact that fashion is increasingly ageist.
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"Conformity, to fit into fashion, stereotypes."
"the media shows the image of the perfect woman"
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Further to this, most women of all ages, shapes, sizes and race are engrossed in fashion- they should not be forced into looking at unrealistic role models. This can have an impact on the way in which many men and women view them self and effect their self-esteem. This has been explored through a case study which Dove conducted which is about the way women view themselves- The Real Truth about beauty: revisited, found that “only 11% of girls around the world feel comfortable using the word beautiful to describe their looks, showing that there is a universal increase in beauty pressure and a decrease in girls’ confidence as they grow older.” (Beruit,2010). These statistics back up the fact that with age there is a clear lack of confidence when it comes to the way they look, because the way they are shunned by the fashion industry though advertisements. Also, when asked if people thought there was a pressure to look and act a certain way nowadays, a huge 73% percent of the people responded ‘yes’. This reinforces the impact of the advertisements in which we absorb on a daily basis. Responses further go on to explain why they thought that there was a pressure to look a certain way- “Conformity, to fit into fashion, stereotypes.” And “because the media shows the image of the perfect woman”. This clearly backs up what was further said in the quote by Miuccia Prada and the fact that there is a set of rules in which everyone conforms to- even within the fashion industry and the fact that only a small number of women feel comfortable in their own skin. What’s more, I asked on my survey if all ages, races and body sizes are fairly represented in advertisements and magazines- the response in which I gathered was that there was in fact a loss of diversity within these sectors with 86% of people answering no. Thus, supporting all of what has been said about the fashion industry being discriminating towards people of an older age.
Additionally, this horrifying statistic by the Global Industry Analysts shows that the Global Anti-Aging Products Market will Reach “$291.9 Billion by 2015” (Jose, 2009)- further showing the impact that advertising as on the older generation. This was also an issue that was highlighted in the Museum of Communication in Berlin in which they showed the amount of anti-aging products we consume throughout a year, in hope for healthy and youthful looking skin.
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GREY? GORGEOUS?
However, some brands -much like Dove [See fig.2]- have realised there is a serious issue when it comes to the model they choose to advertise their company. There is also a general feeling for a lack of diversity in the fashion industry. When people were surveyed about whether they thought there was a lack of diversity in fashion advertisements, the general consensus was that there is in fact a noticeable absence of diversity with 80% of the people in which I asked agreeing. I also conducted an interview with Karen Williams, aged 47 who said “If advertisements had women of an older age, I would be much more interested in the particular brand as they obviously cater for women my age” (Williams,2014). This further shows a gap in using advertising as a tool of introducing other age ranges to their brand and that using the same type of person for the advertising is becoming somewhat mundane. Further backed up by, the research from Ben Perry (PhD student at Cambridge University)- who monitors female consumer responses to fashion states; “when women see adverts with models who are similar to themselves, they buy.”(Perry, 2011). This lack of diversity in advertising obviously shows a trick that some brands are missing out in, as we are an ever-aging population in which all ages need to be catered for.
FIg. 2 DOve Campaign
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"when women see adverts with models who are similar to themselves, they buy."”(Perry, 2011)
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FIg. 3 #Makelove Gap CAmpaign
#Make Love "Cyndi Lauper looks younger than me with all the work she has had done"
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However, all is not lost- some companies have realised the fact that there is a need for older women and men in advertising and more recently there has been a rise in more diverse advertising. One brand to lead the way in this is Gap with their #MakeLove Campaign [see fig.3], which sees the use of older models -men and women- which are not only older but also cultural role models. They have also used the hashtag to reach out to all means of social networking- this includes Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest. The hash tag allows consumers to communicate further between the social networks, which earlier on in the report when talking about changing the stereotypes of ageism –exposure to the issue will be a way of making it almost a normality like it should anyway. The success of using a hash tag on social media websites has been monitored in a case study: ‘Are Hashtags Adding Value to Users and Marketers’, which showed the exposure and ease to reach content with and without hashtags. The findings found that “Median viral reach per fan was .80% with hashtags, 1.30% without Hashtags”, (Grabenstien,2013), which demonstrates how much more exposure this campaign would get in comparison if they decided to not use the hashtag. Further more, it’s clear to see that Gap clearly understands what their target market is and what they want to see, with their a dvertisements varying from country to country. Gap as a brand in their marketing strategies have always used more diverse models, with the use of other race and body sizes. They have also been involved in project red, thus demonstrating that they do actually care about the diversity in their advertisements and it isn’t an act of tokenism. Whilst interviewing Karen Williams around the subject of diversity I asked for her opinion towards this advertisement and what sort of effect she thought it had on
people. The response that I got when I presented the image of Cyndi Lauper in the Gap advertisements [see fig.4] was that “They haven’t really represented a natural older woman, Cyndi Lauper looks younger than me with all the work she has had done” (Williams, 2014). This is a notion that I think is shared with many when they look at these images –if anything it makes people want to have plastic surgery in order to look that way, as Gap are clearly promoting what is thought to be in their eyes an ‘ideal’ older woman.
FIg. 4 #Makelove Gap CAmpaign
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"the power of celebrities is lower than the power of ordinary people" (Lindstorm,2011).
More recently Calvin Klein introduced older models into their advertisements. An example of this is the Every Mother Counts and Calvin Klein Partnership in 2013 [see Fig.5&6]. Christy Turlington aged 44, 20 years later is still doing underwear photo shoots for Calvin Klein, even after having two children. The use of Turlington shows consumers of the brand that normal people can wear the brand and makes the brand much more relatable to them. This also breaks the stereotypes that older women cannot be portrayed in fashion advertisement. In terms of behaviour change, the FMRI neuroscience studies conducted by Lindstorm, support the fact that in terms of consumers, when confronted by models that are relatable to themselves they are more likely to be more interested -“the power of celebrities is lower than the power of ordinary people.� (Lindstorm,2011).
FIg. 6 Calvin Klein Advertisment
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FIg. 5 Calvin Klein every mother counts
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FIg. 7 Dove Self-Esteem Project
Generation
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Further to the research done by Lindstorm, in marketing commination the dominant view is that AIDA is the most effective way of behavioural change within advertising. This is achieved when you create awareness, then build interest, and then motivate desire, before eventually seeing action. A good example of this would be ‘projects not campaigns’, which is a way a company/brand connects to consumers in a much personal and emotional way. An example of this is with the ‘Dove Self-Esteem project’[see fig.7], which aims to increase self-esteem in women all ages and sizes. I previously mentioned in a quote by Dove that there is such a low level of confidence with women, this project uses workshops and uses a marketing strategy of: gamification. This is a tactic that is used to enthuse the newer generations and consumers labelled ‘Generation Y’ –“Generation Y, the demographic born between 1980 and 2000, has not only grown up in a digital world. They are also enthusiastic online gamers, driving the growth of an industry that Gartner reckons will be worth $112 billion globally by 2015. These consumers are rapidly becoming employees as well—by 2015, they’ll form the majority of the US working population. And they like to be communicated with, both when shopping and at work, via the game-like mechanisms they plainly love” (Accenture, 2013). This generation is the market in which needs to be targeted in relation to awareness of diversity within fashion. This is further backed up by the theories of Dewey (1938) and Lewin (1947), in which experimental learning is defined as “the process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of experience” (Kolb, 1984). Thus, consumers who
have the opportunity to interact with, or experience, rather than passively receive a message, should be more likely to create personalized meanings and associations from this information, and then change their behaviour accordingly. This can be used to create a more positive association with having older women and men in advertising rather than a norm in which people are exposed too.
Y
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HOT& Another example of how behaviour can be influenced in terms of advertising is the ‘hot cold empathy gap’ a theory developed by George Lowenstein. This explains a way in which peoples behaviour and feelings towards something can be altered depending to if they are in a ‘hot or cold state’. This is further explained by Lowenstein “When in a cold state, we do not appreciate how much our desires and our behaviour will be altered when we are ‘under the influence’ of arousal. As a result, our behaviour reflects a certain naiveté about the effects that context can have on choice.”(Lowenstein, 2011).
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This helps explain that if the consumer is in a certain context, their behaviour would be altered in a way in which can be beneficial to a brand. This can be linked to the quote by ‘Lindstorm’ and the fact that if you can catch a person with in this hot state, it would be much easier to influence the way they think about a certain issue. This is linked as if advertising could be used as a way of showing consumers what they would like to see – for instance a relatable model of same shape and age- they are much more likely to be interested in that brand. Thus creating more awareness and less discrimination between ages within fashion.
COld State s 14
GEOFENCING A recent advance in technology has led to geofencing. This is a technique of which can be used by marketers to build geofences around a key physical site: stores, arenas, airports, schools, even competitor outlets. This allows a brand- depending on where there consumers go- to send out messages and adverts. Much like the technology used on Iphones to remind you to do something in a certain area [see Fig.8]. This in turn, in a marketing point of view, makes for a much more personalised experience with a brand. This will induce an unexpected response from the consumer and it has been proven that “dopamine goes crazy when you get something that is unexpected” (Wong, 2012). Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that makes us happy, this can be used within geofencing as if you receive something that is unexpected dopamine levels will increase in the body and in turn make the subject of the advertising much more aware of the advertisement which they have received. This is further backed up by Roger Dooley who states; “Dopamine is a key element in the brain’s reward system, and when marketers
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trigger that system they can reinforce behaviour and create positive associations” (Dooley, 2012) The way this will be implemented to make people more aware and to expose people and consumers to more diverse advertising is through optional shop alerts, which will be prompted when entering a store, or place where the adverts are most relevant. Case studies led by place cast have “showed a significant lift in consumer engagement” (Placecast, 2013) and 33% of people who under took the study were interested in the beauty and fashion alerts which would come through geofencing, which shows a real gap in the market for an innovative technology to be put in place.
FIg. 8 Iphones use of Geofencing
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consumer The consumers that this will be aimed towards are those who fit in to ‘Generation Y’[see fig.9] This is a generation that are tech-savvy- who have grown up with the advancement of technology nowadays. The use of the application being on mobile devices will mean that this generation will get the full benefit from the new technology as Generation Y is pluggedin 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This generation prefers to communicate through e-mail and text messaging rather than face-to-face contact. Other characteristics of this generation include being family-orientated, Achievement driven and attention seeking individuals. This decision also came from the notion that the common age of the people that completed my survey were aged 18-24, which fit into this category. I interviewed Chelsea Bailey, who fits in to the category of ‘Generation Y’. I asked if this technology would be beneficial and if she thought it would be a effective way of helping with consumers self-esteem and attitudes towards older and curvier women in advertisements. The reply was overall rather positive, especially in regard to the use of Geofencing. Here is the
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response that I got when I queried about the value geofencing would have on the fashion advertising industry – “I think that if you see something enough times it starts to become a norm, like for me I follow blogs which show curvier women and companies like forever 21 show curvier women, that in turn I think has helped me view my own body in a better light.” This also supports the statement which was earlier brought up in the report, in that if you see something enough times that image of people will become a social norm and in turn help people view themselves in a much better light. Additionally, this statement from the interview supports this further -“the expose of older people will mean that eventually it will become a social norm”.
Y
“"I think that if you see something enough times it starts to become a norm"
FIg. 9 generation Y COnsumer Profile
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“"The expose of older people will mean that eventually it will become a social norm"
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Conclusion Lack of diversity in terms of models used in advertising is an issue within the fashion industry. It is affecting the way in which people view themselves and others around them. With an ever-aging consumer base brands need to cater for people and what they want to see, rather than seeing the same thing within advertising. An increase in plastic surgery and the use of anti aging products is an adverse effect that such advertising has had on people. This will only change through exposure of a more realist ideal of what people actually look like. This is suggested throughout this report and through the use of Geofencing this can be achieved. Geofencing give brands a way of connecting with consumers in a more personal manner, showing people what they want to see and in turn helping people view themselves in a much more positive light. Being aimed at individuals that fit into generation Y means that the advertisements will impact them in a way that will possibly effect there work in the future and may lead them to making more diverse decisions within possibly the fashion advertisement industry.
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References Beruit, 2010. Dove Self-Esteem Campaign [Online]. Thoughtpick. Avaiable at: http://blog.thoughtpick.com/2010/03/dove-self-esteem-campaign-learnsocial-media-by-example.html [14/12/2013] Dooley, 2012. Juice Your Marketing with Dopamine [online] Neurosciencemarketing. Available at: http://www.neurosciencemarketing.com/blog/articles/dopamine-marketing.htm#sthash.HOjcU7fb.dpuf [03/01/2014] Elle, 2011. Is Fashion Racist [online PDF]. How to look good: Elle. Available at: http://www.howtolookgood.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/ Elle-is-fashion-racist.pdf [14/13/2013] Kolb, 2010. Learning Kolb [Online] Simply Psychology Available at: http://www.simplypsychology.org/learning-kolb.html [03/01/2013] Kolb, 1984. Behavior Change: Why Action Advertising Works Harder Than Passive Advertising [Online] theconsumerpsychologist. Available at: http://www.theconsumerpsychologist.com/2012/04/22/behavior-change-why-action-advertising-works-harder-than-passive-advertising/#sthash.QSbI1Seg. dpuf [17/12/2013] Lindstorm, M, 2010. Buyology: Truth and Lies About Why We Buy Lowenstien, G, 2011. The hot and cold empathy gap [Online] goramandvincent. Available at: http://goramandvincent.com/stream/post/the-hot-andcold-empathy-gap [02/01/2014] Nelson, Todd.D, 2004. Ageism: Stereotyping and Prejudice Against Older Persons. Bradford Books. Pappas. S, 2011. Magazines’ Youthful Ideal Threatens Real Women’s Sexuality [online]. Livescience. Available at: http://www.livescience. com/14562-fashion-magazines-vogue-older-women-sexuality.html [14/12/2013]
Bibliography Bailey (Chelsea), Full Time Mother, 03/1/2014 Elmore (Tim) and Cathy (Dan), Generation iY: Our Last Chance to Save Their Future, Aug 4, 2010 Lindstorm (Martin). Buyology: Truth and Lies About Why We Buy, 2010 Ross (Tim), Beyond the Aisle: Where Consumer Packaged Goods Brands Meet Technology to Drive Business Results, May 6, 2013 Todd D. Nelson, Ageism: Stereotyping and Prejudice against Older Persons, Bradford Books, Aug 20, 2004 Williams (Karen), Sales Assistant. 28/12/2013
Playcast,2013. Apparel Retailer [Online PDF] Playcast. Available at: http://placecast.net/research/case_study_apparel.pdf [05/01/2013] Sozzani. F, 2011. The big issue [online]. That’s not my age. Available at: http://thatsnotmyage.blogspot.co.uk/2011/06/big-issue.html [13/12/2013] Selfe. D, 2012. Meet Daphne Selfe, the worlds oldest Supermodel. Diversity in fashion [Online Blog]. Tuesday, 24 April 2011. Available at: http://diversityinfashion.blogspot.co.uk/ [17/12/2013] Wong, 2012. The Neuroscience of Bad Habits [online]. Huffington post. Available at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/elisha-goldstein-phd/bad-habits_b_1501477.html [02/01/2014]
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Illustrations Fig.1 Daphne Love Selfe (2013) [Photograph] At: http://exeterfashionsociety.wordpress.com/2013/02/07/ daphne-selfe/ Fig.2 Dove Real Beauty Campaign (2004) [Advertisment] At: http://blogs.uoregon.edu/j350doverealbeauty/ Fig.3 Gap #MakeLove Campaign (2013) [Advertisment] At: http://www.pinterest.com/pin/72409506482443056/ Fig.4 Gap #MakeLove Campaign (2013) [Advertisment] At: http://cyndilauper.com/news/#/news-story/ gaps-holiday-campaign-features-cyndi-lauper-and-billy-porter/ Fig.5 Calvin Klein collaboration with Every Mother Counts (2013) [Advertisment] At: http://models.com/ Work/calvin-klein-every-mother-counts-and-calvinklein-partnership-2013 Fig.6 Calvin Klein Underwear Fall/13 (2013) [Advertisment] At: http://models.com/work/calvin-klein-calvin-klein-underwear-women-fw-13/175312 Fig.7 Dove Self-Esteem Project (2012) [Photograph] At: http://carondelet.net/Aspring08/Project%201/alicia/bodypage%202.htm Fig.8 Iphones use of Geogfencing (2012) [Photograph] At: http://jeffreydonenfeld.com/blog/2011/10/applessios-5-finally-adds-geofencing/ Fig.9 Generation Y Consumer Profile (2013) [Compilation of images]
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Research Methodology My research will be centred on the fact that there is a lack of diversity and through using a series of surveys and conducting interviews I aim to attain an overview of how people feel towards the issue of the fashion industry being ageist. I made a survey monkey in order to gain an general consensus of people’s views and attitudes towards the issue that I was suggesting. I obtained 33 results mainly from people aged 18-24, from the 7th of January, I chose this way of survey people as it gave me a random sample and also a faceless response meaning that the results that I got were truly what people thought. This helped me to see what people thought and the statistics that I got from this game in very handy when it came to writing my report. I also decided to conduct and interview with Karen Williams. I did this in order to get the opinion of an older woman. I presented her with numbers of advertisements (of which I used as examples within my report) and asked for her opinions on what she thought towards then in terms of diversity and the use of older models in fashion advertising. This allowed me to see the response of an older consumer and the reaction in which I got for this allowed me to back up arguments within my report. Further to this I interviewed Chelsea Bailey, about the use of geofencing in the fashion industry. Aged 21, it meant that she fit into the category of the generation- ‘Generation Y’- of which the use of the new technology was aimed at. The results which I got from this allowed me to see that geofencing would be something which would appeal to this generation and would be successful in changing people’s mind towards a more diverse fashion advertisement industry with models of many ages and sizes within it. I found that the use of the interviews gave me a more personal response, which allowed and informed me more about the issue that I was presenting. It also allowed me to have a face to face reaction, which I found much more valuable than just using the results from the ‘Survey Monkey’. Moreover, I continued with my primary research by visiting the museum of communication in Berlin, which had an exhibition on at the time called what is beauty. This gave me an insight to how much, and what people go through to look younger and to get the ‘ideal’ appearance. Using this method allowed me to have a more hands on experience, and I was able to see for myself the impacts of advertisements.
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Appendix
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SURVEY RESULTS Infographic of Trends and results from Survey Monkey
en o Ther e is
owadays?
Do you think
n ay nw
No 70%
yes 30%
t hin k
, ge s a ll a t ha
rep re
No 86%
sen t
ed ? ine s gaz ma in
e to look a c e ssur r t ai Pre
in Magazine s and y t i adv s r e v ert i d i sm h ug ? ts en
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a
No 23%
Yes 73%
is Do Y ou t
ou think ther Y o D e
and body size s are fai s e c rly ra
Yes 14%
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What do you consider to be diverse within magazines and advertising?
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Do you think there is a pressure to look a certain way nowadays?
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Diversity Interview Karen Williams, 47, Sales Assistant Do you think there is a lack of diversity in advertising nowadays? I think that the adverts we see on a daily basis are being to merge into one, with less creativity and use of different models such as age, shape and size – we are constantly presented with the same thing Do you think fashion is ageist? There are definitely less older models in advertisements than there is younger skinnier models. How do you feel about this? It promotes an image that older women, such as myself are unable to achieve. I find myself constantly looking for the latest anti aging cream and seeking clothes to fit in. -Explain Gap Advert #Makelove-Show AdvertWhat do you feel towards this advert? They haven’t really represented a natural older woman, Cyndi Lauper looks younger than me with all the work she has had done. Fair enough they have used older models and a much more varied base of models, but they are still aren’t resembling a true image of what real people look like. Do you think if there were older models in advertising that the views of the elderly would change? I guess the more people see an image, and the more it is stressed that it is a norm, the easier it will be for people to accept themselves and what they look like. Is this something that you would like to see? I think it will help promote a better image as we are all after all aging all of the time. Its just something we cant stop from happening. It would be nice to see adverts that adapt with the ever aging generations.
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Interview Transcript: Geofencing
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Chelsea Bailey, 21, Full Time Mother: If ads were more catered to you and your age and body size would you be more likely to interesting in that particular brand? Yes, because it makes you feel better about yourself, els are normal people as well.
and makes you realise that mod-
Are there any ads you remember? The dove and Marks and Spencer’s using older women Advert with the Foxy Bingo Ladies – 2 Fat Ladies What do you look for in ads that make you attracted to a brand? Models that fit my style – I find it very hard to get bras and clothes that cater for my bust sizes so Ads that show clothes that fit people with curves and with a bigger bust. Otherwise I struggle to get clothing that fit me right with out going sizes bigger Does celebrity or a certain model persuade you to be more interested in a brand? No, I don’t really look for celebrities as they are usually very photo shopped and people go crazy over that certain so celebrity named makeup. I wold prefer to just see normal people. Do you think that there is an issue with in ads – in which ads only show one type or person of only a certain age? Yes, I suppose you only ever models of a certain age. Having had a child I find that ads don’t cater for me as a young mother, and doesn’t really help with self-esteem. I think that the sure advert was really impacting to me as it showed mothers and independent women which are normal. -Explain GeofencingSo do you think this would be successful in terms of advertising? Yes, I think that if you see something enough time it start to become a norm, like for me I follow blogs which show curvier women and companies like forver 21 show curvier women, that in turn I think has helped me view my own body in a better light. Do you think you would use it? Yes, I think it is essential that because it would be an app its optional, but I think that if I was to go shopping I would use it, to see what looks good on older models and different sized models. Have to ever had something unexpected from a brand? Boots have given me vouchers for skin care and my beauty products and double points.. 200 points when you buy something How did you feel? Great, I am more likely to buy something if I get a reward in return and with the points, it makes you feel like you are getting something for nothing,
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Do you think this will help to break down the barriers in terms of an ageist industry? Yeah, because the expose of social norm.
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older people will mean that eventually it will become a