COSNOPOLITAN BREAKING NEWS!
red is the new black IN THE LATEST LINE OF
4 THE SKIN
SPECIAL NOVEMBER ISSUE beauty trends that need to die in 2015
YOU DESERVE??
How To: wear someone’s cultural identity as a costume!
Brown gets no crown, sorry Queen B.
WHITE IS TLY APPARENHT STILL RbIeG cause lightening r lighting? o 5 1 0 2 IN
INDIAN APPAREL
“This leopard print really brings out my inner African!”-Beyoncé reported
5X MORE LIKELY
TO SEE A WHITE WOMAN ON OUR COVER! it’s casual
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Even when we do have minorities, we can just photoshop them to look white!
ON THE COVER
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This cover is the introduction to our special edition apology of “Cosmopolitan” about the portrayals of minority women in media. Our title, “CosNOpolitan,” is inspired by our past negative exploitation of women of color. In our NOvember issue, we wanted to showcase how that is NO longer acceptable. We apologize for our inaccurate representations that perpetuate racism and hegemony through cultural appropriation and dehumanization of these women we have featured. For example, the picture of Beyoncé on our cover shows a common way that minority women are shown throughout our past issues and other media: animalistic. In this picture of Beyoncé, she is photographed wearing hardly anything except a black t-shirt and leopard print underwear. We added, “the leopard print really brings out my inner African!” as a sidebar to connect to how media shows African women as literal animals. It also adds to the point that these women aren’t even considered American (when born in America) but solely African due to their skin-tone. The sidebar, “Even when we do have minorities, we can just Photoshop them to look white!” describes instances in our past magazines where minority women skin tones are literally edited to be whiter than their actual skin. The photo strip featured to the right showcases Beyoncé in a L’Oreal ad back in 2008, in which people accused her for literally bleaching her skin after the ad showed up in “Cosmopolitan”. Whitewashing perpetuates hegemonic ideals of whiteness and beauty standards. Other magazines including “Vanity Fair,” “Elle” and “Vogue” have whitewashed celebrities such as Lupita Nyong’o, Gabourey Sidibe, Rihanna and Naomi Campbell. Magazines have consistently made the argument that it was lighting and not lightening — that is to say that instead of photoshopping to lighten Nyong’o’s skin, they’ll pretend that the light in the room blew her out, almost naturally. In an industry where every single detail is manipulated to be perfect, it is insulting this is the idea of perfection, and that minority skin tones are less appealing. However, this is just one example. There are many other instances of inaccurate minority portrayal tackled in our culture jams. Prepare to be educated. XOXO, Cosmopolitan Team
COSNOPOLITAN
NOV
THE APOLOGY ISSUE
FROM THE EDITORS what’s your best inner beauty tip? “Love yourself. You are worth more than your appearance. Don’t let society’s standards of beauty bring you down.” -Lauren “We’re all beautiful, it’s just a matter of expressing that beauty to the best of our ability, and the best way to express beauty is your confidence.” -Charlie “Don’t let others define your identity. Your skin is beautiful regardless of the color.” -Chloe “It doesn’t matter what you are on the outside. That doesn’t define your beauty. Skin color is only skin deep.” -Anna
Teaching Assistant: Smita Aggarwal Group 9: Jeremy Karll, Danielle Katz, Lauren Kight, Jessie King, Charlie Kipp, Anna Kohls, Matthew Krieg, Patrick LaBelle, Paige Lalain, Chloe Lane
It is astounding the amount of white women presented in media today in comparison to women of minority. Even when minority women are portrayed, they are typically over-sexualized, dehumanized, objectified, etc. We, at “Cosmopolitan,” have taken this all into consideration and have decided to take a stand and change the social construction illustrated by media representation of minority women. Our special edition of “CosNOpolitian” was created for every single woman in America. With this issue, we wanted to point out the culture appropriation and stereotyping in these advertisements and stories. The way our writers exposed the dehumanizing way women of minorities are portrayed in the media was eye opening. After the controversy around our article, “21 Beauty Posts that Need to Die in 2015,” “Cosmopolitan” as a staff decided to make a change in our company. We realize that oppression of minority women and the use of hegemonic words and images have gone on for too long, and we even contributed to it for a while. We want to apologize again for that article by quoting what we said on Twitter: “Empowering and supporting all women is our mission, and here, we fell short. We apologize and will do better in the future.” It is not easy for young women to grow up in our society today. We want our readers to be confident and fearless, but that’s hard when we are constantly surrounded by advertisements falsifying what a real woman is supposed to look and be like. We are constantly pressured to be the “all-American girl” to be accepted and successful in life. This can become incredibly difficult for women of the non-dominant race. With this issue, we want to challenge everyone’s perspective of minority women. We want every woman, young and old, to have a copy of this issue in their bedrooms and own their identity. Break away from those single stories and be your own self. Love yourself no matter your skin color, because you are worth it. Be confident. Be fearless. Be you.
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CONTENTS INDEX
Cover description......................2 Letter from the Editors ..............3 Animale: This New Fragrance Will Transform You.................6-8 Skin Solutions......................9-13
24 “We will create a realistic image of minority women.”
4 Beauty Trends That Need To Die in 2015..............................14-15 Red Is The New Black........16-17 Razr Jam............................18-19 Island Trends You Can Live Without (Extra 1)......................20-21 Fat Ass Tequila Jam (Extra 2)........................................22-23 Take Away................................24 Press Release Package......25-27 Background Info................28-29 Refrences...............................30
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14 4 beauty trends that have to die in 2015
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DESCRIPTION OF ANIMALE ADVERTISEMENT
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his advertisement, originally run by Macy’s, is an example of the corporate, capitalist class dehumanizing a marginalized group, or groups, in this case black women. By changing the word “Macy’s” to “Racy’s” the racial biases in the original ad are made far more obvious. The name Racy’s becomes a far more accurate representation of the company’s message in this ad. Additionally, the thought bubble from the model reflects the fact that a woman of color in this situation might be cognizant of the racial stereotypes at hand and recognize the absurdity of the situation; therefore the thought bubble serves as a vessel to communicate that message directly to viewers. The thought bubble from the tigers recognizes the dehumanization of portraying her as an animal. The speech bubble coming from a producer on the set of the photo shoot exemplifies racist micro-aggressions that a, likely white, producer of this perfume ad might say both in general and specifically towards the model. The text below the perfume bottle directly addresses the message that the company is sending, jamming the original message of the ad without further perpetuating stereotypes. Advertisements and media often
portray African-American women as wild animals, overtly sexualized and dehumanized. The stereotype cannot be ignored, as it evokes the painful history of racist portrayals of Africans and African Americans as animalistic hybrids—or not somehow fully human like the rest of us. The constant exposure to these advertisements of women as big cats, zebras and other wildlife leads society to construct a connection between the women and the untamed, unruly behavior of these animals. It argues these women are in dire need of subjugation, domestication and rigid control. This also challenges the intellectual aspect we associate with these women. It conveys the idea that these women must not have a strong mental capacity, because they blindly follow beastly instincts and perform strictly animal functions. Furthermore, another utilization of animal analogies would be that underneath even the very most modest, feminine demeanor is lurking an insatiable, raging sexuality which covets lust and even violence towards these women. All of these aforementioned problems with the ad contribute to the idea of minority women simply being physical spectacles to the white male.
SKIN SOLUTIONS? Needing advice on how to go lighter this Spring? Dove has the answer!
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NO LOVE COMING FROM DOVE DESCRIPTION OF BODY WASH
A
ADVERTISEMENT
fter sifting through quite a few outright racist ads, we stumbled across this Dove skincare advertisement from 2011. This particular ad campaign was designed to showcase Dove’s new line of “visiblecare” body washes, but, in its goal to display soap, it also displayed a strikingly racist theme. The advertisement employs a before and after tactic to show the effects of the “NutriumMoisture” formula on the skin. The before photograph is rough, cracked, dirty and positioned directly above the head of the black female model. The skin begins to transition to the clean, smooth after photograph with an olive-skinned female in the middle and a white model, the picture of cleanliness and perfection, positioned directly under the clean skin. When considering how to jam this advertisement, our minds immediately went to the description at the bottom of the photograph. “Visibly more beautiful skin…” was quite jarring when considering that the progression of ugly and cracked to beautiful and pristine goes directly from black to white. For our jam we first chose to play off of the cracked skin photograph, asking the general question, “got cracked skin?” From there, we ‘dove’ deeper into the racism presented by the advertisement. In order to really take the jam to where it needed to be in our mind, we then followed up with, “our new cleanser will turn you into the white person you deserve to be!”
This line further extends the idea that when skin is fully cleansed it becomes that of a white woman’s, making black skin seem like it is the product of a buildup of dirt and grime. The use of the word “deserve” was deliberate because it highlights a privilege and heightened status that comes with being white. It is also purposefully taunting in its tone, knowing full well that a black woman will never be able to become white. We also decided to add the line about Dove’s mission at the very bottom of the jam. Dove is a skincare and beauty line, so, to jam this, we played off of the idea that the beauty presented in this ad is whiteness. We also changed the labels on the bottles at the bottom right corner from “visiblecare” to “cleanser” and “race corrector,” jamming the ad’s before and after progression from black (dirty) to white (clean). To take the jam further, we added thought bubbles stemming from each woman. The black model is commenting on how she certainly did not sign up to be the butt of a racially insensitive joke. The presumably Latina model remarks that she may not be completely white, but she’s at the very least not as bad off as the black woman. We finished our thought bubble progression with the white model, who clearly understands that she is being presented as better than the others, and, on top of that, doesn’t take that power seriously.
And if that wasn’t enough, we’ll just leave this here.
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BEAUTY TRENDS THAT NEED TO DIE IN 2015
ORIGINAL: Black lipstick: is actually pretty difficult to pull off, stash your black bullet (if you ever purchased one when it was trending last year) for berry-colored lip color, like Kendall’s, which complements all skin tones.
JAM: Black skin: Since black skin is actually pretty difficult to pull off, stash your black beauty (if you ever purchased one when it was trending in 1860) for porcelaincolored skin color, like Kendall’s, which complements all lighter skin tones.
ORIGINAL: Crazy graphic liner: Let’s be honest, you’re not wearing this out with your guy on a Friday night. But don’t worry, the liner looks for 2015 are much more wearable and therefore sexier. JAM: Crazy dark skin: Let’s be honest, you’re not going to find a guy on a Friday night. But don’t worry, the looks for 2015 are whiter and therefore sexier.
ORIGINAL: Noticeable contouring: This year it’s all about subtle contouring, which will give you a more natural outcome and still sculpt your cheekbones to perfection. For a tutorial on the right way to shade your face, click here. JAM: Noticeable coloring: This year it’s all about subtle whiteness, which will give you a more natural outcome and still sculpt your image to perfection. For a tutorial on the right way to brighten your face, click here. ORIGINAL: Ombrè: Bye ombré. Baliage (painting on highlights for a more natural, sun-kissed finish that grows out beautifully) is back, proving to be the prettiest way to color your hair in 2015. JAM: Blackness: Bye, blackness. Skin-lightening (painting on whiteness for a more natural, hegemonic finish that glows beautifully) is back, proving to be the prettiest way to color your skin in 2015.
DESCRIPTION: The original article, “21 Beauty Trends That Need to Die in 2015,” was first published on the “Cosmopolitan” website on January 5, 2015. All of the “gorgeous” trends are modeled by what appears to be white women, and the only women of color in the piece model “trends that need to die.” This suggests that women of color do not have beauty trends that are worth celebrating and that the white women’s trends are more valuable, in which we point out how white Americans’ standards of beauty continue to be considered as most beautiful and celebrated. A 2014 report on diversity within fashion magazines showed evidence that white models are featured on magazine covers five times as often as women of color. These standards are not true, as beauty is subjective. They are also unfair, because they adhere to the hegemony of whiteness and solely benefit white women.
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RED T IS THE NEW BLACK
DESCRIPTION OF NATIVE AMERICAN CULTURAL APPROPRIATION
his photo taken during the 2012 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, Karlie Kloss models a leopard print swimsuit accessorized by chunky blue jewelry and a large Native American headdress. This is an example of cultural appropriation because the model is of Danish and German descent. Headdresses symbolize bravery in Native American culture. A headdress is not made in one sitting- for each act of courage by a warrior, chief or another important tribe member, a feather is added. Wearing a headdress represents honor, and the headdress Kloss wore was not made taking this historical context into account. Kloss is only wearing it because it is part of an outfit a designer asked and paid her to wear. The picture originally was taken as a highlight of the fashion show but was later removed from the broadcast and other press.
“The picture originally was taken as a highlight of the fashion show but was later removed from the broadcast and other press.” The media often negatively portrays Native American culture through cultural appropriation and by sexualizing it. Also, many Native American characters in television and films are played by white actors. In our jam, references to Andrew Jackson and the Trail of Tears point out the wrongdoings the United States committed towards Native Americans earlier in American history. Native Americans were forced to march across the country to reserved land in the west, and many died along the way because of illness and exhaustion. In the past, the government has also attempted to force Native Americans to assimilate to white culture. #RedIsTheNewBlack was used to point out how the color red has been used to harmfully refer to the skin color of many Native Americans and nod to how saying, “(a color) is the new black,” is common in the fashion industry. The comments below the Facebook post were made to point out the cultural appropriation and insensitivity displayed in the fashion choice and the post we created.
WEARING A HEADDRESS REPRESENTS HONOR, AND THE HEADDRESS KLOSS WORE WAS NOT MADE TAKING THIS HISTORICAL CONTEXT INTO ACCOUNT.
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MOBILE COM
DESCRIPTION OF RAZR ADVERTISEMENT
T Am I holding a ninja throwing star or a cell phone? They’ll never know.... neither will I.
A real fighting Fuck-Toy
MADE IN CHINA
MBAT
his advertisement, originally run by Verizon for the Razr cell phone, is an example of how racial stereotypes can be used to promote a product. The ad shows an Asian woman dressed to look like a ninja as she holds a Razr phone, as if it were supposed to be a weapon. Changes made from the original ad to the jam include commentaries and thought bubbles to point out the ridiculousness of Verizon using an Asian woman as a ninja. Thought bubbles were added that say, “of course they make the Asian play the ninja,” and “I’m not even Japanese and I was born in the U.S.” These thoughts point out a stereotype that many Asian Americans are born in Asia and cannot be native to the United States. They also highlight how most masters of martial arts in movies, “The Karate Kid” for example, are Asian. Another comment added to the advertisement is “viewable display through even the most slanted eyes.” This comment plays off a racist stereotype that Asians’ eyes are slanted in a way that does not allow for what optometrists would consider perfect vision. We also added “A real fighting fuck-toy,” referencing the documentary “Miss Representation” because although she seems to be strong & fearless, the over-dramatic makeup and revealing clothing hypersexualize and objectify the model. The percentage of advertisements and other media involving Asian models and actors is consistently under 10%. For example, in advertisements found in “Science” magazine from 1995 to 1997, 6.8% of the people found in the ads were Asian, while 87% of people found in ads were white. Asians were most commonly found in magazines for technology-based products than anything else, seen in advertisements in business and popular science publications. Another example of the lack of representation of Asians in popular culture is the lack of Asian actors and actresses found in film. In 2014, less than 6% of actors and actresses in the top 100 movies were Asian while more than 80% were white. With such low numbers of representation of Asians in advertisements and other pop culture, any negative representation could strongly enforce a stereotype.
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ISLAND-INSPIRED LOOKS THAT YOU CAN DO WITHOUT DESCRIPTION:
This article culture jam is based on an article in a past issue of “Cosmopolitan.” It encompasses many ideas media pushes society to think about women of color. First, the article title states that it focuses on “Island-Inspired Fashion Trends,” and this is an example of exoticizing people who live on islands and making them the “other”. The original article achieves these new fashion trends by showing pictures of white female models wdonning clothing not associated with their ethnicity or culture, placing them next to photos of minority women wearing the similar clothing as justification. The designer obviously failed to see the cultural appropriation taking place within the article and photos, so the culture jam points out the inconsistencies between the portrayal of white women and also minorities. The jam includes that it was “all in the name of fashion,” which shows that fashion-oriented jargon can distract the reader from seeing messages of cultural appropriation. JAM: Everyone knows the “Islander” look is always in, no matter what time of the year it is. If you’re white, feel free to take all of these different looks and make them your own—but not your own culture, that is. You can be exotic, sexy, and colorful, all in the name of fashion! Don’t fret: you’ll still be considered white, so there’s no racial profiling to worry about.
bucket hats:
ORIGINAL: Whether you’re repping that Rasta life or channeling ‘70s-era Southern California, there’s a beach bum hat out there for you. It’s practical too: You get great sun protection without hitting anyone else in the face with a wide brim. JAM: No matter the weather, bucket hats are forever! If you would like to truly channel your inner African-American (even though you’re white), then these Rasta hats are the fashion choice for you. As you can see by the photos, both black people and white people can rock these Rastafarian staples without taking into consideration the thousands of Jamaicans who have been impoverished and homeless for decades.
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ORIGINAL: 3 Island-Inspired Fashion Trends That Will Have You Dreaming of Summer: As New York City barreled into fall, the Spring 2016 collections were on display at New York Fashion Week and aggressively keeping summer alive. There were signs of the beach across several shows, and at one, there was a literal beach: Tommy Hilfiger went all out with the island theme by constructing a mini lagoon. Here are five breezy summer trends you’ll be seeing next spring.
flower crowns: ORIGINAL: You don’t have to be vacationing or living on an island paradise to get this look .Pin back your beachy waves on one side with big blooms — think of it as the new flower crown.
head wraps:
JAM: One way to achieve your exotic, summery look is through flower-adorned hair. Many cultures consider flowers in a woman’s hair to be a sacred ritual, and truly take pride in this custom. You can immediately not take these traditions seriously by—you A real guessed it—sticking all fighting of those flowers right on top of your head! fuck-toy
ORIGINAL: Keeping your brow sweat-free isn’t just practical, it’s fashionable. Whether you’re going glam like at Naeem Khan or going for a more worn-in look like at Greg Lauren, there’s a scarf out there for you and it’s one you can wrap around your head. JAM: Our final exotic piece of fashion advice is head wraps. I mean, when you think of any culture other than your own, head wraps are bound to come to mind. In fact, who even knows if you could rock this look? These minority women seem to be very sexy, fierce and foreign. Who knows, maybe you could pull this look off, as long as you’re sure not to be mindful of the history that comes with it. Hey isn’t that the definition of cultural appropriation? Like we said before, it’s all in the name of fashion, so who cares?
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edia perpetuates ideas of Latina women possessing certain characteristics and acting a certain way, creating stereotypes that lead our society to believe these characterizations are true. These stereotypes are displayed across many types of media, especially in ads, where Latina women are usually hyper-sexualized to make products seem more appealing. For example, the woman in this Fat Ass Tequila ad is seen wearing a tiny swimsuit, placed in a seductive position that reveals almost her entire naked body. This brings up important questions we must ask. Are Latina women not to be seen as desirable unless their bodies are almost fully exposed? Are Latina women viewed as beautiful only if they have the
They told me to act and pose “Mexican” what does w that even mean?
My skin is edited to have the perfect ‘café con leche’ skin because that is the only way for us Latinas to be seen as beautiful.
I’m actually Filipino so this is awkward.
It’s funny because my ass isn’t even fat... it’s Photoshop.
Over-edited, under-dressed, and over-sexualized… and the model is now the vision of a “perfect” Latina woman….
perfect glowing skin tone? Also, the ad uses a Latina model in their ad to make their product seem more “authentic”, because it is assumed that all Latina women were not born in the United States. The woman in this ad shows the way that media producers picture an ideal Latina woman. This implies that Latina women must possess the same characteristics as the woman shown in this ad otherwise they are seen as undesirable.
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WHAT WE
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TOOK AWAY?
fter completing this project, our group learned many things about minority women representation in media. The most interesting thing to us was that media largely focuses on stereotypes. Media perpetuate one single story about African American women, Latina women, Asian women, Native Americans and other minorities. We learned how little minority women are represented, especially Latina and Asian women, and when they are portrayed, it does not tell a different story from what’s been presented in the past. We also learned how obvious the problem of dehumanizing minority women in media actually is. Before we started this
project, some of us did not realize the severity of cultural appropriation and stereotype profiling that is done in media. It was interesting to learn about the different ways that media portrays to view different races too. For example, in the articles we used for our magazine, black women are seen as animalistic, Latina women as sex objects, and Asian women as dangerous beings. Now, when we look at other articles and magazines featuring women of color, we can fully understand the problems they face regarding their portrayal. The most challenging part was finding misrepresentations of minority women in the media. At first, they were extremely
difficult to find. We were able to find plenty of advertisements with Asian and Latina women. After we found one or two offensive articles, we realized we were looking for the wrong things in articles. We looked for obvious misrepresentation or racism in these articles and advertisements, but we actually needed to look for subtle differences here and there. We decided to look at media that appeared to be neutral and equal from the headline, but really read through it and look more closely. That is how we found media behind of our culture jams. Another challenging part of combining the components in our project was how to actually create the jams correctly. After putting all of the jams together, much of our feedback was how simple some of the jams were, and that they needed more to them. Many of us were under the impression, at least for simple advertisements, that we only needed to change a couple words to pull out the critique in the original ad. We soon found out that this was not enough. Once we added more thought bubbles and words in our respective advertisements, we learned how to correctly create a jam. Throughout the duration of this class we have taken notes and
an exam about really, really important social constructions and injustices that all too often go unnoticed. It wasn’t until this project, however, that we saw the pervasiveness of these issues in media and just how difficult it is to combat them. This realization is going to help us out tremendously in our careers, as it is so easy to upset people without intending to and to paint people the wrong way based on biases you may not even know you have. We have learned how to be more inclusive to all types of races, genders, sexualities, identities and situations. With this knowledge, we will be able to report sensitively and appropriately, making sure that our own products will never be a damaging single story. This project was an eye opener for our group. It truly showed us how minority women are misrepresented or not represented enough in media. We can apply this knowledge to our future careers, no matter what type of journalism we practice, because we can show more diversity. We can be mindful of all types of minorities and their backgrounds, and how all of their stories and experiences are different. We need to educate our future employers and coworkers with this knowledge and create a realistic image.
THE PR PACKAGE W
hen considering how best to pitch our special issue to our editor, we felt it appropriate to frame this as a sort of retrospective, apologetic piece. We would review the presumably endless complaints about our insensitive, whitewashed content and tell our editor that we feel it is of the utmost importance that we address the concerns of our readership. We want to use this piece as a way to point out our previous errors and show that we are invested in learning about the social structures and hegemonic ideals that we were blindly promoting in our content. We would create a presentation showing reader complaints and examples of some of our worst, most offensive content to show our editor that we have plenty to work from and to illustrate the need for a piece like this. In today’s society, political correctness and sensitivity to all races are on the rise, and so we would use that to tell our editor that, by publishing this, we could really put our magazine on the map and make a critical social statement.
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PRESS RELEASE &PROMOTIONS I n order to get our readers and other people aware of our special edition of “CosNOpolitan,” we would need to do a few things as far as advertising. First we will start with billboards. Then we will create an ad for the special edition on the side buses. Just like the billboard, thousands of people will see the ad as the bus drives by down the street. The next way in which we will advertise “ConNOpolitan” is giving them “Sneak Peaks” of our special edition coming out in the months before. At least four or five months before the reveal of this special edition, we will add a different component of one of our jams in regular issues every couple of weeks. We will only show the original version of the jam, and with it we will write: “This advertisement/article you see here is something commonly included in magazines like ours. This misrepresentation of a minority woman is unacceptable and is a pattern in media today. We, at Cosmo, are planning on breaking this pattern. Keep on the look out for a special edition in the coming months….“CosNOpolitan.” This small segment included in our magazine in the months before will be a subtle, but imminent change in what we normally produce. We plan to start far enough ahead before the release date so we can add every one of our original media products before they were jammed. In this way, when readers finally read our actual culture jams, they can connect them all and have a better understanding of what a culture jam is and how they can realize the amount of hegemony and oppression the media contributes to society. Next, we will advertise “CosNOpolitan” by simply passing out different types of fliers in all of the majors cities we produce in, like New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, etc. We will pass out three different fliers five business days before the release of the magazine to promote different aspects of it. Our first flier will give a summary of what our magazine will consist of, without giving away the good parts,
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of course. Our second flier will educate citizens on what a culture jam actually is. Many people might find it hard to truly understand the meaning of a culture jam and what its purpose is. We will state: “a culture jam is a critique and satire, and meant for education and awareness of social issues today.” We will also provide examples from other organizations who have done culture jams, and provide with contact information and links to provide our readers with more information. Finally, in our last flier, we will put in a portion of our “Letter to the editor” found on the third page of our magazine spread. This will explain to readers where we as journalists, and most importantly, people, are coming from, and why we’re doing what we’re doing. It won’t include the entirety of the letter, as not to reveal too much. We will only reveal the beginning portion, so once again, readers really understand what “CosNOpolition” is and the message we’re trying to get across. Another way in which the news of a special edition of “CosNOpolitan” will be spread is through a TV interview. A well known TV personality with millions of fans will interview the editor of the magazine on their show and discuss what kind of work went into creating the magazine, what are the contents of the magazine, when it is available, and where you could buy a copy of the magazine. This will be good publicity for the magazine because not only will viewers of the show get to know what is in the magazine, but they will also be able to see the work that goes into creating the magazine and will be inspired to buy it. The final way in which we could advertise our magazine is by a TV commercial. A lot of people watch TV at least once a day, so there is a good chance that many people will be able to see the commercial advertising our magazine. The commercial will consist of information very similar to the billboard. It will have information about when the magazine will be available, where you can buy it, and what is inside the magazine.
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The jams in our magazine show the absurdity that happens in actual media, and there have been multiple occurrences of magazines being called out and criticized for white-washing and appropriating. Magazines such as InStyle, Vanity Fair, Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue, Elle, Vogue Thailand, Mental Floss, and French Cosmetics and Beauty company L’Oreal have all been guilty of white-washing celebrities. All of these magazines were publicly criticized of white-washing these black women, yet not one of the magazines released an apology statement. One blog stated, “This shows just how insidious beauty standards can be, and even a supermodel could be prettier. She could be less black.” In another magazine College Fashion, there was an article written called “Fashionably Informed: ‘White-Washing’ & Skin Lightening” published in 2012. One instance they point out is when Oscar nominated actress Gabourey Sidibe was featured on the cover of Elle magazine and how her skin looked much lighter in the magazine than it did on screen at the red carpets. After multiple accusations of white-washing, Elle’s editor-in-chief made a statement saying, “It sort of boils down to this. At a photo shoot, in a studio, that is a fashion shoot, that’s glamorous, the lighting is different. The photography is different than a red carpet shot from a paparazzi. We absolutely did not lighten her skin.”
According to a blog about Representation of Asian American Women in Media, an Asian-American women once was quoted talking about the way that the Asian minority is looked at in media. She said that “Asian American women face conflicting sexual stereotypes that force many to juggle their identities between a seductive and treacherous dragon lady and the soft, lotus blossom character made famous by Madame Butterfly.” Much of the media tries to over sexualized Asian-American women and show them off. Asian-American’s are not represented well in media but are usually shown as stereotypical Asians: smart, driven and ambitious people. Many characters in TV shows that have Asian-Americans are doctors and fall into the stereotype that all Asians are smart and will become doctors one day. Either way, Asian’s are portrayed in a negative light and almost always are played off of their stereotypes in media.
The dehumanization of women in society is highlighted in the academic paper, Female Objects of Semantic Dehumanization and Violence by stating “Down through the ages, women have been persistently portrayed as a sub-par species, sometimes lacking even the most fundamental vestiges of manhood.” It is phrases like this that act as evidence to support the claim that women are dehumanized in advertising, which we interpreted by pointing out the absurdity in an advertisement for the perfume “Animale,” “It is no secret that Black women have been routinely disrespected and misrepresented by the mainstream media.” It is clear that violence and other forms of mistreatment upon people becomes far easier once they are no longer portrayed as human. In the “Animale” ad, the model is clearly shown as a nonhuman entity, which is why we identified the ad as a candidate to be jammed. While the blatant racism present in the advertisement is noteworthy, it is the full dehumanization of the female model that made the “Animale” ad worth jamming and including in our magazine.
BACKGRO
The New York Times article “Fashion’s Racial Divide” brings into focus the racial disparity present in today’s fashion industry. Traditionally “white” fashion styles are far more prominent in society than styles from minority designers, as well as traditionally ethnic fashion styles. Historically, Western European fashions have been far more prevalent in American culture due to the fact that fashion and media executives alike came from, typically, white, privileged backgrounds, thus no ethnic diversity was ever introduced into the industry. Furthermore, styles that came from unknown origins or were a large deviation from fashion’s status quo have been almost entirely dismissed, historically. Our jam that identifies which fashion trends should die in 2015, is a direct reflection of the stance taken by many fashion magazines towards ethnic styles in the past.
OUND
Island cultural appropriation is something that happens a lot, especially in Hollywood when it comes to Hawaii. Hollywood has made Hawaii seem like a place where the only people there are on vacation to for a couple weeks to get away from their lives, it’s a place where rom-com’s take place. In that process however they don’t show the side of the native Hawaiians who live there and the true culture of the island. Janet Mock wrote an article that explained how Hollywood continues to make Hawaii more commercialized. Hawaii is a lot more than just the pretty scenes that everyone has seen on postcards, and media doesn’t do a good enough job showing that. An article from the book “from Bananas to Buttocks—The Latina Body in Popular Film and Culture” we found talks about the overs sexualization of Latina women in media and the problems it causes them as a group. It describes the Latin women as being a “doubly inscribed fantasy” of the desirable Latina body. They define “the Latina body” from looking at multiple essays, which they describe as an amalgam of romanticized, tropes about Latinas that inform US culture. Latin America itself may not even be responsible for the stereotypes of its people, but it is the way that the US wants them to be. The book points out that this problem has become so apparent that there was a publish in the National Post that caught their attention. There was an article that was titled, “Are Latinas the new blonde bombshell?”
The under representation of Native Americans in media is very obvious. There are not a lot of Native Americans in mainstream media, however when they do use them it is in a negative light. Most times when Indians appear in media it is asking us to help them because they’re still seen as not being able to take care of themselves. An article written by Frank Webb describes Hollywood’s take on Indians as they are either “honorable and proud people” or “blood thirsty savages.” Hollywood usually sides with them being savages which only shows the negative side of this minority. Another article from Indians of the Midwest talks about how Indians are portrayed as “lazy, greedy and fake.” Calling the Native Americans “fake” shows how people still think Indians are people who are from the past, who aren’t able to handle their own affairs or make money. Media has stereotyped Indians into a negatively looked at group and that has led to not much Native American representation in the media at all.
REFERENCES
Animale advertisement: http://data.whicdn.com/images/14194353/large.jpg
Dove advertisement: http://www.nbcnews.com/news/other/dove-body-wash-ad-stirs-controversy-v6717962 21 Beauty Trends That Need to Die article: http://www.cosmopolitan.com/style-beauty/beauty/advice/a34810/beauty-trends-that-need-todie-2015/ 2012 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show pictures: http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--wS77wX-I--/c_scale,fl_progressive,q_80,w_800/184szqwvb0cj0jpg.jpg 5 Island-Inspired Fashion Trends That Will Have You Dreaming of Summer article: http://www.cosmopolitan.com/style-beauty/fashion/ news/g5052/beach-fashion-spring-2016/ Verizon Wireless Razr advertisement: http://images.asian-nation.org/razr-orientalist-ad.jpg Fat Ass Tequila advertisement: https://anadaday.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/fatassmagazine1.jpg
Additional references for culture jam topics Miss Representation. Dir. Jennifer Siebel Newsom. Perf. Katie Couric, Rosario Dawson, Gloria Steinhem, Margaret Cho,Condoleezza Rice, Rachel Maddow, Nancy Pelosi. Amazon.com: Miss Representation. N.p., 11 Jan. 2011. Web. 15 Nov. 2015. “The Danger of a Single Story” Perf. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: The Danger of a Single Story. N.p., Oct. 2009. Web. 20 Nov. 2015. https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story?language=en Dehumanization of women of color: http://www.fnsa.org/v1n3/brennan1.html http://diverseeducation.com/article/73688/ Whitewashing: http://www.collegefashion.net/news/fashionably-informed-white-washing-skin-lightening/ http://dbeaumonte.com/2012/12/04/mag-covers-no-black-cover-women-in-2012-for-cosmo-magazine/ https://raceandtechnology.wordpress.com/2014/12/10/whitewashing-in-mass-media-exploring-colorism-and-the-damaging-effects-of-beauty-hierarchies/ https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.beautyredefined.net%2Fbeauty-whitewashed-how-white-ideals-exclude-women-of-color%2F&h=IAQG8q6LC Prevalence of racial disparity in fashion trends: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/12/fashion/fashions-racial-divide.html http://www.nytimes.com/.../fashions-racial-divide.html... http://www.salon.com/2013/10/02/diversity_in_fashion_will_never_be_enough_partner/ Native American portrayal in media: http://www.nativeweb.org/papers/essays/franki_webb.html http://publications.newberry.org/indiansofthemidwest/indian-imagery/stereotypes/ http://mycultureisnotatrend.tumblr.com http://everydayfeminism.com/.../honor-native-americans.../ Island cultural appropriation: http://janetmock.com/2015/05/08/aloha-movie-hollywoods-historical-appropriation-of-hawaiian-language-culture/ Asian American portrayal in media: https://storify.com/asia/representation-of-asian-american-women-in-media-3 https://hyphenproject.wordpress.com/laying-the-groundwork/asian-american-portrayals-in-mainstream-media/ http://www.tcnj.edu/~unbound/opinions/asian.html https://theyellowmedia.wordpress.com Hypersexualization and Demoralizing of Latina women: https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=KEmXDrBNL6QC&oi=fnd&pg=PP10&dq=latino+representation+in+media&ots=VuUW2xx9lN&sig=8UPQDlWoZc2S6SAsfZpejhfbPP8#v=onepage&q=latino%20representation%20in%20media&f=false http://www.cosmopolitan.com/.../latina-media-stereotypes/ http://room4debate.com/debate/the-image-of-hispanic-women-in-american-media