Date of Award

Spring 5-2013

Degree Type

Honors College Thesis

Department

Management and International Business

First Advisor

Brigitte Burgess

Advisor Department

Marketing and Fashion Merchandising

Abstract

For centuries, Europe has been the leader in fashion production and innovation. At the heart of this continent lies the fashion capital of the world—France. French designers have always been on the cutting edge of fashion. Setting trends, shocking consumers, and enticing the world have been normal everyday activities for them as if it is in their blood. French culture is much more daring and open about sexuality in comparison to American culture, however, American designers and retailers are still heavily influenced by French fashion designs. This begs the question then: Are French fashion magazines equally influential on American fashion magazines?

When flipping through an issue of French or American Vogue, one can definitely see similarities between the two; however, if a person reads through them with a more scrutinizing eye, one can see that the images used in French Vogue are much more sexual, racy, and suggestive than those that appear in American Vogue. In this thesis, the goal of the researcher was to look at issues of French Vogue and American Vogue and compare the amount of sexual content included in their cosmetic, fragrance, and jewelry advertisements. These types of advertisements were chosen because they appear to contain the most suggestive, sexual images—even in the American Vogue issues. This is an interesting comparison because many people never realize how vastly different these cultures can be. Also the fact that both of these magazines are versions of the same publication and still contain such different marketing strategies is key knowledge for internationally published magazines.

Included in

Business Commons

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