LUXURY ADVERTISEMNTS DEPICTIONS OF WOMEN IN CHINESE FASHION MAGAZINES

Southern Illinois University Carbondale

OpenSIUC

Research Papers Graduate School

Spring 5-2011

LUXURY ADVERTISEMNTS DEPICTIONS

OF WOMEN IN CHINESE FASHION

MAGAZINES

Chang Liu

chang[email protected]

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Liu, Chang, "LUXURY ADVERTISEMNTS DEPICTIONS OF WOMEN IN CHINESE FASHION MAGAZINES" (2011).

Research Papers. Paper 88.

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LUXURY ADVERTISEMNTS DEPICTIONS OF WOMEN IN CHINESE

FASHION MAGAZINES

Chang Liu

B.A., Chengdu Institute, Sichuan International Studies University, 2009

A Research Paper

Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the

Master of Science

Department of Mass Communication and Media Arts

in the Graduate School

Southern Illinois University Carbondale

May 2011

Research Paper APPROVAL

LUXURY ADVERTISEMNTS DEPICTIONS OF WOMEN IN CHINESE

FASHION MAGAZINES

Chang Liu

A Research Paper Submitted in Partial

Fulfillment of the Requirements

for the Degree of

Master of Science

in the field of Professional Media and Media Management

Approved by:

Robert Spahr, Chair

Graduate School

Southern Illinois University Carbondale

April 10, 2011

AN ABSTRACT OF THE Research Paper OF

Chang Liu, for the Master of Science degree in Professional Media and Media

Management, presented on April 8, 2011, at Southern Illinois University

Carbondale.

TITLE: LUXURY ADVERTISEMNTS DEPICTIONS OF WOMEN IN CHINESE

FASHION MAGAZINES

MAJOR PROFESSOR: Dr. Robert Spahr

With the rapid development of the Chinese economy, enlargement of the

wealthy class and improvement of capability to consume, more and more

Chinese people are able to afford luxurious products rather than to advocate

them. Therefore Chinese women magazines, especially upscale women

magazines, are serving primarily as advertising vehicles for national luxurious

fashion brands, aiming at fascinating middle-class women to consume luxury

products. The objective of this study was a deeper understanding of portrayal of

women’s images in luxury fashion advertisements in Chinese women magazines.

I chose upscale women magazines with high popularity and large circulation in

China such as Vogue China, Elle China, Cosmopolitan China, Rayli Fashion and

Beauty and Rayli Woman Custom because they attract to the client of luxury

brands. Moreover, another crucial objective of my research was to serve as a

case study of the general Chinese luxury market for my website

www.luxurychang.com.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER

PAGE

ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................... i

LIST OF TABLES …………………………………………………………………….iii

CHAPTERS

CHAPTER 1 – Introduction.................................................................... 1

CHAPTER 2 – Literature Review........................................................... 3

CHAPTER 3 – Method........................................................................... 9

CHAPTER 4 – Results and Discussion ............................................... 13

CHAPTER 5 – Conclusion .................................................................. 16

REFERENCES ............................................................................................... 20

APPENDICIES

Appendix A ......................................................................................... 23

Appendix B ......................................................................................... 25

Appendix C ........................................................................................ 28

VITA ............................................................................................................. 32

iii

LIST OF TABLES

TABLE

PAGE

Table 1 ........................................................................................................... 10

Table 2 ........................................................................................................... 13

Table 3 ........................................................................................................... 14

Table 4 ………………………………………………………………………………14

Table 5 ………………………………………………………………………………15

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

With the rapid development of the Chinese economy, enlargement of the

wealthy class and improvement of capability to consume, more and more

Chinese people are able to afford luxurious products rather than to advocate

them. Therefore Chinese women magazines, especially upscale women

magazines, are serving primarily as advertising vehicles for national luxurious

fashion brands, aiming at fascinating middle-class women to consume luxury

products (Luo, 2007). However, the Chinese translation of "luxury" has negative

connotations of extravagance that is different from western culture. The definition

in the west is a symbol of dignity and fortune has increased in the Chinese

market (Liao, 2006). Therefore, the Chinese market is fully restored to the good

graces of a large amount of luxury brands. According to the survey in 2008, the

consumption of luxury products in China is 1/5 of the world’s total and maintains

the healthy momentum of growth. Among a large number of mass mediums,

female magazines are considered as a medium designed especially for women

that can reflect the women subjects directly, and have become a fashion product

of pop culture that may concern the female life experience (Zhang, 2006).

Therefore, in my research paper, I have chosen five top-selling Chinese female

magazines, which have different influences of Chinese luxury markets (Personal

Luxury Report, 2009).

The objective of this study was a deeper understanding of portrayal of

women’s images in luxury fashion advertisements in Chinese women magazines.

I chose upscale women magazines with high popularity and large circulation in

China such as Vogue China, Elle China, Cosmopolitan China, Rayli Fashion and

Beauty and Rayli Woman Custom because they attract to the client of luxury

brands. Moreover, another crucial objective of my research was to serve as a

case study of the general Chinese luxury market for my website

www.luxurychang.com.

Following are my hypotheses and one research question of my research:

H1: Caucasian models will be used more often than models of other

ethnic groups in luxury fashion advertisements in women’s magazines in China.

H2：Caucasian models will be projected more often in the modern beauty

types (Sexual and Trendy type) than Asian models, whereas Asian models will

be depicted more frequently in traditional beauty type (Classic beauty type) than

their Caucasian counterparts.

H3: Asian models will be portrayed more often in Family and

Entertainment occupational roles than their Caucasian counterparts.

RQ1: Are women now being sexualized in luxury fashion brand

advertisements in women’s magazines in China?

CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

Luxury Market in China

Luxury is both functional and cultural. Kapferer (2008) noted that luxury

could recreate the social stratification and be the symbol of identity and fortune.

An essential reason why so many people are fond of chasing luxury is to show

their economic strength and social status. In other words, they would like to

enjoy the added value of luxury products, which are the satisfaction of

conspicuous consumption. Moreover, luxury is cultural and can be a social

phenomenon that represents the fashion world and plays a key role in our social

life (Kaperer, 2008).

With the rapid development of Chinese economy, increase of people’s

income, China is becoming the vital force of consumption market of luxury

products. According to the statistics from WLA (World Luxury Association), in

2007, the Chinese luxury market was worth 8 billion RMB (about 11.4billion

USD), which is 18% of the world’s luxury market and becomes the third largest

country with luxury consumption. In Oct 2008, the consumption of luxury

products has increased by 8%-10% to 8 billion while the consumption of Japan

and America had decreased by 35% due to the economic recession. China has

become the second largest consumer market of luxury products. China is at the

initial stage of increase of consumption of luxury products. According to the CAB

(Chinese Association of Brand), there are 175million people, which is 13% of the

overall population, can afford all sorts of luxury products and among them 10-

13million people purchase luxury products actively such as watches, leather

handbags, cosmetics, fashionable dresses and jewelry. CAB estimated that in

2010, 250 million people in China could afford luxury products (Chinese luxury

market report, 2010). In addition, it is worthy to notice that the age of luxury

consumers is changing. They are no longer only stereotypical middle-age

shoppers who are only interested in fistful of watches. They are also, young,

white-collar workers with high education and save to splurge (P.T, 2007).

Portrayal of Women Images in Chinese woman magazine

In recent years, there are a large number of researches on Chinese

women’s images which are presented in the mass media such as newspapers,

magazines and advertising in China; most of which use content analysis to

describe the changes of Chinese female images before and after the Chinese

reform and open up policy (Cheng, 2008). In addition, women image in Chinese

female magazines has changed throughout history. After the Chinese reform

policy, those new Chinese women who regained the typical female features have

transformed image of “Irion Lady” to traditional image of Chinese women “the

better half” who support the husband all the time. With the rapid development of

China in the nineties, there are more and more career women who have earned

unprecedented position for Chinese women both socially and economically.

However, there are few researches that observe the woman image portrayed in

luxury advertising which are presented by Chinese women magazines (Cheng,

2010).

Among all mass media, women magazines are considered especially

designed for women. Their content can reflect the topics about women and is a

kind of pop cultural product of female life experiences. At the same time, behind

the text of women magazines, there are marks of women stereotype images.

Winship(1987) stated in Inside Women’s Magazines, women magazines appeal

to the women audience by providing entertainment and effective suggestions.

This kind of appealing way is based on all sorts of makeup. For instance,

advertisements provide visual make up on fashion trends, cooking, family and

house decoration, which appeal to audiences in the virtual world of magazines

with different ways and finally lead them to the consumer market. This makes

women consumers fall in a trap of consumption. (Winship, 1987)

Ferguson claims that, women magazine itself is a kind of social system. It

figures what women think about them, and figures what society thinks about

women as well. Therefore, Ferguson claims that women magazines are airing a

kind of female religious, they not only reflect what an appropriate female image

is in daily society, but also provide the definition of this image and progress of

socialization. Therefore, rather than reflecting the daily life of women, women

magazines influence the culture. So when women magazines are presenting

some pleasure cultural symbols, they can educate women and transcend culture.

In addition, in Lindner’s study Images of women in general interest and fashion

magazine advertisements from 1955 to 2002, she analysis woman’s portray in

general interest and fashion magazine in a systematical way. The author tries to

explore a better understanding of woman’s portrayal by studying advertisements

in two elite fashion magazines Vogue and Time. The result shows that even

though some women movement have happened in the 1950s to 1990s, women

have still been shown in some stereotypes (Lindner, 2008) All in all, Just as

Soloaga said, the basic goal of Advertising is to build brand image and create an

influential brand identity in market. In addition, especially Luxury brands will

provide a powerful symbolic value added to their goods. However, more than a

mere market function, advertising has social and educative impacts.

Race of Models

Through a content analysis of global women’s magazine advertisements in

China, in order to give a magazine a globalized face, Caucasian models were

remarkably portrayed in the magazine ads (Cheng and Frith 2006) Moreover, the

race of the models was classified as Caucasian, Asian and others and my

hypothesis 1 was formulated. The first feature of the portrayal of women image

in national women’s magazines is whether the model is a western women or Asia

women. Despite the efforts towards localization of the content, the

advertisements in Western magazines generally employ Western models in

advertising.

Beauty Types

In the research “Images of women in general and fashion magazine

advertisements from 1995 to 2002” conducted by Katarina Linder (2004), she

noted that women’s portraits shown in fashion advertisements tend to strengthen

the stereotypes that we previously found in society. However, with the

development of Chinese advertising and the magazine industry, charming and

sexy Caucasian models are often used in Western advertising and are groomed

into Chinese advertising pictures (Johansson 2001). Even though improvements

have been made in the representation of non-white women in primetime media,

many of the dominant female characters in fashion advertising are Caucasian

(MPA, 2000). Moreover, according to Nelson’s finding the degrees of nudity are

different within different cultures (Nelson, 2005)

However, he also pointed out that western models portrayed in

advertisements are presented with greater sexuality than indigenous models in

Asia countries. With the rise of Japanese-style women’s magazines in China, the

female images in those magazines have influenced people’s perception of

beauty. Maynard and Taylor (1999) found that Japanese ads showed a higher

frequency of cute and girlish images than US ads, while Luther found that

women in Japanese-style fashion magazines are being presented as sexual,

rather than being confident and dominant in fashion ads (Luther, 2008).

Occupational Roles

On the topic about the woman’s stereotype, which are presented by mass

media, the scholar Tuchman pointed out in his book Hearth and Home: Imagines

of Women in the Mass Media, women disappeared in the world of symbols of

magazines, women are not crucial in the world which was presented by the

magazine. Because such medium not only tells audiences that the women are

not significant, excluded being the housewife and mother, but also some

symbols describe women as images that are lacking of ability and always are

humble to men. In Tuchman’s research, he used feminism media functional

theory: “Mass media reflect the social mainstream value, in its world of symbol.”

It cannot reflect women images objectively or presented them with rigid images.

Those women images that were presented by the mass media are quite limited.

They may be of danger to the development of females and the progress for them

to become valuable social contributors (Tuchman, 1978). Moreover, in the

concept of feminism, the mass media is a certain value that spread the concept

of sex discrimination, masculine and values of capitalism in order to maintain the

current social order. (Liesbet Van Zoonen, 1998)

However, there is a change in the occupational roles where many women

are now being portrayed as career women (Frith and Karan 2008). To explore

this, occupational roles were examined through five categories; professional role,

entertainment-celebrities role, family role, recreational role, and decorative role

(Courtney and Lockeretz 1971, Frith, Shaw, and Cheng 2005). Overall, based on

the literature review, the media portrayal of women in China can be analyzed by

using the two categories Modern/Traditional and Western/Asian (see table 1).

This analysis shows a clear understanding of the existing influences on women’s

images established in women’s magazine ads in China.

CHAPTER 3

METHOD

Content Analysis

The reason why I used content analysis was because content analysis is

a usual methodology for studying the content of communication. And “it is not

limited as to the types of variables that may be measured or the context in which

the messages are created or presented” (Neuendorf, 2002). Therefore I use this

methodology to analyze contents of 20 samples of top-selling women magazines

in China. Content analysis is an effective way to study the construction of

different images of women in women’s magazines and to comprehend portray of

women in Asia (Frith, 2008).

Samples

To maintain diversity and comparability, I have chosen the top five

magazines ranked by the amount of fashionable consuming goods

advertisements from Jan. to Feb, 2010 (see table 2). There were Elle China,

Vogue China, Cosmopolitan China, Rayli Fashion and Beauty and Rayli Woman

Custom. Moreover, each of above magazines enjoys a large circulation and

population in Chinese market of women magazine. Among them, Western-style

women’s magazines Elle China, Vogue China and Cosmopolitan China were

chosen and they are the top-selling magazines and they have the highest

circulation and advertising revenue among the entire Western–style women’s

magazines in China. For example, the circulation of above-mentioned magazines

is around 600,000 per year. In addition, The Japanese-style magazines Rayli

(Fashion & Beauty) and Rayli (Woman Custom) are published under licensing

agreement with Japanese women’s magazines Ray and ef. In terms of ad

expenditure, they are ranking the third and fifth, just after Elle China,

Cosmopolitan China, and Vogue China while they have the largest circulation

among all the international women’s magazines in China (HC Media Research

Center 2006).

Table1

Sample Magazines

Magazine

Local/

International

Ad amount

(month)

Selling Price

(RMB)

Elle China France

28 million 20

Vogue China

U.S. 26 20

Cosmopolitan China

U.S. 23 20

Rayli (Fashion&

Beauty)

Japan 19 20

Rayli (Woman

Custom)

Japan 17 20

To sum up, two issues of each magazine were chosen through a simple

random sampling technique within the 12-month period from May. 2009 to Jun.

2010. As a result, a total of 10 magazines were selected from the above five top-

selling women’s magazines published in China.

Unit of analysis

To research the portrayal of women image in luxury advertising in women

magazine, the unit of analysis was limited to an advertisement that included a

depiction of at least one woman. Only the most dominant or largest women were

coded in advisements. Therefore, 200 advertisements were collected that

included for us to facilitate coding process. In terms of content categories, five

beauty types (Cheng and Frith 2006; Frith et al 2005), four dress types (Cheng,

1997), and five occupational roles (Frith et al. 2005) were used for the coding. All

models were coded by race: They were classified as Asian, Caucasian, and

others. Caucasian models included White and Hispanic. Asian models included

all the models of Asian race/ethnicity. Others included models of mixed

race/ethnicity.

Inter-coder reliability

Two college students in China conducted the coding process. According to

Wimmer and Dominick’s (2006) methodological guidelines, “the content between

10% and 25% of the sample should be reanalyzed to establish inter-coder

reliability” (p.167) before the entire sample is coded. Two coders coded a sub-

sample of 20 ads that was about 10% of the total advertisements to check the

inter-coder reliability of categorical variables. Hence, two coders will code one

issue randomly pick from sample magazines: Elle China, Vogue China,

Cosmopolitan China, Rayli Fashion and Beauty and Rayli Woman Custom.

Therefore, a total number of 200 advertisements will be collected.

Therefore, using Cohen’s kappa used 10% of all the sample ads for the reliability

test. The acceptable level of inter coder reliability usually is 0.75 and above by

using kappa (Wimmer and Dominick 2006, p.169). According to Lombard,

Snyder-Duch, and Bracken (2005), reliability levels for each variable should be

considered rather than overall reliability as a standard for evaluating the

reliability. Hence, I count the reliabilities for each category were as follows: ‘race

of models’, ‘beauty types’, ‘occupational roles’, ‘dress types’. Thus, all categories

used in this study achieved the acceptable level of inter-coder reliability.

CHAPTER 4

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Results of this research are presented in Tables 3-5 and they support two

hypotheses formulated for this project. Caucasian models were most often used

in Western-style women’s magazine ads (70%), whereas there was a balance of

Asian (56%) and Caucasian models (463%) in the Japanese-style women’s

magazine. Thus, H1 was supported (see Table 3).

Table 2

Race, by magazine

Race

Western-style Women’s

Magazines

Japanese-style

Women’s Magazines

Asian 28% (32) 56% (47)

Caucasian 70% (81) 43% (36)

Others 2% (3) 1.0% (1)

Total 100% (116) 100% (84)

Moreover, among all models that were categorized by race, it was found

that the Caucasian models were often portrayed as Sexual type (46%) and

trendy type (22%) in sample advertisements, whereas Asian models are often

portrayed as classic beauty type (41%) in sample advertisements (see Table 4).

Therefore, the Classic beauty type was used more often with Asian models

(41%) than with Caucasian models (23%), while Sexual and Trendy beauty types

were used more frequently with Caucasian models (68%) than with Asian

models. In addition, the beauty types used in the magazine advertisements

differed significantly between the two magazine types (see Table 3). The Sexual

beauty type, was used more often in Western-style (42%) than Japanese-style

women’s magazine ads (22%) And there was a significant difference between

Western-style and Japanese-style women’s magazine ads for the usage of

Sexual beauty type. Therefore, H2 was supported.

Table 3

Beauty Types, by Magazine Type

Beauty Type

Western-style Women’s

Magazines

Japanese-style

Women’s Magazines

Classic 24% (28) 21% (18)

Sexual 42% (49) 22% (18)

Cute 12% (14) 20% (17)

Trendy 21% (24) 38% (32)

Total 100% (116) 100% (84)

Table 4

Beauty Types, by Race

In terms of occupational roles of models in luxury advertisements, 59% of

Asian models and 65% of Caucasian models were portrayed as decorative roles

(see Table 5). Unlike what I found in literature review, Asian models were not

portrayed more as family role (3%) than Caucasian models (7%), whereas Asian

Beauty Type Asian Caucasian

Classic 41% (32) 23% (27)

Sexual 22% (17) 46% (54)

Cute 13% (8) 20% (23)

Trendy 24% (19) 22% (26)

Total 100% (79) 100% (117)

models were portrayed more as entertainment role (35%) than Caucasian

models (20%). Therefore, H3 was not supported. In addition, as the result shows

in table 3, 42% of fashion models were portrayed as sexual beauty type in

Western-style magazines, however only 22% of them were shown as sexual

beauty type in Japanese-style magazines. Therefore, it is safe to answer my

research question that women are now partially being sexualized in luxury

fashion brand advertisements in women’s magazines in China.

Table 5

Occupational Roles, by Race

Occupational

Role

Asian

Caucasian

Professional

1% (1) 3% (4)

Entertainment 35% (28) 20% (23)

Family Role 3% (2) 7% (8)

Recreational 2% (2) 5% (6)

Decorative 59% (70) 65% (76)

Total 100% (47) 100% (117)

CHAPTER 6

CONCLUSION

The purpose of this study was to have a deeper understanding of

portrayal of women’s images in luxury fashion advertisements in Chinese women

magazines and to analyze the characters (the dominant model included in the

luxury fashion brands advertisements) to discover the portrayal of women

images in women magazines in China.

One of the first questions that appeared as a result of the research was:

Will Caucasian models be used more often than models of other ethnic groups in

luxury fashion advertisements in women’s magazines in China? Other questions

were: Will Caucasian models be projected more often in the modern beauty

types than Asian models, whereas Asian models will be depicted more frequently

in traditional beauty type than their Caucasian counterparts? Will Asian models

be portrayed more often in Family and Entertainment occupational roles than

their Caucasian counterparts? After finishing this project, I have answered my

research question: Are women now being sexualized in luxury fashion brand

advertisements in women’s magazines in China? As Soloaga indicated that

luxury brands’ ads is helpful to seduce women into a constant and infinite cycle

of purchases in pursuit of beauty and youth. How they portray women images is

crucial to development of the Chinese luxury market and sales of luxury market.

In addition, there is limitation of my research project due to the limited numbers

of my sample magazines; however, I would like to enlarge my sample size of my

study in the future study if possible to get a more accurate result.

To sum up, I found following conclusions by using content analysis in my

research project: 1: It is true that Caucasian models will be used more often than

models of other ethnic groups in luxury fashion advertisements in women’s

magazines in China. 2：It is true that Caucasian models will be projected more

often in the modern beauty types (Sexual and Trendy type) than Asian models,

whereas Asian models will be depicted more frequently in traditional beauty type

(Classic beauty type) than their Caucasian counterparts. 3: It is not true that

Asian models will be portrayed more often in Family and Entertainment

occupational roles than their Caucasian counterparts. In terms of research

question, I have answered my research questions according to the result of

content analysis; women now are being sexualized in luxury fashion brand

advertisements in women’s magazines in China.

In addition, as can be seen in Table 1, five top-selling Chinese fashion

magazines were coded in the processing. The coding result had shown in tables

for each hypothesis. These findings are statistically significant. In terms of

hypothesis 1, if the numbers of women images of Caucasian models are more

than other ethnic groups (see coding sheet) from all 10 magazines (about 100

luxury fashion advertisements), H1 is supported. It is interesting that as Frith

found Caucasian models are used more often than Chinese models in both

Singapore and Taiwan, which are both with predominantly Chinese populations,

in women’s magazine advertising (Frith, 2005) However, this conclusion may

change due to several influential elements such as: time, specific area and the

method of research. In terms of H2, I coded all women images in selected

sample magazines by using different types and occupational roles. I coded

beauty types (see coding sheet) of each ethnic group and compare with each

other. If the numbers of women images of Caucasian models of modern type are

coded more than Asian models, then H2 is supported. In terms of H3, I coded

occupational roles (see coding sheet) of women images of each ethnic group.

The number of Asian models with Family and Entertainment occupational roles

is no more than their Caucasian counterparts, thus, the H3 isn’t supported.

In addition, it is worthy to notice that Caucasian models were used much

more than Asian models in luxury advertising in Chinese fashion magazines.

According to success of those luxury brands in China, it is a crucial advertising

strategy to attract Chinese customers by portraying Caucasian models. Is it

because the exotic sense of the Caucasian model provides more attraction than

the local model or is it because Chinese customers enjoy the strong brand

identity that is created by exotic models? For the future study, I would like to

explore reasons why Caucasian models were used much more than Asian

models in luxury advertising in Chinese market from the point of view of luxury

producers and Chinese customers.

To sum up, this research serves as a case study for my website about

Chinese luxury market. It is a simple content analysis through marketing point of

view without discussing issues of feminism. Moreover, my website

www.luxurychang.com

is an educational online manual of Chinese luxury market

in general scale. In order to attract more women luxury customers, appropriate

marketing strategies are highly required in Chinese luxury market. Therefore, the

result of my content analysis shows the efficient ways to target Chinese women

luxury buyers in fashion magazines to sell more luxury.

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APPENDICES

APPENDIX A

Coding manual:

A: Beauty types:

1. Classic/Elegant: A classic elegant look, model is slightly older than average.

Fair skin, feminine, glamorous, and sophisticated. Usually wears soft, demure,

feminine apparel and is not heavily accessorized.

2. Sexual/ Sex Kitten: sexually attractive, usually wears sexy attire or revealing,

tight clothes. Model can also be dressed in normal clothes but posed in an

unnatural way, such as an uncomfortable, “cheesecake” pose.

3. Cute/ Girl Next Dorr: Cute, casual attire, youthful appearance. Can also be

outdoorsy, in a causal, active way.

4. Trendy: Wears faddish clothes and displays oversized accessories. Hair is

tousled or wild.

5. Others: Other beauty types that do not fall into the above. Please give a one-

sentence description at the bottom of the coding sheet.

B: Occupational Role:

6. Professional: Business women, women with careers/identified jobs, including

high-level executives, middle-level manager, white collar, blue collar, etc.

7. Entertainment: Television personnel, movie actress, celebrities of other

entertainment or sports

8. Family Role: Women shown as homemaker (suing appliances or doing),

housework (taking care of husband or children), women dependent on man

for affection, instruction or happiness

9. Recreational: Sporty types showing some athletic aspects

10. Decorative: Just looking pretty with no identified role

C: Dress of Main Character in the Visuals:

1. Demure: Dressed in typical clothes, including tennis skirts and walking shorts

2. Seductive: Dressed in a sexy way, for instance in open blouses and shirts

which expose chest areas; full-length lingerie; evening gowns which expose

cleavage; "muscle shirts"; and "hiked skirts", exposing thighs, "close-ups",

where the shoulders of the models are bare

3. Nude: Undressed, including silhouettes; the wearing of translucent under

apparel or lingerie; “medium shots”, where the models display no clothing or

have only a towel over their shoulders; and full shots where the model is

unclad except for a towel.

4. Cannot tell: For instance in “close-ups”, where only the face of the model can

be seen

APPENDIX B

Coding Sheet for Chinese Magazines (Ads)

1. Number of Pages

1. Single

2. Double

3. More than Two

2. Race of Models

1. Chinese

2. Japanese

3. Other Asian People

4. Caucasian

5. African

6. Others

7. Korean

3. Beauty Types

1. Classic/Elegant: A classic elegant look, model is slightly older than

average. Fair skin, feminine, glamorous, and sophisticated. Usually

wears soft, demure, feminine apparel and is not heavily accessorized.

2. Sexual/ Sex Kitten: sexually attractive, usually wears sexy attire or

revealing, tight clothes. Model can also be dressed in normal clothes

but posed in an unnatural way, such as an uncomfortable,

“cheesecake” pose.

3. Cute/ Girl Next Dorr: Cute, casual attire, youthful appearance. Can

also be outdoorsy, in a causal, active way.

4. Trendy: Wears faddish clothes and displays oversized accessories.

Hair is tousled or wild.

5. Others: Other beauty types that do not fall into the above. Please give

a one-sentence description at the bottom of the coding sheet.

4. Occupational Roles

1. Professional: Business women, women with careers/identified jobs,

including high-level executives, middle-level manager, white collar,

blue collar, etc.

2. Entertainment: Television personnel, movie actress, celebrities of

other entertainment or sports

3. Family Role: Women shown as homemaker (suing appliances or

doing), housework (taking care of husband or children), women

dependent on man for affection, instruction or happiness

4. Recreational: Sporty types showing some athletic aspects

5. Decorative: Just looking pretty with no identified role

5. Dress of Main Character in the Visuals

1. Demure: Dressed in typical clothes, including tennis skirts and walking

shorts

2. Seductive: Dressed in a sexy way, for instance in open blouses and

shirts which expose chest areas; full-length lingerie; evening gowns

which expose cleavage; “muscle shirts”; and hiked skirts, exposing

thighs, “close-ups”, where the shoulders of the models are bare

3. Nude: Undressed, including silhouettes; the wearing of translucent

under apparel or lingerie; “medium shots”, where the models display

no clothing or have only a towel over their shoulders; and full shots

where the model is unclad except for a towel.

4. Cannot tell: For instance in “close-ups”, where only the face of the

model can be seen.

APPENDIX C

Classification of Beauty Types

Beauty Type Definition

Classic

A classic elegant look, model is slightly older

than average. Fair skin, feminine, glamorous and

sophisticated. Usually wears soft, feminine apparel

and is not heavily accessorized.

Sexual/Sex kitten

Sexually attractive. Usually wears sexy attire

or tight fitting, revealing clothes. Model can also be

dressed in normal clothes but posed in an unnatural

way, such as an uncomfortable, revealing pose

Cute/Girl-Next-Door

Cute, casual attire, youthful appearance. Can

also be outdoors in a casual and active manner

Trendy

Wears faddish clothes and displays oversized

accessories. Hair is tousled or wild

Others

Include any other categories that do not fit

comfortably in the above

Classification of Dress Types

Dress Type Definition

Demure

Dressed in typical clothes, not revealing,

including tennis skirts and walking shorts

Seductive

Dressed in a sexy way, for instance in open

blouses and shirts which expose chest areas; full-

length lingerie; evening gowns which expose

cleavage; “muscle shirts”;and hiked skirts, exposing

thighs, “close-ups”, where the shoulders of the

models are bare

Nude

Undressed, including silhouettes; the wearing

of translucent under apparel or lingerie; “medium

shots”, where the models display no clothing or have

only a towel over their shoulders; and full shots

where the model is unclad except for a towel.

Cannot tell

For instance in “close-ups”, where only the

face of the model can be seen

Classification of Occupational Roles of the Model

Occupational role Definition

Professional

Business women, women with

careers/identified jobs, including high-level

executives, middle-level managers, white collar, blue

collar, etc.

Entertainment-celebrities

Television personnel, movie actress,

celebrities of other entertainment or sports

Family type

Women shown as homemaker; sewing, using

appliances or doing housework. Taking care of

husband or children, women dependent on man for

love, instruction or happiness

Recreational role Sporty types showing some athletic aspects

Decorative role Just looking pretty with no identified role

Classification of Product Categories

Product