As I was doing some business clothes shopping late last year I stumbled across an offer I couldn’t refuse:  pay $30 for a card that benefits breast cancer research and get 30% off the whole purchase as well as a year’s subscription to one of five fashion magazines. I bought the card, saved big on the clothes and immediately sent off for my subscription.

The magazine started arriving in December and I look forward to its arrival each month. The March issue, which is always the biggest issue of the year, arrived and I dropped it in my purse on my way to work the next morning. Usually I read the magazine on the subway between home and work, flipping through each page, examining the styles, the looks, trying to figure out how to incorporate the model’s attire into my limited wardrobe.

But once I got on the subway I found myself spending more time with the magazine half closed than fully open; more time worrying about my fellow passengers getting a glimpse of what was on those pages than checking out this month’s fashion. My concern stemmed from the fact that most of the ads featured scantily clad women in positions that make them into little more than another object to be purchased. Half way through, I closed the magazine and put it back in my purse.
At home that night I went through the magazine and ripped out every ad that tried to displace the dignity of the women featured. The garbage can received almost an equal number of pages as the magazine was left with. I took the pared down version on the subway the next morning and looked through it at my leisure.  

Usually I don’t have a problem with the ads in this magazine; but with March being the all-out moment for the industry it gave manufacturers the opportunity to have the models all-out with little hidden and little of the actual product shown. A completely naked woman waiting for a subway doesn’t sell clothes. Several slicked down bodies mangled together doesn’t sell perfume—at least not to me. And I’m not alone in this thinking. I’m on the advisory board of Fashion Forum, a New York City-based fashion group for young women that promotes the dignified image of women. The girls who run the group, and those who attend the monthly meetings, are women who understand their worth and believe the advertising industry often oversteps the boundaries of decency when trying to be edgy. New members often comment on how encouraging it is to find a group of young women who share the same ideals they do; while still dressing fashionably and having fun.

The group strives to be a positive voice in the industry, and while they never opt to boycott a certain company or take a hard stance as a group, individually they have often voiced their opinions. Members have stopped in department stores and talked to a manager about an offensive window display. They have written letters to advertising agencies and manufacturers to explain their belief in women’s innate worth and how it is hidden in an ad. They believe there is a disconnect between some of the ads that make it into our fashion magazines and the product buyers – and try to clear that up for those in the industry.

Fashion Forum and its members try to focus more on the positive aspects of the industry than the problematic ones. They have written letters commending an advertising campaign and stopped into various stores to offer positive reinforcement. Some of the members have been in fashion shows throughout the city and willingly model clothes that promote their dignity while declining to wear articles that don't. The feedback we have received is incredible. Just recently one of our members stopped in a Madison Avenue store to voice an opinion on a particular ad. The manager there immediately made a note, thanked her for stopping in, and said the store has received several such comments, which have been passed on to upper management.

The desire to be different, to stand out, to be noticed has advertisers sometimes pushing the envelope in ways they don’t need to. Advertising is a form of art, it’s photography - often at its best. At times the line between artsy spreads and vulgar ones is ignored in the name of creativity. But it does not have to be that way. The minds in the industry can harvest this creativity and put it to a million different uses. They need to do just that – creating an eye-catching artsy spread that markets a product and uplifts the position of women all at once.

I know it’s only one month’s worth of ads and only 50% of the ads were what I would consider anti-woman, but when that fashion magazine sends me the renewal form after my year’s free subscription ends I won’t be renewing. I don’t want to contribute my hard-earned dollars to a company that doesn’t understand the unique character of its readership. We need positive reinforcement of our dignity, our true beauty, our true worth, and while the right fashion might make us more confident individuals, the ads often serve to send the opposite message.

Katie Hinderer is Web Editor for Relatemag.com.

What do you think about magazine ads? Email your opinions and ideas to atrimmer@murrayhillinstitute.org