After looking at the magazines I really wondered if people actually bought these things or if they are just a quick grab to read while standing in the checkout lines. All of the magazines were terrible in my opinion. With the blink of an eye you can literally go from racy political magazines, to boring time magazines , to the latest issues of vogue. None of the images are flattering nor do they portray an honest image of beauty or lifestyle choices. If pencil thin models and get rich schemes are not relatable to the general public how is it that magazine publications somehow manage to stay relevant? Though we hate to admit it these provocative and not so subtle magazine covers somehow manage to persuade us into thinking that this is the norm. In living in a society that is so centered around image and obtaining wealth and finding out the latest information on who's popular and not popular its no wonder why these magazines manage to stay on the shelves.
Though we may not physically purchase them and take them home with us and store them into our collections , they still manage to make it into our minds and homes . I can definitely attest to looking at an image of one of my favorite celebrities and going home to do a google search on the latest gossip blogs/websites to find out more. And for some individuals it is much more than that, the images that we are presented with are not only of our favorite celebrities, but to some, our idols and the people that we aspire to be and essentially look up to. But are our favorite celebs and stars really selling us the truth? We as fans get so caught up in the image and look that our favorite artist or celebrity has to uphold, however is this a true portrayal the people that they actually are? In a business that is driven on looks it truly hard to distinguish between what is true raw natural beauty, and what is actually fake. And in browsing the magazines in the checkout aisle I noticed that more than half of the images on the magazines were sexually based. Women posing in underwear and guys with nothing but jeans on. Is this truly an accurate portrayal of beauty?
Though we may forget it the magazine world is nothing more than a business. A gimmick centered around selling false hopes and expectations of things that we seem to forget are not real. In a business where perception and truth seem to be so tainted it amazes me how they manage to stick around. But until we can separate the false advertisement of what beauty and life is like from the actual truth I believe that the magazine world will continue to thrive. Though statistics may show a decrease in magazine sales, I believe they profit off something much more. We as consumers have to remember that perception is reality and that what we ultimately think of ourselves won’t be altered by the images or articles that we come across.
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