LINK: BRANDED

Branded: The Buying and Selling of Teenagers

Alissa Quart's book entitled "Branded: The Buying and Selling of Teenagers" is an expose of the many advertising tactics impacting the consumer culture of teenagers. Currently, Google Books has a section of the first chapter available online. I found it to be a very interesting read, detailing the various ways in which advertisers bombard teenagers with images of branding. It is both amusing and thought-provoking.

LINK: UNATTAINABLE BEAUTY

Unattainable Beauty

Newsweek's 'Unattainable Beauty' examines the decades most egregious retouching scandals. It is shocking to see the level of retouching that occurs on images of people who are already attractive or very thin. This relates back to the idea of digital photography lacking truth.

VIDEO PROJECT: THE IMAGE OF FASHION

The Image of Fashion

The Image of Fashion from Maegan Fidelino on Vimeo.

Youtube: link

A stop-motion experiment examining fashion's image as perpetuated through media such as the magazine.

LINK: THE CUT

The Cut - Articles on Body Image

New York Magazine's "The Cut" section features a variety of articles concerning body image and issues related to body image. This particular article about former model Gemma Ward was particularly interesting to me because she was once one of my favourite models. However, she has recently been receding from the industry simply because her body has matured and she now has more curves since she was just 16 when she did her first Vogue cover. This article really opened my eyes to how the image of the ideal female body is portrayed because really, Gemma at her peak did not exemplify the body of a woman, but rather, that of a beanpole thin adolescent.

FOUND MEDIA: NUBBY TWIGLET ARTICLE

Does Your Stuff Define Who You Are?

Nubby's article is an interesting examination of marketing and whether or its effect, even on those who are educated and know about the impact of brand identities and advertisements. She asks the question of whether the purchases she makes is defining who she is, or if she is making, conscious, informed decisions to buy particular products for their quality. I personally find this article very relatable as I myself am "a stereotypical 20-something college educated creative female."