Response to Sara

I found the article, “Sex, Lies, and Advertising” particularly interesting because it is an issue that has bothered me for a long time. I frequently read magazines and have begun to question the validity of the articles inside because of the ulterior motives behind the magazines. Magazines, do in fact exist to make money and they do so by selling advertisements. There are occasionally informational pieces within that add legitimacy to the circulation, but I have noticed more and more of the magazine space being dedicated to advertisements. Unfortunately, such advertisements are growing sneakier, and creeping into locations you wouldn’t expect. Fashion ads are usually easy to detect, but more cosmetic companies are advertising their products in make-over articles, new looks for the season, and how to fix trouble areas. I rely on magazines for objective evaluations of products and it concerns me that the article may bend their opinions based on ad sales. Is Revlon really the best mascara to buy or did they spend an extra five grand? I am not so much concerned with faulty make up information, and instead with the dangerous precedent this sets for the rest of the magazine. More and more corporations have certain expectations when they invest money in an advertisement. They control where their ads are placed within the publication, and if something is published that is deemed “inappropriate” for the product the ad is pulled. Magazines are then forced to decide between turning a profit and their freedom of press. I am afraid that magazines are going to become completely controlled by various corporations and all the articles within will be subtle advertisements. Freedom of the press is essential to our democracy and we must maintain the integrity of our magazines through which we spread information. If we lose magazines to big time companies, we will lose a legitimate source of information and again be clouded by companies through the media