The Use of Hedonistic, Playful Youth Based Photography in Fashion Campaigns

The true hedonist is tracking the narrow path between pain and pleasure, not wanting pleasure so much that it is a pain of loss not to have it, and not seeking it too much, accepting and enjoying what does arrive.

In the 1950s, the fashion industry was based mostly around teenagers and young adults. Before this time, adolescents were expected to follow in their parents’

This new look showed how young girls finally just did not care and wanted to stand out showing they had a say of what they could and could not do. These girls did not care what the older generation thought and made a point in society.

Nowadays young people are the most portrayed in any fashion trends in the nation as well as the world we live in. For example, the magazine cover that I chose called Blueberry London portrays young couples with the newest clothing trends. They both looked very romantic, calm, and bold. Due to ads that are shown

Advertising to teens is nothing new to marketers they have been doing it for so long and they know that teens can be easily influenced by their desires such as merchandise, fashion, and music and they are also the impressionable consumers of tomorrow.

Advertising in a mass consumer society such as America is a very competitive industry. Advertising companies continually come up with new and more creative techniques of increasing sale. Advertising companies decide which group of people would be more attracted to a specific product and link that product to the feelings of excitement and anxiety of the targeted customers. The ads are carefully crafted bundles of images, frequently designed to associate the product with feelings of pleasure stemming from deep-seated fantasies and anxieties (Craig 197). For example, usually advertisements of beer and cars demonstrate masculine men, loners and free of

There seems to be an alarming trend in clothing marketing and retail to, well, give our young

AESTHETIC: The bright colors and enthusiasm of the ad feel too young and teeny bopper.

The hedonist would argue that pleasure is the only intrinsic good in life, that joy and suffering are the only distinguishing marks of things beneficial or harmful to the human being. To the hedonist, life is like the common balance scale with suffering on one side and pleasure on the other. With pleasure being inversely related to suffering, in order to maximize the good of life, the hedonist strives to minimize suffering, thereby maximizing net pleasure (pleasure minus suffering).

Hedonism is one of the oldest of philosophical theories, dating back to the ancient Greeks. As Schafer-Landau (2015) explained, “Epicurus (341-270 BCE), the first great hedonist, argued that pleasure was the only thing

Target audience: The advertising is aimed at young or mid-aged male consumers. The two major characters are both young men, and they talked about beer-drinking occasions themed with young people, such as parties, golf course, and pubs for cowboys.

We, the American public are hit from every imaginable direction every waking moment of our lives by slick advertising agencies trying to coerce us into or tell us why we need to buy their products. Their products will make us happier or thinner, or prettier. The advertisers often use the picture of youth and vitality so that the public will associate that particular product or service with being young and beautiful. They do this because of course in our society youth and beauty are to be coveted. Everyone would like to be forever young and beautiful or for as long as they can anyway. So, everyone is trying to look younger or wants to look younger. The things that we can associate with youth are obvious. We see the picture of youth and

     The appearance of these models is the primary concern of the ads and entails many different elements. Every model portrays a different characteristic through the pose they are in and the clothes that they wear. One ad depicts a sexy young woman who shows confidence by extending her arms out and exposing her flat stomach. Her hips are thrust to the left side, her long beautiful hair is gently blown back, and her facial expression and eye contact hint at sexual desire or acceptance of the viewer. Another female model also has her hips out to the left, but her hands express a different idea. While one hand is used to play with her hair, the other is up to her face with her pointer finger right below her bottom lip. Her hair partly covers her eyes and with her head slightly down, she comes off as shy but confidant. The confidence comes from her exposed stomach and direct eye contact that she makes with the viewer. These two women are somewhat opposite in how they come off which shows that Calvin Klein is trying to appeal to what different guys look for and appreciate in a woman.

“It’s where it all starts, from the ground up; street is the seed to all other fashion” says Kenta Goto from Brknhome, a now defunct Canadian t-shirt brand (Vogel 37). There are many voices that speak of the streetwear culture: what it is or once was, how it all started and where it is heading. Streetwear is not just some fad or a passing trend. It is nothing but pure talent and passion, and the vision to stand out from the rest. It is a fashion movement, primarily for the youth who roam the streets expressing their interests, cultural identity, and common scenarios that take place in their urban catwalks. For the youth, streetwear can be the most effective form of self-expression.

The team tried to make the situations realistic and relatable. They based their advertisements off of their findings from their focus groups. For example they stayed away from using celebrities in most of their ads because they were perceived to be less credible than ordinary boys of girls.