Vogue, 12/93

Harper's Bazaar, 7/93                                          Harper's Bazaar, 7/93

"Marciano says he is proud that his ads use real menÐÐreal cowboys, ranchers, truck drivers, and an actual matador. 'My field is day-to-day street life,' he says. 'I don't want to create fake pictures.' Women, however, are another matter: 'We always use models. It's difficult to find real women who fit what we're trying to say. Real women, they aren't as cooperative as real men.'"*
*Paul Marciano, Guess executive for advertising
     --Backlash, Susan Faludi, 1991

"Portraits of humiliated or battered young women passed muster with the Marciano censors, but depictions of adultery might disturb the sanctity of the family. Instead, that season, Guess substituted an ad campaign with cowgirls sucking on their fingers. They gazed into the camera with startled and vulnerable doe eyes. Bambis before the hunters."
     --Backlash, Susan Faludi, 1991

"The cover blurbs promise women "Surprising Tips for Sharpening Your Lovemaking Skills" and "Great Places to Meet a Mate." They herald "The Latest, Truest Update on What to Eat and Avoid," luring women who worry about their weight. Readers snap up more than 7 million copies a month of magazines with headlines like those. Yet what those circulation figures don't reveal is how women feel after reading publications such as Cosmopolitan and Glamour, according to a Palo Alto, Calif. social psychologist... Overwhelmingly, the women in the study said they felt worse about their bodies and looks after reading the magazines, says (Debbie) Then, who started the research while still a graduate student at Stanford...'On one level, they know that the photos are unrealistic, but they're still affected by them.'"
     --"Read 'em and weep, women: Magazines entice, then lower self-esteem", Donna Kato, The News & Observer, 3/9/93