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The Pennsylvania State University The Graduate School College of Communications THE SELLING OF POSTFEMINISM: LUCKY MAGAZINE AND GENDERED CONSUMERISM A Dissertation in Mass Communications by Regina McNamara 2014 Regina McNamara Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy December 2014 The dissertation of Regina McNamara was reviewed and approved* by the following: Matthew P. McAllister Professor Dissertation Advisor Chair of Committee Chair of Graduate Program College of Communications Colleen Connolly-Ahern Associate Professor College of Communications John Christman Associate Professor Department of Philosophy College of Liberal Arts Marie Hardin Professor and Dean College of Communications *Signatures are on file in the Graduate School iii ABSTRACT Since the early days of modern consumer culture, women have been a highly desirable demographic to advertisers given the long-held belief that women make significant decisions regarding spending for households and for themselves. One form of consumption-oriented discourse targeted to women is the fashion and beauty magazine, an enduring and profitable staple of American popular culture that continues to play a pivotal role in focusing consumption trends for millions of women. Through both their editorial and advertising content, magazines such as Allure and Vogue attempt to present the appropriate hairstyle, skirt length and lipstick shade for women consumers. But they also promote other values. As mainstream women’s magazines have long provided a colorful guide for women through fashion must-haves, such magazines also offer advice about or portrayals of career choices, motherhood and socially acceptable gender roles. Such messages may also have demographic variations. This project attempts to analyze the socio-cultural implications of Lucky magazine as a hypercommercialized and women-targeted magazine-catalog hybrid and shopping-oriented media brand. In particular, in drawing on the broad range of commercial culture criticism and postfeminist scholarship, I analyze to what extent and in what ways this hybrid publication may co-opt feminist and class discourses by collapsing consumerism with feminist empowerment and gendered class mobility. In addition, the targeting of the postfeminist woman or at least those with postfeminist values as Lucky readers is also addressed in this project. The degree to which social media has extended both the reach and the integration of hypercommercialized, postfeminist messages is also an important part of the project. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Tables ........................................................................................................................... v Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................. vi Chapter 1 Introduction: Lucky magazine as Shopping, Style and Empowerment Guide for the Postfeminist Woman............................................................................................. 1 Chapter 2 Building a Theoretical Framework Through An Examination of the Three Waves of Feminism, Postfeminism, and Hypercommercialism ...................................... .12 Chapter 3 Profiting from Gendered Consumption: Examining the Historical Precedents and Political Economy of Lucky magazine ...................................................................... .32 Chapter 4 “The Magazine about Shopping”: Analyzing Print Versions of Lucky magazine .......................................................................................................................... .53 Chapter 5 Lucky magazine as a Consumption-Promoting Digital Media Brand ..................... .91 Chapter 6 Lucky magazine and Future Implications for the Media Industry ........................... 132 References…………………………………………………………………………………….137 v LIST OF TABLES Table 3-1. Lucky magazine Paid Circulation and Ranking Among US Print Magazines ........ 40 Table 3-2. Lucky Circulation Information, 2014 ...................................................................... 40 Table 3-3. Lucky’s editoral calendar. ....................................................................................... 43 Table 3-4. Lucky magazine Advertising Rates……………………………………………….45 Table 3-5. Lucky magazine Website Visitor Data……………………………………………49 Table 4-1. List of Lucky Advertisers………………………………………………………….65 vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my committee for their guidance and support. Colleen Connolly- Ahern, John Christman, Marie Hardin and the late Jeanne Hall all contributed to the ideas and theories which are the foundation of this project. Most importantly, I would like to thank my adviser, Matt McAllister who directed me with wisdom and patience. I certainly could not have finished these pages without him. In addition, I would like to thank John S. Nichols who supported me through the various stages of my graduate years. Lastly, I offer sincere thanks to my long-suffering friends in various cities who patiently listened to my dissertation woes. Thanks to Marla Meyer Papernick, Catherine Dollard, Julie Brooks, Katie O’Toole, Gary Gray, Heather Brown Holleman, Kelly Marsh, Richard Kelly and Jennifer Pesci-Kelly. 1 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION: LUCKY MAGAZINE AS SHOPPING, STYLE AND EMPOWERMENT GUIDE FOR THE POSTFEMINIST WOMAN Since the early days of modern consumer culture, women have been a highly desirable demographic to advertisers given the long-held belief that women make significant decisions regarding spending for households and for themselves. One form of consumption-oriented discourse targeted to women is the fashion and beauty magazine, an enduring and profitable staple of American popular culture that continues to play a pivotal role in focusing consumption trends for millions of women. Through both their editorial and advertising content, magazines such as Allure and Vogue attempt to present the appropriate hairstyle, skirt length and lipstick shade for women consumers. But they also promote other values. As mainstream women’s magazines have long provided a colorful guide for women through fashion must-haves, such magazines also offer advice about or portrayals of career choices, motherhood and socially acceptable gender roles. Such messages may also have demographic variations. Magazine newsstands have become increasingly cluttered as niche titles focus on everything from the growing “tween” market (such as GL, for Girls' Life, which constructs a particular image of girlhood) to celebrity-branded versions that appeal to the especially mediated women consumer (one prominent example being O: The Oprah Magazine). Although women-targeted magazines have historically celebrated consumption by often blurring the distinctions between advertising and editorial content, arguably a hypercommercial leap occurred during the millennial decade. In late 2000 a new title entered this crowded marketplace, Lucky magazine. Part of the vast and influential Condé Nast publishing group, Lucky magazine openly declared itself to be the publication on “shopping and style.” While other 2 publications ostensibly promote fashion and beauty ideals, this publication attempted to introduce a new commercial hybrid to the consumer magazine industry: the concept of magazine as a shopping catalog, further signaling a new influence of advertising over content and spotlighting the celebration of shopping and consumption. In fact, a stated justification of Lucky was that traditional fashion magazines – despite their advertising-centered nature - were not friendly enough to easy consumption. Editor Kim France stated the publication intended to reinforce the notion that “catalog is not a dirty word, which made us controversial. I saw these fashion magazines that women were really intimidated by and realized that catalogs are completely accessible. Everything in Lucky has got to be worth explaining to your friend why she should buy it” (“The Art of Shopping,” 2006). In press materials released by Condé Nast, executives announced the creation of Lucky “was inspired by Japanese publications devoted to shopping” (Ryan, 2000). Editor Kim France states: “We didn’t follow the traditional magazine formula of a serious story, a relationship story, a trend story. In fact, the concept was inspired by a genre of magazines in Japan that focuses on trends and shopping. It’s a very proven commodity there.” France is aware that this magazine’s hybrid does have its critics. She argues that there is some economic separation of editorial from advertising in the magazine by insisting that “advertisers are not paying Lucky to endorse their products on editorial pages” (Ryan, 2000). This, though, is hardly the point as this blurring of the lines makes it difficult to discern the difference between the two. Clearly this publication serves as a conduit for the ultimate expression of consumerism, shopping. As the Lucky website touts in its mission statement: “Lucky is America’s ultimate shopping and style magazine. The best to buy in fashion, beauty and living. The voice of a friend you love to take shopping. Choices, not dictates. Price points ranging from high to low. Buying info for every item featured” (Condé Nast on-line media kit, 2009). Lucky has also been aggressive in its use of digital forms to spread the word of its own brand, its advertising partners’ brands, and the convergence of shopping, promotion, and identity. 3 This project attempts to analyze the socio-cultural