The Stereotype of "Cosmo Girl"

Abstract

[...] One of the best examples for these social trends is the idol of Cosmo Girl, created by Cosmopolitan, the best-selling women’s magazine in the United States. Cosmo Girl goes far beyond the mere representation of the core Cosmopolitan readership’s lifestyle, and embraces the principles of consumerist ideology that seems to dominate the general social climate of our time. She represents those consumerist values that encourage women to find their happiness and self-realization in purchasing advertised goods. In my essay, I attempt to prove that those stereotypes and one-sided, oversimplified images that are idolized primarily by women’s magazines play an essential role in the proper working of consumerism, since they arouse the feeling of dissatisfaction among the female target audience, and, in this way, they largely contribute to the selling of goods and services.