Direct response advertising in the US and European markets: a content analysis of fashion products

In the advertising of self‐projective products, marketers have focused on image advertising. However, today advertisers are integrating direct response with image based advertising, in essence, to “get more bang for the buck”. Hence, the purpose of the study was to investigate direct response advertising in upscale fashion magazines in the European Union as well as the USA. Eight hundred and seventy advertisements of perfumes, women’s apparel and cosmetics were evaluated via the editions of Vogue. Direct response advertisements were most prevalent among advertisements of women’s apparel and primarily in US editions of Vogue. Furthermore, advertisements for perfumes and women’s apparel were image based while advertisements for cosmetics were balanced. Implications of the findings are given regarding advertising fashion products in the European Community.