Semiotic Analysis of Teenage Magazine Front Covers

In this essay I will hope to analyse the semiotic codes of the front covers of teenage magazines to demonstrate how the media constructs the image and behavioural ideology of the teenage girl. I will analyse issue 359 of More! (December 27 th 2001 – January 8th 2002) and compare it with the January 2002 edition of 19. I have chosen these specific texts as they are popular mainstream magazines that are available in most newsagents, and therefore arguably represent to the reader what constitutes the modern teenage girl. These are also the most recent issues available for analysis and therefore demonstrate an up-to-date representation of constructed femininity in our media and society. Jonathan Bignell (1997) argues that the magazine is â€Å"just a collection a signs† (Bignell 1997: 78). These signs may include paradigmatic and syntagmatic elements such as the title of the magazine, the fonts used, the layout, the colours, the texture of the paper, the language adopted, the content of the articles and so on, and each of these signs have been chosen to generate a meaning. The magazine is therefore a complex collection of signs that can be extensively decoded and analysed by its reader – â€Å"women's magazines communicate their mythic meaning by means of signs, thus their representations of the imaginary are dependent on the symbolic, the signs which do the communicating† (Bignell 1997: 78). Signs however, consisting (according to Saussure) of two elements, a signifier and a signified, only gain meaning when â€Å"it has someone to mean to† (Williamson 1978: 40). The reader is therefore very important and will bring his/her own interpretations to the texts by drawing on their own cultural values and perceptual codes. As Daniel Chandler argues, â€Å"‘decoding' involves not simply basic recognition and comprehension of what a text ‘says' but also the interpretation and evaluation of its meaning with reference to relevant codes† (Chandler, web source: Semiotics for Beginners). As the relationship between the signifier and the signified is arbitrary and meaning is rooted in cultural values, we can argue that the potential interpretations of any given magazine are therefore endless. As well as being a collection of signs, the magazine is a sign in itself, which â€Å"connects together the mythic meanings of femininity and pleasure† (Bignell 1997: 66). Through reading the pages a reader will gain an insight into the world of the woman and will be taught what are the expectations made of them as women (they learn what it is to be a woman). McRobbie (1996) argues that magazines seek to â€Å"further consolidate and fix an otherwise more unstable sense of both self and gender† (in Curran 1996: 193), and so magazines seem to be central to society as they create a culture, a culture of femininity where a common experience of girlhood is shared. Bignell argues that the function of magazines is â€Å"to provide readers with a sense of community, comfort, and pride in this mythic feminine identity† (Bignell 1997: 61). As the magazine promotes a â€Å"feminine culture† and â€Å"(defines) and (shapes) the woman's world† (McRobbie 2000: 69), we can see that it becomes a familiar friend for the female – it advises her, and provides entertainment, amusement and escapism for the reader and speaks to her in a language she understands – the lingo of teenagers is used in 19 and More! , for example â€Å"Top Totty†. Bignell sees that â€Å"magazines are glossy and colourful, connoting pleasure and relaxation rather than seriousness†¦ the smell and feel of the glossy paper connotes luxury†¦ femininity and its pleasures of self-adornment† (1997: 66). The magazine therefore symbolises a lifestyle, a life of luxury and pleasure. The magazine claims to be simultaneously a luxury item and a familiar friend to its reader. It attempts to convince us that it is not a fictive document, that it is a true reflection of reality, a window into the real world of the woman. It is argued that the average teenage reader will be a heterosexual girl seeking a boyfriend (or seeking a way to gratify the needs of her boyfriend), enjoying shopping, fashion, and popular culture and needing plenty of advice on sex and love. These assumptions pervade the contents of mainstream teenage magazines, with features such as â€Å"Position of the Fortnight† and â€Å"Celebrity Hair Special† frequently appearing within the pages. This is the reader to whom most teenage magazines cater – they broadcast to a stereotypical mass (which is arguably an artificial epresentation and does not reflect the identities and lives of all teenage girls). In order to analyse the image and behavioural ideology of the teenage girl offered within teenage magazines, I will attempt to investigate some semiotic codes within More! and 19. The front cover is an important aspect of the magazine as it initially attracts the reader and is a taster of what can be seen within the c ontents of the magazine. It is an â€Å"important advertisement† and â€Å"serves to label its possessor† (McLoughlin 2000: 5). This is certainly a factor that influences the purchasing behaviours of young teenage girls who attempt to appear more mature and more sexually knowledgeable by buying a magazine aimed at girls 4 or 5 years their senior. The front cover will also promise that â€Å"the contents of the magazine†¦ will fulfil the needs of the individual and her group† and sells a â€Å"future image† of the reader as â€Å"happier, more desirable† (Bignell 1997: 67). By merely looking at the front cover of a magazine therefore, a potential reader will be able to determine how far it will fulfil their needs. There are many similar defining paradigmatic and syntagmatic elements on the covers of More! and 19 that would attract a teenage girl to purchase the magazines. These demonstrate effectively the dominant ideology of teenage femininity in the media. Firstly, the titles anchor the texts to the genre of teenage magazines. 19 seems to be directed at a person who is 19, or at least who thinks she is as mature as a 19year old. As the title stands boldly in the top left-hand corner of the page, this is the image that the eye is initially drawn towards. If we are to adopt Kress and Leeuwen's theory of layout, this will also give the magazine a sense of idealism, suggesting that the reader should aspire to attain the life and image referred to within the pages (in Bell 1997: 193). The title More! also acquires this quality of idealism, but as the word stretches across the width of the page it could be suggested that the More! reader is more sassy and larger than life in comparison to the more mature or sophisticated reader of 19 (this is further substantiated by the exclamation mark -More! and by the girlish pink colour of the 19 logo). The taglines reinforce these ideas as they are placed directly underneath the titles in a contrasting black font. 19 states that the magazine is â€Å"Barefaced Cheek! † which implies that all is bared in the magazine, the reader is given extensive coverage of the issues of sex, love and fashion. However this tagline could also be interpreted (perhaps to a non-teenager reader) as implying that the reader of 19 is cheeky and impertinent. It is only the exclamation mark after the words and the positioning underneath the well-known and recognisable logo of 19 that anchor the preferred reading for the reader – as the reader will presumably be familiar with the content of the magazine, the polysemic nature of the tagline will not be apparent to them. This familiarity with content is also needed to fully appreciate the tagline on the cover of More! – â€Å"Smart girls Get More! â€Å". On the one hand, it is suggested that smart girls buy the magazine as they know it will provide pleasure and information for them, and on the other hand it is suggested that smart girls (the attractive More! reader) get more out of life, love, and, most importantly, sex. Reading More! will improve your life on many levels, if you listen to the advice offered within the magazine. The tagline adopted by More! is therefore effective as the modern British teenage girl will construe an appropriate interpretation that will give them the urge to buy the product. Both 19 and More! lso attempt to attract their readers by placing a female character in the centre of the cover. This is a particularly interesting characteristic if we are to consider that corresponding male magazines similarly adopt central female models, either posing seductively or like the typical ‘girl-next-door', on their covers. It could indeed be argued that one could successfully (and with minimal disruption) take th e models from the covers of More! and 19 and place them on a magazine such as FHM that adheres to its own set of generic codes and conventions and encourages very different interpretations from its reader. According to Bignell, the images of beautiful women on the covers of female magazines are â€Å"iconic signs which represent the better self which every woman desires to become† (Bignell 1997: 69). The figure thus represents the self for the reader, a future image that is attainable for her if she continues reading and learning from the magazine. On a male magazine however the same figure would represent a sexual image, an object to be attained by the male reader. It becomes evident therefore that â€Å"men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at †¦ Thus she turns herself into an object – and most particularly, and object of vision: a sight† (Berger in Vestergaard & Schroder 1992: 81). This is a somewhat negative interpretation of the centrality of women on the covers of magazines. However, Bignell sees that â€Å"while the cover image is for a woman to look at, it is constructed with reference to a wider social code in which being feminine means taking pleasure in looking at oneself, and taking pleasure in being looked at by men† (my italics, Bignell 1997: 71). Bignell therefore seems to empower the woman in his analysis of cover models, noting that women simultaneously enjoy looking and being looked at. The genre (or textual code) in which the image appears is therefore a fundamental contributor to the construed interpretations made by the reader. As stated above, the model on the cover of a female teenage magazine represents the self for the reader. The models seen on the given issues of 19 and More! therefore seem to illustrate the characteristics of their targeted readers. The model seen on the cover of 19 is the typicalblonde haired, tanned, tall and slim girl with perfect complexion and perfect features. But the reader is not led to feel envious of the model – on the contrary, she is encouraged to believe that this is an ordinary 19 reader (on the inside cover she is identified simply as â€Å"Emily†), and is the beautiful woman inside each of us, waiting to be unleashed (and reading 19 willunleash this beauty from within the reader). The diamante necklace connotes luxury and sophistication, and the sequined boob tube connotes a fun, bubbly nature and draws attention to her slim body (her sex appeal). With her long blond hair flowing gently away from her face to reveal dazzling green eyes (ironically in this context, green traditionally being associated with the colour of envy), she can be seen as iconic for the reader (in the non-semiotic sense), and as seductive for the male reader. She embodies the message that 19 habitually transcribe to the reader – look innocent and beautiful and yet be in control of your own sexuality and your relationships. On the cover of More! the character again embodies the self for the reader. She represents the more! ethos of youthful, cheeky impertinence† (in Curran 1996: 189) Her red, low-cut dress suggests that she is sassy; a vixen that has sexual needs and is not afraid to fulfil them. Again, the clear skin and perfect features encourage the reader to believe that there is an inner-beauty within everyone that will shine through. However, the More! model does not appear as innocent as the 19 model. Her hair is swept more vigorously from her face and therefore creates a more disrupted, chaotic image than the previous. The innocence depicted by the clear complexion of the 19 model is challenged here as the More! odel raises her eyebrow into an arch; she has a glint in her eye and pouts her lips proudly. As we notice the presence of a man in the left hand side of the front cover, we therefore interpret this facial expression as sexual prowess – this girl knows what she wants and she knows exactly how to get it. The male figure is not personalised; indeed we only see a leg, an arm and a crotch and yet we are fully aware of the masculinity of the character. This could suggest that, in subversion to the representation offered within male magazines, the man is the sexual object here. It is also significant that the male is wearing a kilt as it could suggest that the female is metaphorically wearing the trousers in the relationship. This interpretation would only become apparent if the reader was accustomed with the relevant social codes and textual codes of gendered magazines. If the reader is familiar with popular culture however, they could assume the man in the kilt to be the actor James Redmond who portrays Finn in Hollyoaks (a half-Scottish Lord) and therefore presume that there is an in-depth interview with him in the magazine – this is suggested by the text at the top of the magazine cover – â€Å"Finn-tastic! We Check out James Redmond's Morning Glory†. By analysing the title, tagline, and central images of the magazine cover, we have therefore deduced the readership and content of the magazines effectively. As McRobbie notes, sex now fills the space of the magazines' pages. It â€Å"provides the frame for women's magazines in the 1990's† and â€Å"marks a new moment in the construction of female sexual identities† (in Curran 1996: 177). It is worrying to think that the explicit sexual representations within the magazines (such as More! ‘s â€Å"Raunchy resolutions to spice up your sex life†) are being read by underage teenagers; sex has een packaged as a â€Å"commodity† (McLaughlin 200: 13) by these magazines in recent years and the young readers have eagerly jumped at the chance to buy such (what was previously) censored material. Indeed, fifty years ago the teenage magazine industry differed greatly to that of today. According to Vestergaard we have seen a shift from â€Å"motherhood and childcare to the maintenance of physical appearance† (Vestergaard & Schroder 1992: 81) (in the discussed examples, we see â€Å"Be your own stylist – steal insider know-how from the women who dress the stars† on the cover of 19, and on More! Happy New Gear – what every glam girl will be wearing this season†). Dr Nancy Signiorelli of the University of Delaware undertook a study on â€Å"A Focus on Appearance† in the media in November 1996, and she found that one in three (37%) articles in leading teen girl magazines included a focus on appearance, one in three (35%) focused on dating and less than 2% discussed either school or careers (websources Kellner and ChildrenNow). This is certainly reflected on the front covers analysed above – every feature on the covers refer to beauty, fashion, dating, sex and celebrities. Kimberley Phillips argues that these magazines therefore â€Å"reinforce the cultural expectations that an adolescent woman should be more concerned with her appearance, her relations with other people, and her ability to win approval from men than with her own ideas or expectations for herself (websource Hermes). It can also be argued however that young women are encouraged to develop independence by these magazines. In recent years the magazine industry has therefore successfully extended the notion of what it is to be a woman. A teenage girl will see hunting boyfriends and beautifying as a norm; it is argued indeed that these are transcribed as their sole purposes in life. The magazines do not seem to cater for minority interests such as politics, environmental issues, or any kind of music that ventures beyond Westlife or Britney Spears. The teenage girl has therefore been heavily stereotyped by the teenage magazine industry, and her interpretation of the codes and conventions used in the magazine will depend on her personal knowledge of this culture and society. Indeed, some of the readers of these magazines are male (e. g. the brothers or boyfriends of the female readers – Bignell refers to these as â€Å"non-ideal readers† (Bignell 1997: 58)), and they will interpret the codes differently to their female counterparts as they arguably do not share their interests in beauty products and fashion. Their interpretations of the sex issues may also differ, as they will gaze at the images of women as sex objects as opposed to icons and role models. Chandler sees that â€Å"social semiotics alerts us to how the same text may generate different meanings for different readers† (web source, Semiotics for Beginners), and this is certainly true of the gendered readings of teenage magazines. Chandler further notes that the signs (or codes) within the text â€Å"do not just ‘convey' meanings, but constitute a medium in which meanings are constructed† (ibid). Through reading a magazine aimed at her demographic group, a teenage girl will therefore come to learn that society expects her to be interested in boys, sex, fashion, beauty and fame. The magazine is therefore a â€Å"powerful ideological force† in society (McRobbie 2000: 69); the image and behavioural ideologies presented within the magazine covers become the stereotypical norm for the teenage girl. Applying semiotic analysis to the magazine text therefore allows us to identify social ideologies of the teenage girl. One could analyse the front covers of magazine extensively, decoding the codes of colour, font, layout and spatial arrangements as well as the titles, taglines, language and central images to show the construction of the teenage girl in the media. Teenage magazines may not provide an altogether accurate representation of all teenage girls today, but it is certainly a medium that provides escapism and enjoyment for the reader whilst subliminally educating and informing at the same time.

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But today, in a world filled with computers and keyboards and various applications like Microsoft Office to facilitate our writing and even correct our errors, do we really need to know how to write properly anymore? In the modern world where we use our phones and messages to communicate with the least amount of effort, short and concise text to get to the point regardless of punctuation, grammar nor orthography. In a fast living world where everybody seems to have less time, Is there really room for linguist? According to John Humphrey, a newspaper author mentioned in Crystals essay, exiting is ruining our Language.Ever since the mobile phone was introduced and along with the way to communicate with messages, companies have been using this invention to make the most profit of it by developing the Global System for Mobile Communications Network in the mid sass's. Messages at that time had a limited amount of characters, so the message people are trying to forward had to be short and concise. There was no room for orthography nor grammar. The beginning of SMS, short message service. Testing as a trend rocketed In the 21 SST century and a ewe creative style of writing has emerged.However, David Crystal is not agreeing with the majority, he states, that it rather â€Å"helps than hinders literacy' (b or not b, David Crystal, 337). He also argues that even though a lot of grammar and general linguistic rules are often broken, the messages are still understandable. And Isn't that the point? Furthermore, the longer the messages become the less linguist errors occur. Symbols and single letters to replace words (b or not b, David Crystal, 337-338) In fact, this so called problem is not new. People have been solving puzzles and riddles in newspapers using this structure of text in the 19th century.English has a lot of abbreviation words ever since it began to be written down. A different approach David Crystal is bringing up, is that author are using â€Å"textileâ₠¬  to write poems, short- stories or even novels. But the mobile phone is limiting the capabilities of this new found style. So authors craved for a platform with more expressive power. Therefore, â€Å"textile† moved to the PC where people have more possibilities like color, font, type- size and shape. This shows creativity for the English language (b or not b, David Crystal, 344). And isn't that Just a development of Language?Like Languages have always evolved and changed over time? At the same time, increasing evidence from different researches, form a team at Coventry University, came to the conclusion that testing does not effect children's ability to write or read. Instead, it improves. One of the researches show that the more abbreviations they use, the better is their grade in test's on reading and vocabulary. This research also states that the younger the age is, where they get heir first phones, the better their skills in linguistic (b or not b, David Crystal, 345) .The main argument is that children could not be good at testing if they had not already developed a secure considerable literacy awareness, hence children who are able to use this kind of communication style already have a sense of how the language works and sounds. David Crystal isolates himself clearly from other authors or professors by not sharing the same opinion. And this essay depicts it coherently. I think that it is true that English as a Language is changing and its not going to be he same as it was. But is that a bad thing? Personally.

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Magnetic Resonance Imaging Technique - Essay Example The essay "Magnetic Resonance Imaging Technique" talks about an advanced imaging technique used in the field of medicine under radiology particularly how it works. All bodies expose themselves to water molecules. The water molecule has two protons and hydrogen nuclei. When one is using a powerful magnetic field of a scanner, the overall magnetic moment of different protons aligns themselves in the direction of the field. Turning on of the radio frequency transmitter follows, thus, producing different electromagnetic fields. The electromagnetic field has the appropriate frequency termed as resonance frequency; the protons in the magnetic field absorb and flip the spin. After a while, when the electromagnetic field is in off status, the protons’ spins get to thermal dynamic equilibrium. The bulk magnetizations get aligned by the static field. As a result, this relaxation, radio frequency signals arise; these can be measured using receiver coils. Additional magnetic fields can facilitate learning about the information regarding the origin of the 3D space during the scan. Fields generated by passing electrical current via gradient coils results to varying magnetic fields in reference to the position of the magnet. This also alters the frequency of the signal, as it depends on the origin of the signal. Mathematically, the distribution of the signal can also be recovered from the body; however, this uses the inverse frontier transformation. After the relaxation rates, protons in various tissues return to the equilibrium.

India Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

India - Essay Example Hinduism practices a diversity of beliefs. The first and major belief of Hinduism is the belief in the sacred reality, which is founded upon Brahman. Brahman is the ultimate authority on sacred reality. He is considered as the manifest basis of the entire unmanifest (Griffin, 1). This means that Brahman is the manifestation of all the Vedic gods and this makes him the creator and the creation itself. He thus considered being eternal, changeless, perfect and absolute (Griffin, 1). The effect of this belief in humanity is the foundation of the belief in a supreme being. Human beings practice religion due to the belief in a supreme being, which is seen as the source of creation and authority on earth. The Supreme Being is depicted as one that must be accorded respect and obedience to its laws and teachings. It is this belief in a Supreme Being that evidences the aspect of humanity that demands respect to be accorded to the Supreme Being. The belief on life, death and reincarnation taugh t by Brahman is an indication of the perceptions held by human beings on life after death and the origin of life. The second vision of India is founded upon the teachings of Buddha. Unlike Hinduism, Buddhism dies not believe in creation or the existence of a creator god. It instead teaches on the impermanence of all reality and the need to focus on experiencing the present. It also teaches on the absence of an entity within the human body. This means that contrary to other human religions that lay an emphasis on the human soul, Buddhism does not place any belief on the existence of the human soul. Rather, it places belief on reincarnation and the need to preserve high standards of morality. In this respect, Buddhism explains humanity as independent existence guided by faith and high moral codes (Griffin, 1). Sikhism, on the other hand, has some degree of monotheism. It places belief on all powerful, magnificent, and immanent being. As opposed to the other visions, Sikhism place beli ef on creation. It insists that the world was created by the utterance of god. This view explains the source of humanity as originating as a creation by the divine being. According to this vision, humanity arose by creation. Jainism, like Buddhism and Hinduism, does not believe in creation but rather in reincarnation as the source of humanity. However, as opposed to the other visions, it places firm belief on the law of nature. This is the law of Karma, which may be described as the human soul, and is responsible for governing human conduct through the notion that bad deeds collect on the karma making it sticky. All these visions of India, though dissimilar in some aspects, converge on the insistence of divinity arising from nature. It is this convergence in these visions that may be used to argue that these similarities form the Indian vision on humanity. 2 The views of the visions of India are different from Europe and North East countries. The ‘mother vision’ of Indi a is Hinduism that has influenced other religions in a great way. The religions affected in India are Islam, Christianity, Sikhism, Buddhism, Jainism and Baha’i. India has accepted different religions to be practiced by its citizens and has fostered on the freedom of worship, which has been the main factor that has promoted the diverse worship of religion. The vision, Hinduism refers to different types of believes and religion practices that religious individuals practices to their different

Probability lesson plan Essay Example for Free

Probability lesson plan Essay Probability the study of chance (Mathematics-sophomore) The purpose of this lesson aid is to help each student to know the basic principle of probability and to apply it to their everyday life. Probability or the study of chance is an important branch of mathematics that can be applied in other branch of sciences like biology, chemistry and physics. Example: What is the probability of getting a black queen from a standard deck of cards? We all know that there are 52 cards in a standard deck of cards and there are only two queens in it. So, the probability of drawing a queen is 2 out of 52 or 4. 16 %. Quiz: 1. What is the probability of getting a red card in a standard deck of card? 2. What is the chance of getting a face card in a deck of card? 3. In a game of poker, what is the chance of getting a straight? 4. Given a fair die, what is the probability of getting a 7 if you to toss the die two times? 5. Given the same die, what is the chance of drawing an even number? 6. Given a pair of dice, what is the chance of drawing an odd number? 7. Given a pair of dice, what is the chance of rolling a 7? 8. What is the probability of getting a flush in a deck of cards? 9. What is the probability of getting a royal flush in a game of poker? 10. Given a tetrahedron, what is the chance of rolling a 4? Lucky 9 The material needed in this game is a standard deck of playing cards. The rule of this game is obtaining a sum of nine from the two cards that will be given to you by the dealer. If none of the player has an exact card value of nine, the player with the highest card value wins. Instruction: 1. This game is for 2-4 persons. Each player is given two cards. 2. Each player will sum up their card using their respective value. The face card has a value of ten. 3. The player may opt to get another card if he/she is not satisfied with the sum of his/her card but it can be done only once. 4. If all the players are player are already satisfied with their cards, each will reveal their cards and add them up. 5. If the player obtains an exact value of nine, that player wins. 6. If the added card value is greater than nine, only the ones digit will be taken. Example, the total card values is equal to 14 then your score is 4. 7. If none of the players got an exact added value of nine, then the player with the highest score wins. If two or more player acquires the same added value, then it is a tie. For further explanation on probability, visit: http://www. betweenwaters. com/probab/probab. html. In this site, you will play a probability game. Just play this game and you will understand the concept of probability. Reference: Lemoine, Shirley (2001). Probability: the study of chance. Retrieved August 24, 2007 from http://www. col-ed. org/cur/math/math15. txt.

Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) in Singapore

Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) in Singapore The issue of high rentals become one of concern for many Singaporeans people, especially small business owners as increasing rental space have been profide more and more strain for SMEs in recent years. SMEs said that REITs have large numbers of commercial property spaces in Singapore, they have a huge market share and REITs able to influence the entire market and increase rental prices for their own profit Shopping malls owned by Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) receive higher rents compared with their single-owner and fellow because of REITs got better locations and enhancement work rather than single ownership. It is uncertain because they were REITs owned, instead, it was because of other factors such as good accessibility to MRT stations and other physical assets effect. REITs malls keep on draw interest from both existing tenants and new to market brands. For example, from CMT annual report, a total of 629 leases were renewed with an increase of 6.3% over preceding rental rates contracted three years ago, and when compared to single owner malls, there was big distinction in the rate of rental rising, many smaller company have reported double-digit rent increases this year. Sometimes, single owner malls did not publish non-price issues like lack of transparency about rental price and unfair tenancy agreements. Landlords owned commercial shops would independently increase rentals to the public market rent at each rent renewal or first time leasing. Compared to units rented in an independently owned shopping mall, the rental increases of units rented in a REIT managed mall would be prepared to be more evenly and gently increased than in an independently owned commercial shopping mall. Any increasing in rentals within a REIT’s retail commercial mall, would be equally increased gradually over all the leased units within the mall. Management of units under REIT mall would be sensitive and fair to every tenant under REITs mall. This would refrain from unhappiness amongst neighboring tenants within the same mall. SMEs also said that REITs make use of their dominance in the industry to negotiate rent contracts that consequently increase costs for tenants. They may all have a multiple effect to each other, so even if lease increase simultaneously for REIT owned and other single-owner malls, this could still be define as REITs actually being the price leaders In fact, REITs own only around 20 per cent of malls in Singapore. Small retail shop owner and all landlords are motivated to increase the rental and maximize their return on investment. There was no proof to indicate who the leader, and there was also no evidence to propose that rentals escalated faster after REIT takeover of existing malls. REIT owned malls are not statistically distinct from those of single-owner malls after controlling for factors such as location and asset enhancement initiatives (AEI). Asset enhancement is a continual action to generate value for shoppers, tenants and the community in REITs mall neighborhoods. To increase the value of portfolio, REITs proceeding asset enhancement works have supported REITs asset management strategy associated to tenant mix, customer service and promotional activities by upgrading the layouts, efficiency and facilities of the properties that cover the portfolio. The main objective of REITs asset enhancement projects is to generate a decent retail environment that seduce new retailers, seize the changing needs of consumers and give satisfactory returns for investors. Asset enhancements also authorize REITs to serve to new demand. Besides improved physical attributes, they have been dynamic in attracting traffic and upgrade their offerings, which allow them to gather higher rentals price, for example, fashion retailers such as Uniqlo and HM usually prefer duplexes, so through AEI, they can generate the space for such tenants. REITs have been very motivated and, at the end of the day, the results speak for themselves. Occupancy rates at the malls are generally very high, this runs reverse to the growing perception that rents at the former are rising at a faster speed. By just only comparing between REIT and non-REIT malls, we can easily feel the different atmosphere. Retail atmosphere can be influenced by who manage the mall. â€Å"Atmospherics† contributes to the quality of the retail environment and represents a considerable differentiation aspect as a retailing strategy. Store (or mall) atmosphere has an effect on shoppers’ behavioral responses: cognitive (e.g. beliefs, categorization, symbolic meaning), emotional (e.g. mood, attitude) and physiological (e.g. pain, comfort, etc.). These behavioral responses, in turn, play an important role in shaping shoppers’ approach and avoidance motivation toward the store (or mall) at large. Thus, atmospherics is customarily used by retailers to attract and maintain traffic. Based on that, shoppers use whatever available information cues, such as atmospherics cues, to evaluate unavailable, missing or difficult to evaluate information such as price and quality. Several store-related stu dies were able to demonstrate that shoppers make inferences about quality of merchandise using store atmospheric cues. In a shopping mall context, we can found that the ambient scent (an atmospheric cue) influenced the perception of merchandise quality. In despite of so many complaints, there is plenty of demand for space out there. There are some chain retails which have very strong bargaining power against REITs and some deep-pocket retailers also contribute to rental hiking. It happened because the improved economic conditions, healthy, tourist, arrivals, low unemployment and growing household income have underpinned consumer spending in Singapore Singapore’s retail scene needs major changes for improve themselves to become more attractive to compete with places like Hong Kong and Shanghai. Mall landlords also must adapt to changing consumer trends, for example incorporating lifestyle retail entertainment. Rental hiking may just mean Singapore has been successful in attracting business. Misperception as REITs tend to publish rent increase regularly while non-REIT mall stay under radar. Hence comparatively more transparency of rental rates for REITs properties, which makes REITs an easy target to blame. In the case of Monopolistic /or Oligopolistic property market sectors such as the Industrial property sector, the formation of REITs does result in rise and increases in rents year-on-year. However, this increment in industrial rents are a function of the sale leaseback agreements signed between the Industrial REITs and the Industrialists-Operator-Tenants who are leasing their premises back from the REITs to whom the Industrial premises were sold to. Higher than market rents are usually seen in such cases and their legacy usually lasts for an average tenure of seven(7) years. However, if more REITs are operating in their respective market sectors, such as the Commercial Property Sector, tenants would have a choice of options to move to rentals. Market forces would be able to operate more efficiently in such Competitive Market Sectors. Furthermore, among the malls that are obtained by REITs, there is no evidance to show that the rents in these malls climbed as a result of the acquisition. Even the REITs certainly want to rise the rental price, they should still make sure the retailer’s business is active, taking care not to distract the balance. If the retailers shut down their business, it is not to the REITs’ interest. With many REITS in the commercial sector as well as a even bigger number of other landlords, there is free interaction of market constrain, therefore, tenant able to choose not to continue lease and move to other different mall. This is not to the REITS’ attention so there is a limit how much rental increase that REITs can put. Usually, tenants tend to select REITs-owned malls due to the quality of the assets, which could be the reasons for a higher rental as compared to non-REIT malls.