Why do women buy magazines? What does attract them most? If you think about it, you’ll come to realize that magazine cover is an advertisement itself. Not only it brings up to your attention the main points and articles in the magazines, but it also tries to sell the product to you. Colors that are chosen for the magazine cover, the pictures of the beautiful women on it and striking comments about different issues women are mostly concerned about- all these are advertisement forms and techniques.
As you walk by a magazine rack have you ever noticed all of the
advertisements reaching out to you, calling your name? Okay, so their
not literally calling your name but you get the picture. I’m sure you
haven’t because you probably didn’t realize that there were any types
of advertisements on the cover of your favorite magazine or any other
magazine for that matter. Well, I would like to inform you now that
there are all kinds of advertisements on the covers of magazines. It’s
not a secret that the editors and writers know just exactly the type
of stories to place on the cover of the magazine that will appeal to
you as the reader so that you will buy their magazine.
When taking a look at the cover of the popular magazine, Glamour
November 2000, I attempt to dissect it trying to find out what the
magazines major claim is or what the magazine is trying to display to
it’s readers. This genre of magazines is a fashion magazine. The cover
stories appeal to women very easily with brief headlines such as:
Feeling Fat? How Not to Blimp Out Over the Hi-Cal Holidays, and the
heading that would be sure to attract women: Happy, Sexy, Healthy, 153
Ideas to Reinvent Yourself. It doesn’t take a great many brain cells
to figure out that Glamour and other fashion magazines are trying to
attract women who are typically between the ages of 20 and 40, working
class women, wanting to improve their marriage/relationships that they
are currently in. The working class women between these ages are seen
throughout the magazine. Models sport office attire and also dressy
casual attire when going out for the evening. The avertisements also
feature working women with children, and the actresses, though they
make a lot of money are also working women. To appeal to an audience
of women, the magazine uses color. For example, in this issue the
colors are lavender and orange. Who would want to buy a magazine that
used drabbing colors or no color at all? The magazine uses brief story
lines so that potential readers will know what kind of stories are in
the magazine. To top it all off the magazine usually includes a
picture of a celebrity in the center of the cover so that the reader,
who is typically a woman, will have an image to critique her own body
against.
Usually this picture is of an actress or a model with beautiful hair,
trimmed and well cut nails, perfect make-up and a fit yet skinny body.
The actress on the cover of Glamour this month is actress Debra
Messing. She is featured wearing a multicolored sequence dress that
reveals some skin with her long beautiful hair flying around as if a
fan is blowing. A woman that is looking at this magazine might
consider buying it because she may think that she wants to look like
her. Then, when reading the storylines, the woman is informed that she
can look like Debra Messing with the 153 Ideas To Reinvent Yourself
article.
This product/magazine is associated with fashion, beauty, and
relationships. In these types of magazines women are given hopes that
they can improve their image and relationships by reading the articles
and following them. Women imagine the perfect relationship as having a
man that is sexy, good-looking, loving and someone in which you have a
great time with all of the time. It symbolizes the “American Dream” to
be beautiful, in shape, in the perfect relationships and live happily
ever after.
From a cultural stand point, the people featured in this magazine are
of Caucasian ethnicity, however, other cultures are represented in
this magazine such as African American, Oriental, and Latin. Cultural
values are implemented in the articles. I see this represented in the
clothing that the models are wearing. Usually when flipping through
the magazine to the articles and pictures they show of models in the
latest fashion and styles, the wardrobe designers will put the pieces
of clothing with a certain ethnicity that is typical of that race. For
example, a dress that looks of oriental distinction would most likely
be put on an oriental model. Let’s face it, I know that I don’t look
beautiful in an oriental dress, but when i see it on an oriental woman
i may think differently. However, when looking through Glamour I have
noticed that through out the magazine there is mainly Caucasian woman.
The attempt to throw in different nationalities may just only be an
attempt. Magazines want to try to appeal to everyone and this is an
evident way to do so.Glamour also, assumes that culturally American’s
think topics such as quick ways to be happy, and changing your look to
be more attractive, will cause men to fall at your feet.
It’s not a secret that American’s are not patient because we are used
to having everything at our fingertips, and therefore that is why
fashion and beauty magazines such as Glamour and Cosmopolitan are able
to sell to so many women between the ages of 20 and 40. They are at
the childbearing age, and after they have a child they want a quick
fix to put their bodies back to the way they used to be. They want to
feel young again and to improve their marriages or relationships.
As a sub claim I look to the ads in the magazine. One such ad that I
would like to comment on is an ad on General Foods International
Coffees advertising their new cappuccino flavors. Relating to the
magazines major claim, the ad shows men and women having a wonderful
time at what looks be a party as they drink their new flavored
cappuccino and socialize with one another. The men and women in the
pictures are around the age range that I said before. The ad also has
a coupon attached offering a dollar off of a purchase of this product.
This coupon is there to entice you to buy it. I believe that this
makes you think that even if you don’t like coffee you will save a
dollar by using the coupon and therefore it wouldn’t matter if you had
spent the money on it and didn’t’ like it. By looking at the pictures
the ad uses, you are made to think that by buying this product you
will be happy, have many friends, and be appealing to other people.
Coffee drinking is typical of this age range, and advertisers know who
to direct an ad like this to.
The magazine doesn’t put advertisements in the pages for nothing. If
you were to glance through the women’s magazine, Good Housekeeping,
you would not find ads for an awesome four-wheel drive truck. You
would most likely find ads about cleaning supplies and possibly beauty
products.
Beware! Magazines are a magnificent way for companies to entice you to
buy their items. They think they seem to know exactly what the
consumer wants, but do they really know? Advertisers in fashion
magazines thrive on the fact that women constantly criticize their
bodies. By showing actresses and models in fabulous dresses and
looking very pretty and skinny, the magazines invite you to find flaws
with your body, but then tell you that it’s okay because they have a
way to fix it. You can tell a lot about our culture from looking at
fashion magazines and the ads they contain. So why do we continue to
buy these magazines? Because most people are not satisfied with their
looks and we probably never will be.
The article was produced by the member of masterpapers.com.
Sharon White is a senior writer and writers consultant at term papers. Get some useful tips for thesis and buy term papers .
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