What role does advertising
play in 21st Century men’s lifestyle magazines?
This essay investigates advertisements in 21st Century mens’
lifestyle magazines.
In order to do this, it will identify the different techniques
that are used in order to sell products. Identity will be one of themes looked
at, in order to establish how the notion of this is exploited by advertisers. The
theories of Zigmunt Bauman, David Gauntlett and ……Barnard will be referred to in order to provide an understanding
of the importance of identity.
The essay will look at how advertisers are manipulative in
persuading consumers that their lives could be improved in some way by the
purchase of a product.
It will explore advertising in context, looking at how necessary
it is for these to reinforce the content of the magazine.
Examples of advertisements from men’s magazines will be analysed
in order to illustrate the various techniques used.
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Advertising plays an influential role in men’s lives through the
medium of the magazine, as……….readership……….
A contemporary approach will be taken and the theories of..??
Context is important – the advertisement has to complement the
content of the magazine. For example, an
advertisement for protein shakes would be appropriate in ……..which is a men’s fitness
magazine. The advertisement would not be
appropriate in a GQ.
The importance of visual communication will be discussed in
relation to the nature of the magazine
Readership has to be considered regarding the number of
advertisements. For example, more
informative articles may be expected in a magazine such as…………., which would
leave less space for advertisements.
However, with the introduction of new media, in recent years informative
magazines have seen an increase in advertisements, which could be due to the decrease
in sales, as print is now less popular.
will be referred to.
I will assess the quality of advertisements, the content in
advertisements, visual communication and how they reflect the content of the
magazines.
"Advertising is the art of arresting the human intelligence
just long enough to get money from it."
— Chuck Blore, a partner in the
advertising firm Chuck Blore & Don Ruchman, Inc., quoted by Ben H.
Bagdikian, The Media Monopoly, Sixth Edition,
(Beacon Press, 2000), p.185.This finding enhances our
understanding of the general purpose of a advertisement. Using our
knowledge from the quote by Chuck Blore, it would seem that the only purpose of
an advertisement would only be too sell, therefore concluding with a company
earning money.
Advertisement has a massive role in men's lifestyle magazines,
ever since mass media came about as it became natural for companies to use mass
media in such a way to communicate to their audience to let a large number of
people become aware of their products. As the mass media has progressed,
advertisement methods and techniques have advanced, becoming more
sophisticated. Advertisements now create consumerism needs, therefore turning
luxuries into necessities.
As the method and techniques of advertising have developed, it
would seem that the overall style of magazines in the 21st century have changed
with it. With an understanding of that 5 to 10 years ago, 'Men's magazines'
generally referred to either pornography or sport, in recent years, a new
understanding of Men's magazines have appeared. This new style of magazines are
thick, crisp, glossy, low in content, and very general. Examples of they
lifestyle magazines include FHM, Men's Journal, Maxim, Men's Health, Men's
Fitness, and GQ. These magazines tend to focus on the self, signifying the ways
men will be able to expose themselves in the desired cultural groups created by
the fashion industry.
A big change in the 'Magazine world' was highlighted with the ending of most of the 'Men's magazines' , which were popular 5 - 10 years ago. An big example of this is the ending of the Mens Magazine 'Nuts'. "Soon after it launched in 2004, Nuts magazine became a phenomenon, selling more than 300,000 copies a week. Along with its rival Zoo, it created an entirely new magazine sector - the weekly lads’ mag, full of boobs, sporting trivia, gross-out pictures and terrible jokes. In the last half of 2013 it sold 53,000 copies an issue, a drop of 33 percent year on year. It wouldn’t take that long at that rate of decline to get to 0."
- (Patrick Smith, 2014)
++++++++++ . The ending of the Mens Magazine, Nuts, highlights the Mens Magazines moving on from the old 'Pornography and sport' stereotype, also changing the way Advertising is portrayed.
Another big argument on the sales drop of the 'old mens magazines' is the idea of sexism. "The view that they are sexist is often based on the observation that the magazines usually contain several pictures of women wearing clothes which are small, or not there at all, and in seductive poses ( but without 'showing everything' in the style of pornography)."
- (David Gauntlet, 2002, p. 173).
.... As sexism became a bigger problem within Mens magazine, it is arguable that sexism played a part as men would now feel looked down on for having / owning these magazines. By the public changing their views on how women are portrayed in society, it is clear that the sales of this style of magazine would drop, concluding with a need for a advertising style change in these magazines.
Following this argument, the release of the new breed of Mens Lifestyle magazines created a perfect opportunity for a more sophisticated style of advertising. With the upcoming popularity of fashion and health magazines, advertisers could now advertise using new methods to sell produces and make men feel like they are improving themselves by doing so. This also lowers the ethic argument and minimises the idea of sexism, there men are more likely to buy these new magazines as the feel comfortable by doing so.
- (fig 1)
The 'Kirsty Gallacher, Nuts June 2004', is a good example to gather and analyse the old common style Mens magazine. Along with the big bold red title, the first thing the audience will see is a half naked woman, posing in a very seductive matter. This style of cover would be clearly to attract a mans attention and buy the magazine, essentially wanting to see further photos of the woman. 'Nuts gets you the best girls', is used to advertise the magazine, persuading the audience to buy the magazine by stating if they do so, the audience can have faith in the magazine to get them attractive woman.
+++ connotations
The idea that 10 years ago, mens magazine were viewed as 'pornography or sport' is clearly shown here, as the main stories highlighted are about sport. 'Worlds sexiest football fan!' and 'Euro 2004, MAD REFS!', would have been given the main story role on purpose as these two categories were the the perfect platform for advertising to gain more money for the company.
- (fig 2)
In comparison to the Nuts magazine, the 'GQ July 2014', still advertises to a male audience, however in a very different style.
“Fashion, clothing, and dress are signifying practices, they are
ways of generating meanings, which produce and reproduce those cultural groups
along with their positions of relative power”
- (Barnard, 2002, p. 38).
This work contributes to the excising knowledge of the fashion
industry turning luxuries into necessities and has thrown up many questions in
need of further investigations. This finding would suggest that advertising by
the fashion industry are produced to help their audience achieve this power or
position in their culture groups, however form the understandings of Chuck
Blore, it would seem equally arguable to say that the fashion industry produced
the culture groups to begin with, for example the 'hipster' trend.
"The image of the community is
purified of all that may convey a feeling of difference, let alone
conflict, in who 'we' are. In this way the myth of community solidarity
is a purification ritual . What is distinctive about this mythic sharing
in communities is that people feel they belong to each other, and share
together, because they are the same. The 'we' feeling, which expresses
the desire to be similar, is a way for men to avoid the necessity of
looking deeper into each other."
Bauman, Zygmunt liquid modernity
......
This finding shows one of the modern techniques of advertising and shows how adverts can trick their audience to feel unique, when in fact they are all similar. This may also link with how companies can use advertisement to trick them to feel like they have a connection with their products, and make them believe that they can trust the brand to make them a 'unique man'.
compare to henry ford. consumerism. created first car. then better to say old is bad.
Language in Mens lifestyle magazines is also used to produce
stereotypes within society.
Talk about how people should look.
Zygmunt Bauman Identity
The gaze
