The magazine was impacted by the pandemic and the final issue was published in September 2021.
First published in 2010 by the Iceberg Press.
It was based in London and aimed at a very specific audience of women who want to learn more about themselves as they are, opposed to the body of someone else.
One copy would cost £5 but there was a subscription service available where people could pay £14 for a six-month membership (three issues).
Front cover is unconventional. Image is a mid/half-shot of the woman, who is fully dressed and has short hair. There is no focus on or reference to her body. There is no advertising for make-up products, skincare products or clothes which are typically seen on the front of women’s magazines.
Average of reader was 27, 98% of readers were female.
The magazine’s editor, Lisa Skyes used to work at the Hearst company as deputy editor of another magazine called ‘Coast’.
“Oh Comely is a curious, honest and playful independent magazine. It’s a place to meet strangers, hear their stories and look at life a little differently – where our readers are our writers and our models, too.”
The word comely refers to an old-fashioned way of calling someone pretty or attractive. As if they are displayed, but not in a sexual context.
The first issue of Oh Comely was published in 2010
woman as artists, athletes, entrepreneurs
editor is Lisa Sykes-used to work for hearst Uk
front cover- comely: old word meaning attractive. model- little makeup, modest clothing, radical haircut.
Institution
the dominant signifier can be seen to be the target audience of the magazine, with minimal makeup and modest fashionable clothing it is implied to the viewer that this product doesn’t follow common print conventions which attempt to maximise sales while minimising risk, by not following this Oh! doesn’t follow David Hesmondalgh’s theory. David Hesmondalgh said big media companies and conglomerates use tactics in order to maximise sales while also minimising risk of loss of sales. link to uses and grats
Representation
By looking at the front cover and page 15 it is clear that the magazine does not align with Laura Mulvey’s theory of the ‘male gaze’. The ‘male gaze’ is when media products attempt to appeal to a heterosexual male’s perspective. On page 15 the viewer can see a mid shot of a woman wearing a hijab, hijabs are not massively represented within mainstream media but with use of the bright colour in the background it is clear Oh! is representing Fahma Mohamed in a positive light, the article gives an insight to her academic past and her successful career.
Audience
With use of the empowering symbolic signs spread throughout the magazine, seen on page 14 and the front cover. It’s clear, using Katz’s, Gurevitch’s and Haas’ theory of uses and gratifications Oh!’s readers may read the product for social needs such as confidence and self-esteem
-Owned by a small company called “IceBerg Press” which is only a small amount of staff running a full magazine. -The editor of “Oh! Comely” worked at Hearst as deputy editor of the “coast” magazine. -Sykes recalls. “We didn’t like the fact that print dying was becoming a self fulfilling prophecy” -The world of magazines has never been more vibrant and innovative, but you wouldn’t know it from the average newsstand today. From Iceberg Press website -Feminist Magazine
-The front covers words “Power”, “Strong” and “Hard-Won” gives a powerful representation of woman, feminist critical thinking. -The girl is wearing covering clothing and short hear, showing that she is not being sexualised and in fact is being displayed as her, not a body, as a human. -Lack of huge amount of makeup, making it more like she is being displayed for her and her humanity, rather than her “beauty”
Oh Comely magazine is a niche women’s lifestyle publication with a strong feminist perspective. It launched in 2010 and publishes six issues a year. It describes itself:
“Oh Comely is a curious, honest and playful independent magazine. It’s a place to meet strangers, hear their stories and look at life a little differently – where our readers are our writers and our models, too.
“Each issue we pick a theme and see where it takes us. We try something old, something new and something that scares us a bit. Then we present our findings in a beautiful, artbook style, putting new writing, photography and illustration talent at the heart of it.”
There are many potential audience pleasures for Oh Comely readers. Applying Blumler & Katz’s Uses & Gratifications theory, three in particular would be:
Personal identity: Readers enjoy having their quirky, creative lifestyle and feminist viewpoint endorsed and reflected by the magazine.
Personal relationships:Oh Comely is presented in a particularly personal way. It is the creation of three university friends, the magazine offers background on the contributors and readers are encouraged to ‘get to know’ the editorial team.
Surveillance:Oh Comely deliberately looks to inform its readers about niche stories, events and
According to hall stereotypes are part of representation but Oh Comely overturns the usual stereotypes of females
Social and Cultural Contexts
Oh Comely is part of a development in lifestyle and environmental movements of the early twenty first century which rebrand consumerism as an ethical movement. Its representation of femininity reflects an aspect of the feminist movement which celebrates authenticity and empowerment.
Comely is a word used to describe someone as good looking and attractive- however not in an objectifying way
Owned by iceberg press
The magazine is very feminine and aimed towards women to start to get to know themselves rather than wanting to be someone else.
Displayed, but not in a sexual way
Cover features strong words such as power, wisdom and strong- which are often not associated with women, especially in/on magazines
Could be considered radical, as not presenting women as objects to be desired (the male gaze)
Common them in the magazine is to inform and empower as opposed to men’s health in which you are constantly presented a constructed reality by big corporations in order to sell you things, such as the idea that men and women must look certain ways such as men being strong and women using makeup to look attractive. THIS MAGAZINE IS THE OPPOSITE (throughout the whole magazine*****)
Only publish once every 2 months – shows that the producers are less bothered about gaining sales and more bothered about the quality and high minded content that benefits the reader
Absence of men throughout
Plain layout with just photos and the relevant articles- no flashy logos or design features
All images of women are natural, with them wearing somewhat casual clothes without any promiscuous or suggestive angles that could objective them. Furthermore, another oh comely volume 24 edition1 features a woman with a diabetes CGM monitor on her arm.
98% of readers female
editor is Lisa Sykes-used to work for Hearst UK (owns men’s health)
Features no adverts, but briefly mentions how you can subscribe in a friendly way- merely just suggesting without using aggressive buzzwords
conventional stereotype of women used to be house wives, passive, little opinions and personality, living in a patriarchal world
challenges the 2 step flow theory in which opinions flow from mass media, to opinion leaders, then onto the wider population as it does not present any opinions- it just presents you with these empowering stories about women- to do with their lives and their stories.
‘Oh is a reimagination of Oh Comely magazine and is still a place to meet new people, hear their stories and hopefully leave you looking at life a little differently. And every issue will still have beautiful photography and illustration at its heart’, from the magazine’s website.
An alternative magazine, niche target audience
A part of a development in lifestyle and environmental movements
The editor is Lisa Sykes, who used to work at Hearst UK.
She says “We didn’t like the fact that print dying was becoming a self fulfilling prophecy”.
It is a feminist magazine with a niche audience. The women who feature in it are not sexualised, and so it is an unconventional print product.
The first issue was created in 2010, with the final one published in September 2021. The company (Iceberg Press) went bankrupt due to COVID-19.
Makes 6 copies a year – every 2 months
The average age of its audience is 27, and 98% of its readers are female.
‘Oh is a reimagination of Oh Comely magazine and is still a place to meet new people, hear their stories and hopefully leave you looking at life a little differently. And every issue will still have beautiful photography and illustration at its heart’, from the magazine’s website.
An alternative magazine, niche target audience
A part of a development in lifestyle and environmental movements movements
Average age of 27 and 98% female readers ABC1 demographic
Owned by Iceberg Press (Lisa Sykes), a strictly print independent small publisher based in London ran by a small number of people.
The publisher also only publishes one other title The Simple Things
Created by the publisher to ‘bridge the gap between the m,
100k followers on social media
25k readers for each issue
Sold by independent retailers, WHSmith and international outlets
‘published without the financial support of a large corporation or institution in which the makers control publication and distribution…’independent’
Focus on women as speaking out and female empowerment. No focus on appearance, the model has short hair and is wearing clothes that cover her and is posing in a neutral way where there is a focus on her face with natural makeup. No focus on anything to do with appearance such as makeup, clothes, diet etc instead ‘stories, film, music’. Although conventional features of femininity such as she is wearing makeup and jewellery. ‘Comely’ is an archaic word meaning pretty or attractive, not in a sexual way.
Words shown in the front cover ‘power’, ‘hard won’, ‘strong’, radical as women in media are shown conventionally as quiet, weak and passive.
Positive representation of women of different backgrounds (refugees) shown in a positive light, images of them smiling etc. careers such as women in STEM (a woman shown as a CEO of a tech company) as that is challenging stereotypes that women are not very tech literate but this woman is in fact CEO of a tech company.
More masculine representation of women, challenging society’s representation of women.
Positive representation and representation of women who have different body sizes e.g. plus size, woman wearing a headscarf that is rarely seen in conventional media. Positive representation of African/Middle Eastern women campaigning about FGM that is not to do with poverty, terrorism, war.
Men’s Health focuses on what men can become, Oh Comely focuses on what women are.
1- Oh Comely is a magazine that makes people smile, full of quiet moments and stories
2 – it makes people feel better about themselves the way they are
3- launched in 2010
4 – publishes 6 issues a year
5- laust issue was September 2021 due to the pandemic
6 – owned by ice berg press
7 – CEO if iceberg press is Patrick Tembo
-In Oh Comely, there is a radical and apposed representation of women, following ideas of Stuart Hall’s theory on the 3 categories of media representation, it empowers them and not sexualising them like most mass media products such as Men’s Health.
-Steve Neal- repertoire of elements, similarity and differences.
Introduction. Launched in 2010, “Oh Comely” was published by the “proudly independent” Iceberg Press. According to their website, it was a “mindful magazine with a fresh perspective”. Each issue was available to purchase for £5 in a few newsagents, independent retailers, cafes and museums.
– magazine focuses on the non sexualisation of women and representation of women being strong and successful, instead of the reactionary representation of women being overly sexualised by the clothing they wear and other stereotypical hobbies or interests the media think women will be interested in and information they need to know according to powerful producers.
– instead of society’s invisionment of women and according to the medias history of making women dependant on men, and presuming they all wear pink and are housewives, Oh Comely wants to represent women in a completely different way and change society’s beliefs.
theorists-
– This image of ‘undressed women’ in a magazine isn’t rare as many magazines in the media industry projected women in such circumstances where they are partially naked and venerable to the viewer looking ‘sexy’ or ‘seductive’.
– This radical image of a women who is ‘obese’ compared to other women displayed in other magazines in such a manner displays what this magazine wants to create, a healthy loving space for every women who may not be accepted in society’s view of ‘normal’ or a ‘attractive’ women to be appreciated and celebrated.
– The display of her curves and brightly coloured hair goes against all of society’s invisionment of a ‘women’. Having a skinny waste and blonde/brown hair. If the magazine published a ‘normalised’ white girl, it wouldn’t be question, but due to the nature of this magazine, the key notion is to display women in real life, not photoshopped and in a unrealistic environment like the top of the Eiffel tower or walking on water.
theorists-
– On this page it displays a middle eastern or Hispanic women who is the CEO of a tech company. The stigma around women of colour in the media compared to white women is shown by the choice of actors, presenters and models. As the subject of inclusivity increases in modern media and the aim of introducing all ethnic minorities into the spotlight, it has become less of an issue of all white casts. But this magazine is furthermore highlighting how important it is to involve everybody regardless of their differences.
Owner:Iceberg Press, an independent publisher, bought Oh Comely (which pivoted from the women’s lifestyle sector to the growing mindfulness sector and renamed Oh)
‘Oh is a reimagination of Oh Comely magazine and is still a place to meet new people, hear their stories and hopefully leave you looking at life a little differently.’
Lisa Sykes is the editor, used to work at Hearst UK.
Sykes recalls. “We didn’t like the fact that print dying was becoming a self fulfilling prophecy”
First issue 2010
Final issue was published September 2021
Feminist magazine
Niche target market
Made 6 copies a year, one every 2 months
Average reader age of 27
Institution – who owns it
Examples of specific pages
Language, how it’s laid up, representation
Audiences – who reads it, who it’s for
Lazarsfeld
Ideas of the two-step flow of communication, supplied by Lazarsfeld, says that ideas flow from mass media to opinion leaders, and from them, to a wider population.
In Oh Comely, there is a radical and apposed representation of women, following ideas of Stuart Hall’s theory on the 3 categories of media representation, it empowers them and not sexualising them like most mass media products such as Men’s Health. But in modern times there is an active conversation on feminism and fighting against the patriarchy, so the two-step model can still be applied here. Modern mass media ideas on feminism is being represented and promoted widely throughout the world and being supported by opinion leaders such as Ariana Grande who support ideas on feminism, which in turn allows this product to be relevant, granted, to a niche market with an average reader age of 27, but it still circles back to the same concept, although these ideas can be considered radical, overall, nothing is really radical as the ideas always flow from someone in power, someone who’s opinion is more relevant to someone else’s, and in evaluation, the magazine only exists to generate a profit. A flow of communication used only to profit off the wider population.
More on this:
Use of empowering and active words such as ‘power’, ‘wisdom’, ‘strong’ is used in a feminist manner to empower their readers.
There is a conventional representation of the dominant signifier on the front cover in the fact that she is being posed for the camera and wearing makeup — but on the other hand, it could be considered unconventional as she is wearing light, more natural makeup, nothing that changes her looks much and has a more radical style; short hair and clothes that do not show any skin or show off her body, tackling usual focus on sexualisation on most magazines.
On pages 14-15 it demonstrates a woman who is wearing an ethnic turban which is radical in terms of repressing and going against mainstream, common representations within magazines. This magazine tries to go against control and leaning into repressing the common ideologies in which represent women negatively, this magazine does not represent women in a sexualised way and strays away from Laura Mulvey’s theory on the ‘male gaze’ in which this magazine does not appeal to. It works against the mainstream representations of women who are usually used as tools for promotion and greater sales with the over-sexualisation of women. Further proven on page on all other pages where no sexualisation is featured.
Also the word ‘comely’, an old fashioned word means pretty, but is used as a more modest and subtle way to compliment a woman, in a way that doesn’t sexualise them but rather positively represents them.
This magazine follows an active form of Lasswell’s model of communication and supply’s its readers with a magazine every 2 months, so just 6 a year. Also supporting a self confidence and self-esteem almost escapism feature of one’s personal and and social needs following of the Uses and Gratifications theory of Katz, Hass and Gerevitch.
Oh Comely is part of a development in lifestyle and environmental movements of the early twenty first century which rebrand consumerism as an ethical movement.
Oh! was launched in 2010.
Last magazine was September 2021.
Company went bankrupt due to COVID-19.
Comely means attractive and pretty meaning women are not sexualised, making the magazine unconventional.
The magazine is very simplistic, artistic and has an aesthetic appearance to it.
Men’s Health is what you can become where as Oh! is what you are.
The magazine is very feminine and aimed towards women to start to get to know themselves rather than wanting to be someone else.
