The fact the man has muscles and has a stern look on his face is an example of signification as it suggests that all men should look like this.
This magazine is reactionary as it confirms dominant ideas that all men should look like this.
The conventions of the product are indexical and are definitive of a typical magazine front cover
The dominant signifier of the man is positioned in the middle of the page to attract the audience to the magazine and encourages them to want to read it
The typography is in all different fonts, again to attract the audience’s eye
The fact that Vin Deisel is on the magazine is also attracting audiences as he is a well known celebrity
Constructed sign of reality
Media products are made from a heterosexual viewpoint
4th Oct
David Gauntlet:
Explored different types of identities
Fluidity of identity, constructed identity, collective identity, negotiated identity
He believes that while everyone is an individual, people tend to exist within larger groups who are similar to them
‘The school of life’ present a video called how to be a man. In it, they present the cool and warm man. While not an academic theory, it s possible to identify these two representations in men’s health.
Warm man– article page- man running- he’s got a smaller build and is half smiling/looking sort of proud. The photo looks like he’s not posing and it’s more of an action shot. Isn’t looking at the camera, keeping to himself.
Cool man– front page- man posing- specific lighting to enhance areas of the body and most likely photoshopped. Man looks serious and is looking at the camera (or audience).
5th Oct
Hearst communications
Hearst, is an American multinational mass media and business information conglomerate based in Hearst tower in mid town Manhattan, New York City.
George Hearst– mining entrepreneur and U.S. senator
In 1887 George Hearst turned the Examiner over to his son, William Randolph Hearst, who that year founded the Hearst Corporation.
Hearst are the makers of Men’s health magazines
Hearst, owner of men’s publication Esquire, has agreed to acquire the magazine and book businesses of Rodale, a global health and wellness content company based in New York and Emmaus, Pennsylvania. The selling of Rodale to Hearst started happening in October 2017 but eventually it was bought in January 2018 for $225 million.
Rodale is a trustworthy magazine publishing company with a 4-star rating.
Hearst started doing memberships whereby for $20 a year, members get the web site, print magazine and newsletter, as well as various deals. Without a digital subscription, readers will be able to access four free articles a month.
Hearst magazines (men and women’s health) hire celebrity models to increase their audience capacity and to get them more popularity. Models include: Vin Diesel, Alexandra Daddario, Shay Mitchel, Chris Hemsworth, KSI and many more.
Women’s health gained approx. 7 thousand more buys than men’s health and is therefore more popular.
Dominant signifier (Vin Diesel), we know this because he is the main focus within the front cover, being the biggest and most outward object on the page.
The title “Men’s Health” – indexical to men’s health and the gender performance of the male gender.
The page is reactionary, as it can be argued to support the typical view of strong, independent men.
The syntagm of men’s gender performance and what men should be like. Suggests that men should be fit and strong with muscular developments. “Lose 8kg fast”, “127 ways to build a stronger core” “103 shortcuts to t-shirt arms”
The way he’s standing (stance) is a way as such to ‘flex’ / show off his biceps and triceps.
The font is in bold which can come across as stronger and more masculine.
Suggests to the target audience that if they read the magazine they can look like Vin Diesel
Contents Page
Contents page
Dominant signifier of Vin Diesel, however is significantly smaller than the front cover
Semantic pattern of physical power and strength
Repertoire of elements (men)
Shows a reactionary representation of exercise and fitness through links to articles. Shown through signifiers such as pictures of trainers and weights. This could be suggested to be creating an unrealistic view that to be considered a ‘real’ man you must be physically at top performance.
Radical representation through the use of men of different ages and races
MEDIA REPRESENATIONS
The school of life present a video called ‘How to be a Man’, in it they present the ‘cool man’ and the ‘warm man’, while not an academic theory, it is possible to identify these two representations in Men’s Health.
Cool man– Vin Diesel (big, muscular, confident)
Warm man– Phillip Howells (compassionate, ‘your only limit is your self-belief’)
1.The emphasis on male beauty and grooming challenges some conventions of traditional stereotypes of masculinity
Changes in lighting on Vin Diesel’s biceps/triceps in front cover to enhance the definition suggesting that his male beauty has been emphasized as it is to fit the stereotypical view of a male (muscular, confident, strong, big)
2. How gender is represented through processes of selection and combination
3. Men as object of a homosexual and heterosexual gaze
Vin Diesel could be subject to male gaze from a homosexual or heterosexual view.
4. The reasons for the choices made in the representation of gender
MEDIA INDUSTRIES
WHAT WE KNOW
WHAT WE UNDERSTAND
Men’s Health magazine= joint ownership from 2012 – 2017 with Hearst and Rodale. From 2000 – 2011 Men’s Health was owned by Natmag Rodale. Hearst is the owner of Men’s Health, it is an American multinational mass media and business information conglomerate based in Hearst Tower in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Founded by William Randolph Hearst on March 4 1887. They also own a gender opposite magazine named Woman’s Health= very similar style as Men’s Health although, there is use of stereotypical colours like pink to attract the target audience of women. The Woman’s Health magazine includes a dominant signifier of an attractive model= creates the same idea as Men’s Health of ‘if you read this magazine you will look like this’. Average age of consumers for Men’s Health have been displayed, showing the ages of the readers from April 2019 to March 2020: Most common age is adults aged 15+ 365,000 woman 708,000 men 519,000 adults aged 15-34 554,000 adults aged 35+ 391,000 readers with households with children Men’s Health has won these awards: James Beard Award for Cooking, Recipes, or Instruction
Hesmondhalgh argues that major cultural organisations create products for different industries in order to maximise chances of commercial success, for example Hearst (owner of Men’s Health) have different products for different target audiences, these products include Cosmopolitan, Women’s Health, Country Living and Inside Soap, which range in a variety of different interests such as women’s lifestyle, home interests and tv listings. Demographic graph shows that Men’s Health successfully reaches the target audience, however, there isn’t that much of a significant change between the number of women reading the magazine to the number of men reading the magazine.
Dominant signifier of Vin Diesel, a well-known actor attracts a larger audience and provides impressionable men with a role model to aspire to.
The blue and black colours connote stereotypical values of patriarchy and masculinity.
Reactionary product – more fit bodies are more popular and the dominant signifier is posed in a way which shows his body off.
Vin Diesel seems to be looking down at the reader which gives impressions of superiority and power.
Language contains a lot of vocabulary related to fitness and literally says that the product is “for men”.
Hashtags are used to encourage the spread of the product through social media.
Representation
The school of life present a video detailing the cool man and the warm man. While not an academic theory, it is possible to identify these two representations in Men’s Health.
Vin Diesel on the front cover is a “cool man” based on his “sexy” physical features and stoick expression. He seems as if he will do anything for what he thinks is the right thing to do and not much will faze him when doing so. The warm man can be seen on the last page of the CSP. I think this because he seems like he is giving his all at running the marathon, and will happily admit where he could have done better and will inspire others to do similar good acts.
Facts about Men’s Health
Published by Hearst, founded in 1986 and it is produced monthly
Best selling men’s magazine on U.S newsstands.
Has 35 editions in 59 different countries.
In 2008, the magazine partnered with Google to make back issues available.
For its 20th anniversary issue in November 2008, Men’s Health included an interview and photo shoot with Barack Obama.
Between April 2019 and March 2020, Men’s Health had an average monthly outreach of 1.8 million adults aged 15+ in the UK.
Men’s Health was started as a quarterly magazine by Rodale in 1988 and subscriptions began to be sold.
In 2001 the title was consistently selling 400,000 copies at newsstands and circulation was 1.6 million.
I feel that the messages on the side promote positivity and motivation as well as the celebrity Vin Diesel positioned in the centre of the magazine to 1) attract audience 2) Promote motivation for men.
The choice of colours are seen as a stereotypical masculine colour.
Vine Diesel is the dominant signifier.
I feel the magazine is reactionary because typically when we refer to health / fitness, we think of slim and muscular bodies.
The stance that the model is standing is a way to ‘flex’ / show off his biceps and triceps.
The school of life produced a video called ‘How to be a man’, while this is not an academic theory it nether less presents two versions of musicality, ‘the warm man’ and the ‘cool man’, it is possible to identify these two versions in men’s health, thus supporting Gauntlets notions of fluid, negotiated, constructed identity. For example, on page 2, he is represented as a ‘Cool Man’ as he has his arms around a women’s naked stomach and page 60 he is a ‘warm man’
Stats of Men’s Health
In February 2022 Men’s health magazine issued 23,077 digital copies and 66,734 print copies. (26% of the total amount of copies made were digital and 74% were print)
Largest audience of the Men’s Health magazine from April 2019 to March 2020 are adults over the age of 15 with a total of 1,816 and the second largest audience were men with 708 results. The least amount of audience was within women although 365 women bought the product. The reach was lower among households with children, with 391 thousand readers from this demographic reached by the print title or its website during this period.
Men’s Health magazine had an average monthly reach of around 1.8 million individuals in the United Kingdom from April 2019 to March 2020.
Men’s Health is the largest men’s magazine brand and the number one source of information for and about men.
Has 25 print editions in 35 countries around the world.
21 million readers across its social and digital platforms.
Women’s Health gained 7,239 more copies sold than Men’s Health which was 89,111 and Women’s Health which was 96,350.
Facts of Men’s Health Magazine
Men’s Health was launched in Australia in 1997.
The categories of Men’s Health is fitness, nutrition, sexuality and fashion.
The magazine is based in New York City
Men’s health joined ABC on the 12th April 1995
Men’s health is owned by the media company Hearst UK
Hearst Magazines Digital Media is home to magazines from industries in fashion and lifestyle properties.
Heart owns other global leaders in health and wellness which include Men’s Health, Women’s Health, Runner’s World, Bicycling and Netdoctor.
Print Language: The dominant signifier is a celebrity called Vin Diesel. He is looking down towards the viewer – connotating towards feelings of intimidation and superiority/dominance. The symbolic use of the shades of colour blue is stereotypical to the gender of a man creating a reactionary representation of a masculine magazine. The font is blocky and bold in order to come across stronger and more masculine. The semantic field of language used demonstrates what it is to be a man and alludes to strength. E.g. kill, demolish, blast. There is also use of a hashtag to link to social media and perhaps trying to access a younger demographic or to link with the modern digital world, in order to make it more accessible.
Representation: The Magazine print is a reactionary representation of men as it uses stereotypical semiotics that are connotated with masculinity. This connotates to Judith Butler’s theory of how we view gender in a “binary fashion”. She believes that gender is fluid.
Audience: The use of a celebrity is more appealing to the audience- connotating to Laswell’s Two-step flow communication model by influence of opinion leaders. The target audience is men who want to invest on their selves and take care of their body. The audience will also be men who are typically wealthy and have the money to afford luxuries. This is aimed at a range of men 15+.
Industries: Men’s Health was published by Hearst – the worlds largest magazine brand. Started by Mark Bricklin in the US in 1986 focusing on topics such as fitness, nutrition, relationships, travel, technology, fashion and finance. These magazines reach over 71 million readers worldwide. The magazine was criticised due to its focus on fitness which can increase men’s anxieties about their bodies and making them more prone to eating disorders and compulsive over – exercising. In 2004 Men’s Health started putting pictures of celebrities on the front cover with their shirts on. This is due to them promoting an unattainable model of a man. The price is $4.99 per magazine (monthly) or $28 for the year.
Since 2000, Men’s Health has been nominated for 17 National Magazine Awards which are administrated by Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism and presented by the American Society of Magazine Editors. Won both Editor’s Choice and Reader’s Choice for the 2016 Hot List
Costs over $200,000 to feature an ad on the front cover. 708 men buy Men’s Health and 365 women buy men’s health.
The British edition of Men’s Health was founded in 1995. In March 2006, one of the UK writers, Dan Rookwood, appeared on the cover having transformed his body shape while working at the magazine.
Links to online website ‘menshealth.co.uk’, encouraging readers to move online to view the magazine- more accessible. Also prevents from going outdated
Reactionary representation of exercise, strength and fitness through links to articles within the magazine on the contents page. This is shown through image signifiers such as pictures of trainers, weights etc. Creating this unrealistic ideal that to be a ‘real’ man you must be physically at top performance. Limited radical representation through the inclusion of men of different ages and races.
Typical male characteristics displayed through linking to an article with a picture featuring spanners, lock and key, cogs – implying men are good at fixing things or building things.
Q+A style interview signposted through bold font for question and different for answers.
Iconic sign of a arrow, clearly marking that he is the topic of the conversation.
Use of alliteration “Marathon Man” making it more memorable, eye catching and easier to digest. Also has similarities with language choice alluding to this sense of a powerful ability e.g “super man”
On pages 10-11 of Men’s Health the car provides escapism and self esteem which applies to Katz’s theory of uses and gratifications and contrasts between the social and personal needs. Also relating to a typically masculine interest/hobby.
The School of Life produced a video called How to be a Man, while this is not an academic theory it nevertheless presents two versions of masculinity; the warm man and the cool man. It is possible to identify these two versions in Men’s Health, thus supporting Gauntlett’s notion of fluid, negotiated, constructed, collective identity.
For example, on the front cover of Men’s Health, Vin Diesel is standing with his posture straight and his eyeline directed down towards the viewer. Here he is demonstrating the cool man which is typically a relaxed and confident version of masculinity.
Exam Prep
Hearst UK’ is a publishing organisation (conglomerate) which publishes 21 magazines in the UK, including; ‘ELLE’, ‘Good Housekeeping’, ‘Women’s Health’ as well as ‘Men’s Health’. It is owned through horizontal integration by ‘Hearst Communications’ (an American mass media company based in New York that is over 130 years old) Women’s Health was founded in 2005 as a branch of Men’s Health. It currently has a higher circulation than Men’s Health – 96,350, (dec 2021)
Started by Mark Bricklin in the US in 1986 focusing on topics such as fitness, nutrition, relationships, travel, technology, fashion and finance.
“More than 21 million readers across social and digital platforms”
‘MH-18’ a spin-off magazine of Men’s Health was produced in August 2000 to try to engage with a teenager demographic. This links to David Hesmondhalgh idea that media companies need to find ways to find new audiences, whilst keeping the loyalty of avid readers as a way of reducing risk.
Social Media: 8.9 M – Facebook, 4.4M – Twitter, 1.7M – Instagram.
Their consumer profile states that 67% of their readers are married, engaged or with a partner. 66% of the readers are college educated. The consumer profile also highlights that 5.3 Million of readers are adventure/ thrill seekers and 11.4 Million aspire to have a healthy lifestyle.
Print sales fell by 42% from 23.8m to 13.9m between 2010 and 2017.
Statistics from Jan-Dec 2021
An average of a 89,811 circulation per issue (how many copies distributed)
Dominant signifier of a very masculine looking man on the front cover. Representation of masculinity, reactionary. Muscular, masculine posture and serious facial expression. Lighting used to highlight muscles, enhance using photoshop
Barthes myth of patriarchy
Lexical field of blast, demolish
Gender performance – Performing as a character, a masculine man. Toril Moi
Representation =
Iconic signs of muscles, reactionary and typical of a man’s health magazine
Colours of text are blue and black and in bold, typical masculine colours. Perpetuate the seriousness of the magazine as the man is posing with a serious facial expression, black is a serious colour
Genre –
Narrative – Roland Barthes Enigma code – ‘Blast body fat!’ Encourages audience to want to read the magazine to learn how to lose weight.
Dictation. The School of Life produced a video called ‘How to be a man’, while this is not an academic theory it nevertheless presents two version of masculinity the Warm man and the cool man. It is possible to identify these two versions in men’s health thus supporting Gauntlett’s notion of fluid, negotiated, constructive identity.
For example, on page 6 the cool man. Page 44 warm man.
Who ownership, audience, strategies of Men’s health and find out at least 10 significant factual (statistical) points.
Statistics: 708,000 men from April 2019 to March 2020 read the Men’s Health magazine each month in the UK. The second largest demographic group counted
In January-December 2021 there were 66,428 paid subscriptions to Men’s Health and 21,871 paid single copies. also 1,174 free copies These were mainly in the UK and the ROI. 74% of the copies (66, 734) were print copies and 23,077 were digital.
Hearst – ‘Is a leading, diversified information, services and media company with operations in 40 countries’.
It has ownership of 33 television stations, 24 daily and 52 weekly newspapers; digital service businesses, and almost 260 magazines in the world.
Also 200 websites around the world and owning more than 25 brands in the US.
Hearst Communications is the parent company of Men’s Health. A conglomerate.
Laswell’s hypodermic model: audience passively consumes the ideology that men have to be masculine, strong, serious. ‘This month’s specialists revolve to make 2017 your fittest year ti date’ suggests that men need to be in shape, using the personal pronoun ‘your’ to make the article about them and feel personal. ‘Good fats still make you fat’ there is a huge focus on health and fitness and being in shape to be more attractive. Makes the audience fearful that if they still eat healthy fats they can still gain weight and they won’t be a real man.
Lazarfeld. All I got for Christmas is a load of festive debt. Can you help? Information and education.
Stuart Hall theories
Page 2-3
Dominant reading – What you show off you attract.
Opposition theory – Who reads it, politics. That the person has to look a certain way to attract someone good looking. Or how the man is acting toward the woman, unhappy about it. Exploitation of females. Feminism.
Negotiation theory –
who owns it ownership institution conglomerates cross media ownership globalisation Hearst, examples what pages and contents, language how its made up what it means representation how it is how people interpret it audience theories. industry language representation audience
some shift toward challenging cultural CONTEXT Bur not a lot explain why…
can have quantative and qualitative data
Owned by Hearst publishing, a multinational conglomerate as well as a variety of other fashion and lifestyle magazines.
A commercial media institution which has the primary focus of print.
due to developments in technology, men’s health is now also in a print edition and
The dominant signifier (the actor Vin Diesel) in the image is the man stood in the front of the magazine, he is dominating the page and is the anchorage which more directly relates to the masthead which illustrates the message of the magazine which is ‘Men’s Health’. The use of a famous actor as the dominant signifier is used as a method to sell more magazines as a way for the target audience to trust the message of the magazine greater. There is a large syntagm of indexical signs, phrases and subheadings all following a theme of unrealistic conventions of health and how to lose weight.
The use of the dominant colouring of blue followed by headings such as ‘Best fitness classes for men’ shows a clear male target audience. The media naturalises ideas through repetition meaning the repeated use of similar phrases and themes of fitness is obviously the focal point of the magazine.
When evaluating the magazine it can be assessed that it follows a reactionary view. This is because when the magazine was made (early 2017) there was a more shallow and elementary view on fitness so it illustrates a conventional view on health for the time. But when applying more modern views on fitness and health, it may be considered a negative radical field due to the statements such as ‘103 shortcuts to t-shirt arms’, this radical statement dehumanises men, constructing a fabricated view on the male body as a method of control within media and to comprehensively sell more products.
Constructed identity:
The goal of this media product, a men’s magazine, is to generate a profit. So depending on the audiences the magazines identity will change, it will bend and appeal to the majority as a method of control. It will create a narrative that is most appealing to them, in this case, a narrative of toxic masculinity and a basis of the ‘cool man’ to push their men’s health ideas.
Lasswell’s model of comms:
Active vs passive consumption’s
WHO? The parent company, Hearst Communications UK, creators of the magazine specifically the main editor Morgan Rees
SAYS WHAT? Men’s Health and how to become stronger and lose weight etc, various other messages also
IN WHICH CHANNEL? Print, online, social media
TO WHOM? The target audience of the magazine, younger impressional men, and magazine subscribers. Men specifically interested in health and exercise, active adventurous people. 70% of all Millennials and 69% of all Gen Z over the age of 18
WITH WHAT EFFECT? Profit. Inspirational, perhaps aggressive.
Lazarsfeld 2 step flow of comms:
Use of opinion leaders in media products help as a theme of control and reinforcement, such as in ‘Men’s Health’, there is a dominant signifier of Vin Diesel on the front, a famous actor who is used as a tool for promotion, using him to endorse their ideas and products, it opens up to the consumer and the general public as a method of active consumption.
Page 6-7, use of the ‘Man of today’, an opinion leader used to sell a product (Hugo Boss aftershave) to the masses is a prime example of the 2 step model.
The school of life produced a video called ‘How To Be A Man’, while this is not an academic theory, it nevertheless presents 2 versions of masculinity, the ‘Warm Man’ and the ‘Cool Man’. It is possible to identify these 2 versions in Men’s Health, thus supporting Gauntlett’s notion of fluid, negotiated and constructive identity.
For example, on page 1, (the front cover) there is a dominant signifier which is an example of constructed reality, the ‘Cool Man’, he is edited and surrounded by a paradigm of phrases and headings labelling items on how to become a ‘real man’ essentially. In reality, it does not matter what you do, these things do not make you more or less of a man, therefore supporting ideas of Gauntlett of constructed reality.
Statistics on Men’s Health Magazine: January to December 2021 and other statistics
89,811 CIRCULATION (AVERAGE PER ISSUE)
Owner: Hearst UK
74% of the years circulation is physical print copies, whereas 26% is digital copies.
Basic cover price = £4.50
UK annual subscription rate = £36.99
10 made per year usually
On average, 5% of all Paid Single Copies during the period were multipacked with ‘Runner’s World’
Private limited company, meaning shares can not be bought on the stock market
Hearst owns newspapers, magazines, television channels, and television stations, including the San Francisco Chronicle, the Houston Chronicle, Cosmopolitan and Esquire.
Hearst UK reveals plunging revenue and £13.4m loss in Covid-hit 2020
Despite an 18% drop in revenue to £115.9m, the company managed costs without using the Government’s job retention scheme, increasing its gross margin from 45% to 46%.
This year (after the 2020 results period) it made up to a fifth of its staff redundant, closed Town & Country UK magazine and sold the Net Doctor website.
PAID MULTIPLE COPIES:
Airports / airlines / international rail = 42
Trains / other travel points = 4
Leisure centres / club = 28
Hotels = 213 – Majority of the multiple copies payables is by hotels
Audience:
Has an audience of more than 165 million readers and site visitors, direct engagement with 70% of all Millennials and 69% of all Gen Z over the age of 18
Women’s Health Magazine:
Owned also by Hearst UK
Shows a reactionary view on women, the magazines covers have women with less clothing on compared to the men’s magazine it seems.
1.6 million. social media followers
Market:
MARKET SHARE: 5.07% – They are not the dominating force of major magazine publishers based on combined annual circulation of consumer titles in the United Kingdom as of January 2020
Bauer Media is the leading force in the market with a market share of 27.7%, much larger than Hearst UK
– Laura Mulvey: The Male Gaze
– Lazarsfeld – two-step flow of communication model hypothesizes that ideas flow from mass media to opinion leaders, and from them, to a wider population
Page 6-7, use of the ‘Man of today’, an opinion leader used to sell a product (Hugo Boss aftershave) to the masses is a prime example of the 2 step model.
– WHO? The parent company, Hearst Communications UK, creators of the magazine specifically the main editor Morgan Rees – SAYS WHAT? Men’s Health and how to become stronger and lose weight etc, various other messages also – IN WHICH CHANNEL? Print, online, social media – TO WHOM? The target audience of the magazine, younger impressional men, and magazine subscribers. Men specifically interested in health and exercise, active adventurous people. 70% of all Millennials and 69% of all Gen Z over the age of 18 – WITH WHAT EFFECT? Profit. Inspirational, perhaps aggressive.
4 Things to write about in essay + Theories to mention
Institution – who owns it
Examples of specific pages
Language, how it’s laid up, representation
Audiences
1. Owner: Hearst UK
74% of the years circulation is physical print copies, whereas 26% is digital copies
The front magazine page suggest that the anchorage which is the picture of the male figure is linked with the header as it means ‘MENS HEALTH’ a way to which help the male audience to tag along and read more on how to look like the front male figure on the page.
–
Semiotics
Representation – straight ‘alpha male’ men is reactionary. reinforces the idea that men need to be powerful and strong.
– Media language
“get back in shape special” Use of capital letters, exclamation points, colours blue and black stereotypically appealing to men, dialogue “true grit” of men’s wants and desires for their body – all are signifiers to men.
“Best fitness classes for men” – target audience is undoubtedly is for men.
”103 shortcuts to tee shirt arms”, this is a male ‘want’ to aspire to look like Vin Diesel, as his body type is typically what a dream body for a man is, alike skinny arms and a slim waist for women.
Steve Neal says that audience targeting that genres create an appeal for specific audience segments for example to attract the male audience they want something to be portrayed to make them seem powerful and strong to make all of their masculine traits come out.
onimatopia and alliteration.
David g- 4 personality types
constructed identity- words such as ”muscle, smash, demolish”, construct a typical male identity.
The school of life… thus supporting gauntlets notion of fluid, negotiated, constructive identity.
For example, on page 24 it displays a man topless doing exercise, he is seamlessly lifting weights without any struggle which a ‘warm man’ would display.
Hearst company (parent company) is a conglomerate- owns company’s such as:
–Hearst owns newspapers, magazines, television channels, and television stations, including the San Francisco Chronicle, the Houston Chronicle, Cosmopolitan and Esquire
-Men’s health
-ELLE
-country living
-cosmopolitan
-women’s health
-runners world
– Monthly reach of Men’s Health magazine in the United Kingdom from April 2019 to March 2020, by demographic group.
15+ –1,819
Men- 708
women- 365
adults 15-34- 519
adults 35+ –554
households with children- 391
Men’s Health magazine had an average monthly reach of around 1.8 million individuals in the United Kingdom from April 2019 to March 2020. Reach was lower among households with children, with 391 thousand readers from this demographic reached by the print title or its website during this period.
To feature in Men’s health:
full page- $205,065 dollars
2/3 page- $159,995
1/2 page- $127,145
1/3 page-$88,180
second cover- $246.080
third cover- $237,880
fourth cover- $268,640
Laswell’s model
–who(sender)
-Hearst communications (parent company)
-Morgan Rees
-says what(message)
-media pack (unique strategies men’s health use to get people to buy and read)
-”professional men to get control of their mental and physical lives”
-Channel(medium)
-print
-online (web portal)
-social media
-To whom(receiver)
-men interested in fitness and health
-Educated men
-family men
-college educated
–With What Effect.
-Making people more healthy
-more happy men in the country
key facts for exam:
dominant signifier– Vin diesel on the front cover of the magazine
dominant ideology – Body image
reactionary representation– A heterosexual man and what society expects on him.
negative stereotype – this creates a negative stereotype to men having to be seen as strong and loose weight
The blue background is associated with male stereotypes, a traditional boy colour
Laswell’s module:
Sender – Men’s health’s is one of the largest men’s magazine and is aimed mainly at “manly” men
Says What– The brand of the magazine called ‘Men’s Health’ aimed for active men who want a better control on their physique / appearance to impress society.
What Channel – Men’s health is a print lifestyle magazine and can also be accessed on their website and social media.
To Whom – Aimed at men who are ‘sporty’ or active. If a man wants motivation to get into shape then the magazine provides information on loosing weight to get that ‘perfect body’
What Effect – Selling the magazine to their target audience through shops, website or social media.
CS Peirce:
Iconic sign– The bold text tells you what you can find inside of this magazine issue. It all relates to loosing weight fast.
Indexical signs – The only image is the dominant signifier placed right in the middle. The muscles relates to the text and the magazine.
Symbolic sign – The magazines colour theme is mostly blue which is seen as a stereotypical colour for men, influences them to buy the magazine. Big bold texts all about loosing weight “demolish junk food cravings” and “Blast body fat”. The dominant signifier, vin diesel, is positioned in the middle showing off his muscles.
Stuart hall – Hall provides a framework for decoding messages:
accept the dominant message negotiate the dominant message reject the dominant message
Facts:
Men’s health magazine had an average monthly reach of around 1.8 million individuals in the UK between 2019 to 2020
The ages of people who buy this magazine between 2019 to 2020 were 15 years and above and could potentially be harmful for young teenagers because they feel this is how they should look like and that the magazine would help them with their goal to looking muscular.
The media chooses how people should look like. By adding a celebrity to the front page of their magazine it influences young people to buy and read it.
– Mens health is owned by hearst who own 40 different companies founded in 1887.
what needs to be in the exam-
mainstreaming- guerbner said amount of company’s make the same products – feeding us the same info conglomerates0- concentration of owner ship.
Industry– Hearts communications (conglomerate), concentration of ownership (eg: other mag that heart owns), hesmandhale (risky buisness), cross media platforms( digital and print), role and prominence of advertising, profit, income, sales, online data.
Language– Use of colour, font, layout, image, semantic fields(words used), juxtaposition, semiotics, genre, narrative
Stuart hall (preferred reading) guerdner (cultivation theory, mainstreaming), lazerfeld( 2 step slow, opinion leader, audience profile\demographics-see men’s health media profile, psychographic profile- all ages)
Use of hashtag to link to social media and perhaps trying to access a younger demographic
Reactionary, stereotypical text colouring through the different shades of blues and black. A typical symbolic (arbitrary) sign of masculinity
Semantic field of power and strength, connoting to something that needs to be destroyed. – “Lose, Demolish, Slay, Blast, Burn, Detox, Reboot”
Alliteration and plosives through ‘blast body’
Stereotypical representation of masculinity through the man as the dominant signifier on the front cover. He seems strong, physically fit and physically intimidating which mirror the masculine traits often portrayed in the media -‘what defines a man’
Alpha male – Muscles, standing pose, perhaps an enhanced/ edited image – “not a true window into the world”
‘Gender as performance’ – Judith Butler (Gender is constructed through a repeated set of actions, sex is a biological factor)
Contents Page
Links to online website ‘menshealth.co.uk’, perhaps encouraging readers to move online to view the magazine – Moving into the digital world of social media.
Reactionary representation of exercise, strength and fitness through links to articles within the magazine on the contents page. This is shown through image signifiers such as pictures of trainers, weights etc. Creating this unrealistic ideal that to be a ‘real’ man you must be physically at top performance. Although there is a radical representation through the inclusion of men of different ages and races.
Typical male characteristics displayed through linking to an article with a picture featuring spanners, lock and key, cogs etc. Perhaps, men are ‘meant’ to be good with construction etc.
Article (within magazine)
Main image of ‘The Marathon Man’ running.
Inclusion of a quotation from him – Motivation and drive – “Your only limit is your self-belief”
Q+A style interview signposted through bold font for question and different for answers.
Iconic sign of a arrow, clearly marking that he is the topic of the conversation.
Dominant signifier being Vin Diesel, we know this because he is the main focus within the first page, being the biggest and most outward object on the page.
The title “Men’s Health” being indexical to men’s health and the gender performance of the male gender.
The page is reactionary, supporting the typical view of strong, independent men.
The syntagm of men’s gender performance and what men should be like. This suggestion is that men should be fit and strong with muscular developments. “Lose 8kg fast”, “127 ways to build a stronger core” “103 shortcuts to t-shirt arms”
The title and Vin Diesel in the magazine provide anchorage that the magazine is targeted and made for men.
Representation:
Gender is represented through the magazines choice of colours, the colour being an aggressive dark blue which can represent masculinity.
The sub-title “Get Back in Shape Special” represents men and the typical stereotype that men are fit and strong.
The model used (Vin Diesel) supports and promotes the idea of gender as a performance and fits the heterosexual gaze.
The constructed identity of a typical man is represented on the front page, but also other pages. Firstly, Vin Diesel is seen to represent the typical male, being strong, fit and have a aggressive, alpha stance.
Lazarfelds idea within men’s health: Vin Diesel represents the idea of a strong and fit man, therefore his supporters or followers are going to buy the magazine and follow its tips to try and end up looking like him, because its his idea and his opinion that says you should be fit and active, that’s why he is also fit and active himself.
On page 6 -7 Gerard Butler can be seen as a model for the Boss aftershave “Intense”, the idea is that his supporters and people who follow him will look at this advert and think “he’s cool and he’s wearing that aftershave, so i should buy it to be cool like him”
Page 2:
Semiotics:
Icon – Vin diesel photograph in the bottom left
Dominant signifier being the editors letter positioned in the bottom right, talking about new years resolutions.
Anchorage being each photo posted with the page number it correlates to.
The picture of Vin Diesel creates the strong male ideology.
Representation:
The constructed identity of the Male gender is represented here through the selection and combination of images of vin diesel along with pictures of the other pages, some of these pages contain weights or running shoes, implying the stereotype of how men are fit and strong.
The individual identity of different types of men, being the strong man (Vin Diesel) down the bottom left, the old man in the middle (True Grit) and the cool man also in the middle (Page 125).
The school of life released a video called how to be a man, while this is not an academic theory, it nevertheless presents two versions of masculinity, the warm man and the cool man. It is possible to identify these two versions in men’s health thus supporting David Gauntlets notion of Fluid, negotiated, constructive identity. For example, on page 125 you can see a calm and collected man who isn’t ridiculously built up and fit, however he is positioned to be inspirational and confident. This is the representation of the “Warm Man” who knows his anxiety’s and flaws, but makes the most of what he has and stays as he is, calm and relaxed. However on page 2, within the advert for Dolce and Gabbana, the male within that photo is seen to be strong and fit, fitting the typical constructed identity of a cool man. He’s holding a woman, and shirtless in the middle of the snowy cold Alpes, but he doesn’t care, he’s calm and relaxed, and confident within himself.
Media Industries (And Audiences)
Men’s health is owned by a company called “Hearst” which has business in the UK and US, it’s mainly based in New York and started after the Founder William Randolph Hearst took over his fathers newspaper, the “San Francisco Analyser” Hearst is a media conglomerate owning 7 different companies, Fitch Ratings – A Market analysis company First Database – A pharmaceutical company Hearst Television – Owns 34 different television channels. A-E Networks – Multinational joint broadcasting company between Disney and Hearst.
Men’s health reaches on average 89,111 people in one year, this is through majority paid subscriptions to the magazine. However, per month in the UK it is seen that it reaches 708 men aged 15+ (study made from April 2019 to March 2020) which fits the targeted demographic group.
Hearst not only has men’s health, they also have woman’s health. Along with 10 other woman focused magazines, however only 1 for men.
Woman’s health reaches on average 96,350 people in one year, which is 7,239 more than men’s health. with 65,000 of them being monthly subscriptions which is 1000 less than men’s health. This supports the idea that the media conglomerate of Hearst is supporting and creating content for both genders and many different beliefs to maximise profits and followers.
Stuart hall in “Men’s Health”:
Page 12-13
Here we can see the creators idea that weightless, nutrition, health, fitness, style and muscle are the main things in your life to focus and produce upon. I could see how health fanatics and body building see that and agree with it because that the way they are and that’s what they focus on the most, however to someone like me I can agree that all of those things are very important but it shouldn’t be the be all and end all of your life, you should be with your family and friends, and focus on relationships rather than everything being for yourself and impressing others, however I can also see how someone who is unhealthy, sits at home eating takeaways constantly and is over weight would look at this page and completely disagree with it and continue on with their ideas of life rather than re-considering with these.
