mens health 5 step

1. who (sender) – Hearst communications Richord Dorman

2. says what (message) – give men control over physical mental and emotional lives

3. channel (medium) – print magazine, website, socials

4. to whom (receiver) –

Mens Health magazine average age of consumers have been displayed on a demographic graph that shows the ages of the readers from April 2019 to March 2020:

• The most common age is adults aged 15+
• 365 woman
• 519 adults aged 15-34
• 554 adults aged 35+
• 391 readers with households with children

On the ABC website they have created a circulation analysis stating how readers have consumed their Men’s Health magazines dating from January to December 2021:

• 21,871 paid single copies
• 66,428 paid subscriptions
• 338 paid multiple copies
• 0 membership copies
• 1,174 free copies

Also, the data shows that nearly 75% of the sold products have been print copies compared to 25% being digital copies

Men’s Health magazine had a joint ownership in from 2012 – 2017 with Hearst and Rodale owning it. Also, from 2000 – 2011 Men’s Health was owned by Natmag Rodale

Hearst (owners of Men’s Health) own a gender opposite magazine named Woman’s Health which has a very similar style as Men’s Health but uses stereotypical colours like pink to attract and gain woman consumers. The Woman’s Health magazine also includes a dominant signifier of an attractive model which creates the same idea of ‘if you read this magazine you will look like this’.

Hearst

• Men’s Health is owned by Hearst who own many other companies such as: NetDoctor, Lenny Letter, Delish (25% owned)
• Hearst is a media company founded on March 4 1887
• Hearst own many different consumer magazines other than men’s health. Most other magazines they own are based on woman’s interests with magazines such as, Woman’s Health, Good Housekeeping, Best

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Front page:

• Dominant signifier – Vin Diesel – known in fast and furious (movie with target audience for men)
• The page is reactionary, as it can be argued to support the typical view of strong, independent men
• The font is in bold which can come across as stronger and more masculine
• The common use of the colour blue links to masculinity (stereotypical colour for men)
• The posture and stance of Vin Diesel is very masculine by displaying his muscular features
• Vocabulary used is related to fitness and states the product is for ‘men’
• Gives the idea to men that by reading this magazine makes you look like Vin Diesel

command words

describe – remembering specific elements

compare – talking about the similarities and differences between two things

evaluate – to judge and share own opinions/ real evidence

analyse – in depth look at an idea with accurate explanation

knowledge – vague outline of an idea or concept / can touch on it

understanding – to explain clearly and deeply about an idea or concept / can evaluate it

	what do you know about	what meaning or understanding do you have of their ideas? how can you apply those ideas to your CSP’s?
Noam Chomsky	the 5 filters of media: – ownership -advertising -official source -flack -marginalizing dissent	ownership- advertising- Maybelline and score. and how they are structured to sell the project. official source- making sure what you are reading or referencing is true (newspapers) the I and they daily mail.
James Curran	patterns of ownership media distribution social and political change	he talks about ownership and how different companies will have different
Habermas	linked to Curran public sphere	talks about how media is passively consumed
semiotics	The study of signs and symbols Roland Barthes CS Pierce Ferdinand De Saussure   Textual analysis is needed radical– something you wouldn’t expect / out of the ordinary reactionary-what you would expect/ follows stereotypes	Sign– something which can stand for something else Code– technical, written and symbolic tools which used to construct or suggest meaning in media forms. Convention– accepted ways of using media codes Dominant Signifier– the main representative. Anchorage-words with an image to provide context   Roland Barthes Talks about how culture and communication maintain  things such as myths and ideology   CS Pierce How signs and symbols can have different meanings Icon-physically resembles thing or idea Index-A sign that has a link to its object Symbol-Symbol, a sign that has an arbitrary or random link to its object   Ferdinand De Saussure talks about
David Gauntlet	representation fluidity of identity	4 types of identity collective identity- that is what is expected as a man constructive identity – changing their identity when they are influenced by the magazine negotiated identity- when reading or influenced fluid identity-
Lasswell	hypodermic needle model	who developed the theoretical tool of ‘content analysis’ and in 1927 wrote Propaganda Technique in the World War which highlighted the brew of ‘subtle poison, which industrious men injected into the veins of a staggering people until the smashing powers . . . knocked them into submission’ To illustrate his hypothesis, in 1948 he developed a linear model of communication one that breaks down the line of communication from point A to point B, in which the SENDER is transferring a MESSAGE, through a MEDIUM (eg Print, radio, TV, etc) that has a direct effect on the RECEIVER.  This approach was later adapted by Shannon and Weaver in 1949, as the Transmission model of Communication, NOISE, ERROR, ENCODING and FEEDBACK.
Lazarfeld	two-step flow theory Personal Influence (1955). The book explains that people’s reactions to media messages are mediated by interpersonal communication with members of their social environment.	suggests that opinion leaders pay close attention to the mass media and pass on their interpretation of media messages to others The Two Step Flow Theory maintains that audiences are active participants in the communication process
Uses and Gratifications	The Uses and Gratifications Theory is a Mass Communication theory that focuses on the needs, motives and gratifications of media users. The theory states that media consumers are passive consumers of mass communications; rather, they play an active role in media consumption	Some people might watch news for information, some for entertainment, and some for self-reassurance media companies profit off what the audience enjoys, capitalism doesn’t care about race or gender only in making money and to do that they tailor their products to appeal to their audience, so they keep consuming it.
Stuart Hall		media consumers were alert and critical readers, listeners and viewers encoding and decoding hegemony- the set of ideas that dominate within society these ideas are usually formed by those groups who have power.

Semiotics
Dominant Signifier – (iconic) Vin Diesel

Print Language

Narrative

Genre

“The genre may be considered as a practical device for helping any mass medium to produce consistently and efficiently and to relate its production to the expectations of its customers.” – Dennis McQuail

genre is lifestyle magazine (aimed at men’s lifestyle) – all paradigm of signs which connote to the idea of manliness/masculinity – fulfilling genre expectations according to Neale ( genre is structured around a repertoire of elements,  which attracts audience based on their predictable expectations)

Representation – (reactionary) muscular, heterosexual male with a dominant stance

The School of Life video: How to be a Man, presents the ‘cool man’ and the ‘warm man’. This links to Gauntlett’s notion that identity is fluid and negotiated. Although this is not a theory, we can see examples of the ‘cool man’ and the ‘warm man’ in Men’s Health.

For instance, on page

Lasswell’s Model of Communications

WHO?
Hearst Communications (Steven R. Swartz – C.E.O.)
Men’s Health (Richard Dorment – Chief Editor)
SAYS WHAT?
IN WHICH CHANNEL?
print (lifestyle magazine)
digital (websites, social media)
TO WHOM?
“active, successful, professional men who want greater control over their physical, mental and emotional lives”
WITH WHAT EFFECT?

Lazarsfeld’s Two-Step Flow Theory

Vin Diesel is an ‘opinion leader’ who people will actively choose to follow and listen to. By being situated on the front cover of Men’s Health, he influences his ‘opinion followers’ to read the magazine.

Uses and Gratifications

PERSONAL NEEDS
Understanding Self
Enjoyment
Escapism

SOCIAL NEEDS
Knowledge About The World
Self Confidence, Stability, Self Esteem
Strengthen Connections With Family
Strengthen Connections With Friends

Stuart Hall’s Theory of Representation

(in workbook) *insert photo*

Stuart Hall- Hall’s work covers issues of hegemony and cultural studies taking a post-Gramscian stance. He regards language-use as operating within a framework of power, institutions and politics/economics. This view presents people as producers and consumers of culture at the same time. (Hegemony, in Gramscian theory, refers to the socio-cultural production of “consent” and “coercion”.)

For Hall, culture was not something to simply appreciate or study, but a “critical site of social action and intervention, where power relations are both established and potentially unsettled”.

hegemony- leadership and dominance

In Gramsci’s view, a class cannot dominate in modern conditions by merely advancing its own narrow economic interests

active audience

3 different ways of reading

He created the reception theory which was ‘what we see is simply a ‘re-presentation’ of what producers want us to see.’

George Gerbner

Gerbner’s Cultivation Theory: A key theoretical debate is the extent to which the media influence our ideas and opinions. In the first instance, RECEPTION THEORY (developed by George Gerbner based around research on TV viewing) suggests that exposure to reinforced messages will influence our ideas, attitudes and beliefs.

The George Gerbner Model of Communication is an extension of Lasswel’s communication model. Gerbner’s model consists of a verbal aspect, where someone observes an event and gives feedback about the situation, and a schematic model where someone perceives an event and sends messages to the sender.

“You know, who tells the stories of a culture really governs human behaviour. It used to be the parent, the school, the church, the community. Now it’s a handful of global conglomerates that have nothing to tell, but a great deal to sell.”- Gerbner

Passive audience

Mainstream: Mainstreaming is the view that people’s life experiences may moderate the cultivation effect

mean world syndrome: the belief that the world is more violent and brutal than it really is. the effect that depictions of violence can have on the perceptions of those who view them

David Gauntlet

 Gauntlett believes that while everyone is an individual, people tend to exist within larger groups who are similar to them. He thinks the media do not create identities, but just reflect them instead. “Identity is complicated; everyone’s got one.”

Pick and Mix theory: it allows audiences to pick which aspects of a text they want to construct their identity, whole leaving other bits well alone

Fluidity of identity, constructed identity, negotiated identity, collective identity.

He assumed there was a generational divide in attitudes towards gender roles, but older people were less likely to be exposed to the new liberal representations of masculinity and femininity. He also wondered if this younger demographic would “grow up to be the narrow-minded traditionalists of the future”.

1. 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.
2. The title “Men’s Health” – indexical to men’s health and the gender performance of the male gender.
3. The page is reactionary, as it can be argued to support the typical view of strong, independent men.
4. 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”
5. The way he’s standing (stance) is a way as such to ‘flex’ / show off his biceps and triceps.
6. The font is in bold which can come across as stronger and more masculine.
7. Suggests to the target audience that if they read the magazine they can look like Vin Diesel

1. Dominant signifier of Vin Diesel, however is significantly smaller than the front cover
2. Semantic pattern of physical power and strength
3. Repertoire of elements (men)
4. 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.
5. Radical representation through the use of men of different ages and races
6. Constructed identity (David Gauntlett)

Mens health magazine had an average monthly reach of around 1.8 mil individuals in the united kingdom from April 2019- March 2020. Reach was lower with households with children and women. Paid subscriptions were a lot higher then paid single copies with a difference of 44,557.

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FOFO Task

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Front Cover

Reactionary Colour blue, stereotypical masculine colour

Dominant Signifier- Vin Diesel, known for his work in fast and furious, the movies main target demographic is men.

Fitness tips around Vin Diesel allude to the idea that if you follow the tips you can look like Vin Diesel

Hashtag possibly widens demographic to younger audience

Having Vin Diesel in the magazine can help make a constructed identity as he can be seen as an opinion leader so readers may value the advice/articles in this magazine more than they would if he wasn’t there.

Content

Article

Older man running marathon widens the demographic to an older audience