Men’s Health
PRINT LANGUAGE:
The dominant signifier on the front cover is a celebrity called Vin Diesel who stars in the ‘Fast&Furious’ series. He is looking down through his nose towards the viewer connotating the feeling of intimidation and superiority/dominance.
The symbolic use of the shades of the colour blue is stereotypical of the gender of men, creating a reactionary representation of a ‘masculine’ magazine. Navy blue is used in institutional uniforms such as police, navy, etc. This conveys strength, discipline and power, which are also male orientated professions.
The font is blocky and bold suggesting themes surrounding strength and ‘manlyness’. There is a semantic field of strength e.g Kill, demolish, blast which command the viewer to to take action and control they are also words associated with combat. There is also use of a hashtag to link to social media and perhaps trying to access a younger demographic, linking to the modern digital world, this also helps to promote themselves through social media platforms.
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 and 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 typically demonstrating the cool man which is typically relaxed and confident version of masculinity, it represents a sense of security and creates an unforgetible presence that stereotypically is attractive for women.
On pages 10-11 of Men’s Health the dominant signifier of 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 of wanting to be desired and attractive. It also is reactionary representation as it relates to a typically masculine interest/hobby.
On page 17 – there are links to the online website ‘menshealth.co.uk’, encouraging readers to move online to view the magazine as it is more accessible. Linking to Habermas’ theory of the transformation of the public sphere as things are progressing in the digital world. This also helps to prevent Men’s Health from becoming outdated and irrelevant.
There is a reactionary representation of exercise 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. 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 which imply men are good at fixing things or building things.
On page 101 there is a Q+A style interview signposted through bold font for question and different answers. There is an iconic sign of an arrow, clearly marking that he is the topic of conversation.
The use of alliteration “Marathon Man” making it more memorable and eye catching and easier to digest. It also has similarities with language choices alluding to this sense of power and ability, e.g superman.
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 and not fixed. Gender is performative. Also shows how being big = masculine. Focused on the idea that muscles make men more attractive linking to the term spornosexuality.
The cover and specified content can be analysed in the context of genre in terms of conventions of layout and composition – which will overlap with analysis of visual language – but also as part of the genre of men’s health and lifestyle magazines.
Genre study would include an analysis of the conventions of magazine front covers – a study which would overlap with visual analysis and audience positioning.
Could link to Stuart Hall and his theory on preferred and oppositional reading meaning that audiences may interpret this in a positive way or the opposite way it intended.
Stuart Hall went on to suggest that audience actually decode and interpret messages in different ways. He calls this the THEORY OF PREFERRED READING and puts forward the argument that audiences either accept the dominant reading of a text (A DOMINANT READING) or they reject the dominant reading of a text (AN OPPOSITIONAL READING), or they take up a reading somewhere in between (A NEGOTIATED READING)
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.
“They’re the brand for active, successful, professional men who want greater control over their physical and mental and emotional lives.” This links to the theory of Young and Rubicam on psychological profiles and how much media audiences are often segmented into groups/categories based on what they want to gain. The Explorer, The Aspirer and The Succeeder.
Their consumer profile states that 67% of their readers are married, engaged or with a partner. whilst 66% of their readers are college educated. It highlights that 5.3 Million of readers are adventure/thrill seekers and 11.4 Million aspire to a healthy lifestyle.
The most common demographic is men, aged 18-45. Implying that the magazine tailors its content to the younger population.
Social Media presence ——–> 8.9 M – Facebook, 4.4M – Twitter, 1.7M – Instagram.
“More than 21 million readers across social and digital platforms”
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. 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’. 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)
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.
It is owned through horizontal integration by ‘Hearst Communications’ (an American mass media company based in New York that is over 130 years old)
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. It costs over $200,000 to feature an ad on the front cover.
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. They won both Editor’s Choice and Reader’s Choice for the 2016 Hot List.
Between 2010 and 2017 print sales fell by 42% from 23.8 Million to 13.9 Million.
Statistics from Jan-Dec 2021:
An average of a 89,811 circulation per issue (how many copies distributed)
26% of copies were purchased digitally
74% of copies were purchased as print