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

1. Institution – who owns it
2. Examples of specific pages
3. Language, how it’s laid up, representation
4. 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.