According to Barthes, cultural codes are intertextual links to other media products. This can be seen with the use of Manu Rios as a cover star for Man About Town, since he is an actor who audiences will recognise if they are familiar with his other work. His outfit in the image can be deconstructed to suggest that by wearing what appears to be a dress, the actor is breaking conventions surrounding masculinity and how stereotypes determine he ‘should’ look, supporting Butler’s ideologies that biological sex and gender are two different things, with gender being an identity someone chooses to have. For a magazine cover, there is a notable lack of conventional elements such as cover lines, prices and taglines, perhaps constructing the idea that Man About Town is an alternative/niche magazine as opposed to one targeting a mass audience. The idea of ‘difference’ is reinforced by a large hole in Rios’ sock, perhaps establishing the ideology that he has very little interest in how he presents himself to others. The ‘Man About Town’ title infers that the demographic of readers are males, which is again unconventional for a magazine with a shirtless man to star on the cover of, therefore potentially breaking dominant ideologies that only females can be presented in a revealing or sexualised manner in products targeting male readers. The actor can be seen making direct address with the audience through eye contact, perhaps ‘inviting’ them to purchase the magazine through building a reader/star relationship.