Q4. The target audience of GQ can be defined by demographics and psychographics (urban millennials and Gen Z). This audience is targeted through consumerism and notions of ideal images in a similar way to the construction of a mainstream, mass mode of address. The target audience can be defined as specialised by the magazine’s focus
on youth, diversity, alternative fashion and a reference to queer culture. The producers of the magazine have shifted from more mainstream representations of social and cultural developments to more specialised ones. The aesthetic (media language and representation) is part of the selling point
of the magazine which is specific to the print form. Aesthetic is positioned more with alternative magazine styles (eg Kinfolk, Frame) than mainstream (eg Men’s Health) Representations of masculinity appear as fluid, with an interest in fashion and beauty as the norm – though the extent to which this can now be defined as specialised could be evaluated.

The target audience of The Gentlewoman can be defined by demographics and psychographics – the readership is relatively small and has an unusually high average income, distinguishing it from the mass audience. The mode of address is defined as serious but ‘playful’, constructing the audience as intellectual. There is a focus on ‘long form’ journalism as opposed to celebrity-led profiles as well as a focus on literature, environment, design and architecture, suggesting the way
the producers construct a specialised readership. Additionally there is explicit focus on modernist design in the aesthetic of the magazine which differentiates the representations from those aimed at a mass audience. Coverage of mainstream women’s magazine subject areas such as fashion and beauty are constructed to be authentic in opposition to negative consumerism in order to focus on individuality. Moreover The Gentlewoman ‘club’ personifies the brand’s (paradoxical?) attempt to mix consumer luxury and alternative taste to target a specialised audience.