The magazine Heat targets a largely female audience interested in sex, gossip and women's culture. It uses triggering words like "flirting" and "heat" in the title to grab attention. Pink is used throughout to appeal to women visually. Articles objectify both men and women to attract readers. Men's Health targets a largely male audience interested in health, fitness and masculinity. It uses triggering words like "testosterone" and masculine colors in design. Images of muscular men are featured to provide masculine ideals and role models for readers. Both magazines aim to create a sense of identity and community around their niche interests to engage and keep audiences.

1. Analysing magazines and their
audiences

2. Heat

3. ‘flirting’ has been used as a trigger
word in order to grab the audience’s
attention. The word ‘flirting’ is a
word which this audience will
connect with due to their interest in
sex, gossip and women’s culture.
‘Heat’, similarly is a
word which insinuates
action, excitement
and drama. For the
same reason that the
word ‘flirting’ is an
effective choice of
vocabulary, so is
‘heat’. To add the
masthead’s
effectiveness, red
colours give it a bold
look that stands out in
contrast with the
white and pink
background.
Pink is a colour which
caters for their 86%
female audience
(backed up by their
media pack’s statistics.
By making sure
aesthetically the cover
of the magazine
appeals to the female
audience, they are able
to entice consumers
into buying the
product.
Another example of
heat magazine using a
man as a sex symbol in
order to attract the
largely female
audience, and
essentially objectifying
a man in the same way
that many other media
outlets are critiqued
for objectifying
women.
The magazine’s title had been made bold and red, making it stand out
on the page. It is positioned near the top leftof the page (as is typical
in magazines), and this is because the reader’s eye naturally goes from
the top left, meaning that the title is the first thing to be seen by the
audience. They’ve also left the title with not much covering it, as to
make it easier for the audience to know what it is they are picking up.
Kim Kardashian has been
used as the central and focal
image of the magazine cover.
This was probably done in
order to represent
femininity, and appeal to the
largely female audience of
the magazine.
There are high levels of contrast between the
text and surrounding areas, making pull quotes
and text stand out and look more bold on the
page.
Another example of where
highly feminine themes
have been used in order
to make the magazine
appealing to this
audience. Themes of
marriage and pregnancy
are often ones which are
exclusively enjoyed
conversationally amongst
women.

4. ‘Wet’ is a word with
sexual connotations
attached to it, which
is yet another way of
adding sex factor to
the article, thus
instantly grabbing the
attention of women.
To add to this, the
pink colour has been
used again for the
same purpose, and
this adds aesthetic
continuity and
matches well with the
cover page. After
reading the media
pack, I discovered
that less than half of
Heat’s audience are
married, which might
be an indication as to
why they choose to
market their
magazine in such a
sexual way.
The woman featured in the article is wearing not a great
deal in the way of clothing, furthermore reinforcing the fact
that the creator of this article is attempting to push sexual
themes onto the viewer. It might seem strange at first that
a woman has been used rather than a man, but women
often take pleasure in finding other attractive women to
use as role models for a ‘perfect body.
‘Flirty’, ‘feminine’, ‘fun’ and
‘stylish’ are all words used
by heat magazine within
their media pack, and the
column in this double page
spread called ‘this week’s
bite trends’ is an indication
of the magazine’s effort to
cater for this stylish
audience. They will want to
keep up to date with the
latest fads and stories in
order to feel fulfilled as a
consumer. By using words
like ‘trends’ they instantly
are able to cater for this
audience.
By listing data in bite sized
chunks as has been done here,
the magazine is able to appeal
to those who perhaps have
lightly less time on their
hands. For example, a woman
who might have a 10 minute
snack break whilst at work
won’t have time to read the
whole article, but can quickly
enjoy the ‘bite trends’.
Multiple images have been used in order to
illustrate the article, rather than just one.
This brings the article alive in many ways,
and makes it much easier for those who
might be less into reading to enjoy. Many
members of the audience will benefit from
this, and it allows the audience to feel more
connected to the story.

5. Men’s Health

6. The word ‘testosterone’ is one
which is associated with
masculinity due to it being
regard as the male sex
hormone. For this reason, the
magazine instantly grabs the
attention of it’s almost entirely
male audience. The fact that the
men who buy this magazine
aspire to be more masculine
means that they associate this
word with success and their
ideal self image. The use of the
exclamation mark at the end of
the sentence further helps the
word to stand out on the page
and make it feel more exiting for
the audience.
Fairly bland and masculine colour
schemes have been used, with reds,
greys and black all being colours
which can be certainly more
associated with male preferences.
Furthermore, the colour red often
indicates danger, which is something
that this audience will feel
empowerment in, adding to the
masculine feel.
Jamie Foxx has been used on the cover as
an image, and takes up a large deal of
space on the cover. The angle at which
the photo has been taken shows off his
muscular physique, which again will
appeal to this audience as a role model.
Arms are often deemed a central point in
a man’s masculinity. This can be backed
up by the fact that the media pack states
that 16% of the magazine’s readers
regularly go to the gym and play some
form of team sport. Half a million of the
magazine’s audience participate in team
sports. Although his physique may not be
a realistic goal for all men, the magazine
instils false hope in it’s audience that they
too could look this good.
High levels of
testosterone are often
associated with a high
sex drive, so it seems
more than fitting to
use trigger words like
this in order to pull in
this audience.
Again, highly contrasting colours have been used in order to make the text
stand out, and give it a bolder look. This in turn makes it much easier for the
reader to quickly gain interest in the topic and want to open the magazine
up in order to read into it. The sports theme is continued using terminology
relevant to the topic, in this case the word ‘cardio’. While some may not fully
understand what this means, it creates a sense of identity for the audience
who all share the common connection of knowing this terminology, thus
making them feel more at home while they read.
A sexually themed play on words has been
used here, and one which uses relevant
terminology. This works well to appeal to this
audience, who will likely be more sexually
charged than your average male due to their
obsession with health and fitness.
Exclamation marks have been
used on this pull quote in order to
make it feel more exiting for it’s
audience. A health obsessed
audience will often look for thrills
and adrenaline, and this is
something which exclamation
marks often connote.

7. The model hear is pictured
in rowing gear with a rowing
paddle in his hand. This
takes me back to my point
about the activeness of this
magazine’s audience. By
using a model in which they
can associate their own
hobbies and pastimes with,
they can help the reader to
create a sense of identity
with the magazine, thus
wanting them to become
part of Men’s Health
community and buy more
issues. Again, a very fit and
healthy looking model has
been used, which in some
ways tricks the reader into
believing they too can look
like this, when the reality
probably is that they will
never be able to have this
physique without extensive
amounts of work.
This use of alliteration draws the audience’s eye into the article and
makes it seem more light hearted and less like it takes itself too
seriously. This is something that the majority of the audience will
likely appreciate, as most readers will be looking to have a healthy
lifestyle without having to go all out and dedicate their life to
fitness.
This small green box in
the corner is titled
‘Breaking Down
Discipline’, and discipline
is of course something
required both for team
sports and for fitness in
general. By addressing
this issue which many of
the readers will struggle
with, they are creating a
bond of trust with the
reader, and giving them
tips on how to succeed.
Again no feminine colours have
been used on this double page
spread, which adds to the idea
that this magazine is solely
aimed at satisfying the needs of
men rather than women.
Although in the media pack
there aren’t any specific
references to choices of colours
used or the justifications behind
using them, it’s fairly obvious
that this use of manly colours
was intentional.
The media pack states that the magazine
has readers in 65 countries. Rowing is a
sport which people do all over the world,
so by choosing to cover an article on it,
rather than a more niche sport, they are
addressing this multinational audience.
This quote taken from the article helps to give the reader a sense of
hope that they too could be successful like him, and essentially
suggests that you don’t actually have to be the best at what you do
to be the best at something (which of course is a load of rubbish).
Not only this, but it helps the audience feel connected to the athlete
on a more personal level, adding to the sense of unity created
within the Men’s Health magazine.
Military style use of physical stats has
been adopted here when describing the
rower, such as age, weight and height.
This works well with the audience, as
they are all very physical elements, and
make the audience feel a sense of
competitiveness that many health
enthusiasts will get a kick from.