What role does advertising play in 21st Century men’s

lifestyle magazines? (WHAT ARE THE CHANGES IN THE CONTENT AND ADVERTISING IN MEN’S MAGAZINES OVER THE LAST DECADE?)

This essay investigates advertisements in 21st Century mens’ lifestyle

magazines. In order to do this, it will identify the different techniques that

are used in order to sell products. Identity will be one of themes looked

at, to establish how the notion of this is exploited by advertisers. The

theories of, David Gauntlett and Malcolm Barnard will be referred to

provide an understanding of the importance of identity.

(Blore, C. (2000). Barnard, M. (2002).)

Advertising plays an influential role in men’s lives through the medium of

the magazine, as the images therein often reflect men’s aspirations. The

essay will look at how the advertising techniques used today are more

manipulative in persuading consumers that their lives could be improved in

some way by the purchase of a product, which will fulfil their ‘needs’.

It will explore advertising in context, looking at how necessary it is for

advertisements to be appropriate to the theme of the magazine. It will

also look at how the relationship between the content and advertising

serves to reinforce ideas contained in each of these.

A contemporary approach will be taken and examples of advertisements from

men’s magazines will be analysed in order to illustrate the various techniques

used. The importance of visual communication will be discussed in relation to

the nature of the magazine

Readership type has to be considered regarding the number of

advertisements which would be expected by readers. For example, in a

more informative magazine, fewer advertisements would be expected.

However, this is currently changing, as readership numbers are decreasing

because of the introduction of new media, which has made print less

popular. Magazines are therefore now in a position where they are forced

to try to increase sales through increased advertising. This means that

some advertisements are gaining a wider audience.

The nature of men’s magazines in the 21st Century differs from that of the

preceding century. This was to have an impact on the type of advertising

that was included in the publications.

The Men’s Magazine, Nuts in the 20th Century stereotypically took for its

content, pornography and sport. The advertising in the publication focused

mainly on sport, alcohol and how to attract women. The techniques used

were unsophisticated and less manipulative than those of today.

The ending of the Men’s Magazine, Nuts, highlights the fact that Men’s

Magazines have largely moved on from the old 'pornography and sport'

stereotype. This progression inevitably has changed the direction of

magazine advertising.

A big change in the 'magazine world' was highlighted with the demise of most

of the 'men's magazines', which were popular five to ten years ago. A good

example of this is the Men’s Magazine Nuts, shown in Fig 1.

"Soon after it launched in 2004, Nuts magazine became a phenomenon, selling more than 300,000 copies a week. Along with its rival Zoo, it created an entirely new magazine sector - the weekly ‘lads’ mag’, full of boobs, sporting trivia, gross-out pictures and terrible jokes. In the last half of 2013 it sold 53,000 copies an issue, a drop of 33 percent year on year. It would not take that long at that rate of decline to get to 0." (Smith, 2014)

Another main reason for the reduction in sales of the 'old men’s magazines'

is the idea of sexism, as illustrated on the front cover of Nuts’ June 2004

issue. (Fig 1).

"The view that they are sexist is often based on the observation that the magazines usually contain several pictures of women wearing clothes which are small, or not there at all, and in seductive poses (but without 'showing everything' in the style of pornography)." (Gauntlet, 2002. p.173)

In recent years, sexism has become more of an issue in society generally as

sensitivity has increased regarding how women are presented and how this

affects their perception. This in turn has affected the content of men’s

magazines, as openly sexist images have become less acceptable and sales

have dropped as a consequence. This has caused a major change in both

content and advertising in men’s magazines.

Objectifying women was a contentious issue recently raised by society, as it

became clear that the media evidently controlled the way in which men and

woman perceived the women’s body. It was also clear to women that men

were buying these magazines to view images of other women, which did not

have a positive outcome on them.

Men’s magazines are, it seems, all about sex, booze and fags. A

cursory glance at the newsagent shelves stacking magazines for

men reveals a raft of blatant front cover images of scantily clad

young women and headlining of articles concerning sex or

alcohol-induced practical jokes.

(Benwell, 2012. p132).

It could be said that this objectification of women gave the idea to men that

they could feel free to harass women. This lead to the theory that, if women

were beautiful, they were more likely to be harassed. Despite the notion of

beauty being subjective, the media were effectively defining what could be

considered as beauty with regard to women.

“Beauty provokes harassment, the law says, but it looks through men's eyes when deciding what provokes it.” (Wolf, N. 1991)

Objectifying women in men’s media can also promote women to feel rebellious

and seen as significant. If a women acknowledges that they have a similar

body shape or look as the women that are portrayed in the media, they often

build up a need to feel that they want to be involved in this, essentially feeling

significant.

“What you have now then is the marketing of racialized identities as tools for consumption. And certain racialized bodies and images are associated with hipness, coolness, edginess. So all kinds of youth all over the world are appropriating that style as a way of, sort of, countering authority, stating their rebelliousness, and wanting to be seen as significant.” (Mesa-Bains, A. 2006)

An example of this act is shown in the men’s magazines such as Nuts and

Front magazine as they have designated sections in the magazine where

woman can send in photos of their body in a seductive manner.

This shows that the Media has tricked women into feeling that they should

show off their body, in order to be beautiful in the eyes of men, when the only

thing that is actually happening, is that the women are being objectified and

men now have the opportunity to fantasize other them in a sexual way, which

could lead to harassment as men now feel like they have permission.

As well as promoting women’s desire to be significant, the media are at the

same time objectifying women, which is known to create a negative effect on

them. For example, these women can develop a self-consciousness which

leads to anxiety and body shame. A woman’s presence in a men’s magazine

assumes an accepted beauty. However, when women do not have the same

body shape as the women illustrated, this can lead to them feeling that they are

not good enough or not beautiful.

Appearance anxiety increased after viewing advertisements featuring idealized images. There was also a significant interaction between self-objectification level and idealized body (presence vs. absence).

No differences emerged for body-related compared with non–body-related product advertisements. The only result for body shame was a main effect for time. Participants' body shame increased after exposure to idealized images, irrespective of advertisement type. (Weissman, 2005. p85)

As changes in societal views occurred, men’s magazines responded

accordingly and this prompted a release of a new breed of men’s magazines

which focused more on men’s lifestyles, and appropriately, on a more

sophisticated style of advertising, which concentrated more on men than

women. With the upcoming popularity of fashion and health magazines,

advertisers could now advertise using new methods to sell products which

made men feel that through purchasing these, they would improve themselves.

Through changing the focus of advertising, men could feel more comfortable

in purchasing the new style men’s magazine.

-(fig 1)

To illustrate the changes in the old and new style men’s magazines, the

'Kirsty Gallacher, Nuts June 2004', is a good example to gather and analyse

the old common style men’s magazine. Along with the big bold red title, the

first thing the audience will see is a half-naked woman, posing in a very

seductive manner. This style of cover would clearly be to attract a man’s

attention to invite a purchase; the image was essentially to make them

desire to see further photographs of the woman on the inside pages.

Claims by Nuts magazine that it ‘delivers’ the best girls’ is designed firstly to

promote the idea that they are able to provide images which are superior to

those found in other magazines, and secondly, to suggest that they are

delivering a relationship between those pictured and the individual reader. ‘Nuts

gets you the best girls’. Ultimately, this is designed to encourage sales.

Semiotics also comes into the design of the men’s magazines. The big red title

‘Nuts’, will appeal to the target audience and grab attention. The title is in a

think, bold font with a solid drop shadow to symbolise the idea of ‘manliness’.

The woman illustrated on the cover of the publication is also looking straight at

the reader, to maximise her appeal to men and look more seductive.

10 years ago, men’s magazines were typically about 'pornography and sport'.

This is clearly shown in the Nuts headline 'Worlds sexiest football fan!'. At the

time, these two categories were the perfect platform for advertising to men in

order to gain more sales.

-(fig 2)

Today, the content and advertising in men’s magazines has changed

somewhat. This is in line with changes in societal ideas about women, and

what is no longer acceptable in how they are portrayed. Society in the UK is

now more aware of gender equality and efforts have been made to address

this through avoiding sexism.

Despite these changes, women still do feature in a way which would attract men

to buy the magazine, but this is in a more subtle way. For example, the front

cover of the GQ July 2014 issue states ‘Sex. A successful man’s guide to online

dating. By a woman who’s seen your tinder profile’ (Fig 2). It could be argued

that the inclusion in the statement that the guide was written by a woman, could

be a direct attempt to minimise any accusation of sexism.

- (fig 3)

Similarly to (fig2), the GQ August 2014 magazine, shows the same changes.

The magazine is still focusing on the self, using very sophisticated advertising

techniques, mainly focusing on men’s fashion. However, like the July edition,

this GQ magazine still highlights a section about sex. ‘A Boob-ier tube. GQ’s

guide to the new naked TV’. Unlike the July edition, this section doesn’t show

that it was wrote by a women. However, it doesn’t focus on any women in

particularly, therefore it still minimizes any sexism.

This new style of men’s magazine which has replaced the old style, focuses

more on the self, rather than on women. Features now include men’s health,

lifestyle and fashion with advertising following these themes. An example of

this is the front cover of the July 2014 issue of the GQ Magazine, which

states ‘Stay Cool, Look Sharp. The best suits, shoes and shades for

summer.’ (Fig 2)

Advertising plays a powerful role in the present century. Its aim is to

manipulate the consumer into purchasing products. The quote below by

Chuck Blore, a partner in the advertising firm Chuck Blore & Don Ruchman,

Inc., enhances an understanding of the general purpose of an

advertisement. Using knowledge from his statement, it would seem that the

only purpose of an advertisement is to sell in order to make profit.

"Advertising is the art of arresting the human intelligence just long enough to get money from it." (Blore, quoted in Bagdikian, 2000. p185)

Advertisements have had a major role in men's lifestyle magazines. Ever

since the mass media came about, it became natural for companies to

use magazines to communicate an awareness of their products to

readers. As the mass media has progressed, advertising methods and

techniques have advanced, becoming more sophisticated.

Advertisements now create consumer needs, by presenting luxuries

as necessities.

As methods and techniques of advertising have developed, it would seem

that the overall style of magazines in the 21st Century have changed with

them. Five to ten years ago, 'Men's magazines' generally referred to either

pornography or sport; in recent years, however, a new style of Men’s

magazines has appeared.

This new style of magazine is thick, crisp, glossy, low in content, and very

general. Examples of lifestyle magazines include FHM, Men's Journal,

Maxim, Men's Health, Men's Fitness, and GQ. These tend to focus on the

self, signifying the ways men can create an identity through the purchase

of a product, which will allow them to present themselves appropriately in

the desired cultural groups, which are created by the fashion industry.

"Fashion, clothing and dress are signifying practices, they are ways of generating meanings, which produce and reproduce those cultural groups along with their positions of relative power” (Barnard, 2002. p38)

This contributes to the existing knowledge of how the fashion industry

turns luxuries into necessities in order to maximise sales. The above

quote refers to how advertisements by the fashion industry are

produced to help their target market achieve a sense of identity which

brings them power or position in their culture groups. However, from

the writings of Chuck Blore, it would seem equally arguable to say that

the fashion industry produced the culture groups to begin with, for

people to fit in to. For example, the hippy trend grew partly out of the

fashion industry and to be a part of this social group, it could be said

that 'hipsters' were a necessity.

"The image of the community is purified of all that may convey a feeling of difference, let alone conflict, in who 'we' are. In this way, the myth of community solidarity is a purification ritual. What is distinctive about this mythic sharing in communities is that people feel they belong to each other, and share together, because they are the same. The 'we' feeling, which expresses the desire to be similar, is a way for men to avoid the necessity of looking deeper into each other." (Sennett, R. p.36)

This finding shows one of the modern techniques of advertising and shows

how advertisements can trick their audience to feel unique, when in fact they

are all similar. This may also link with how companies can use

advertisements to trick people into feeling that they have a connection with

their products, making them believe that they can trust the brand to make

them a 'unique man'.

If an advertisement creates a bond between the company and the target

audience, the audience will then start to trust in the brand, concluding with

the audience continuingly to purchase products from the company earning

them a higher profit. It is still very clear that men’s magazines are a very

easy and effective platform to carry this out, also providing men’s

magazines to continue sales.

In conclusion, in the 21st Century, men’s magazines now focus mainly on

men. This communication is presented in a way which seems to advise men

on how to improve their looks, their physical and emotional wellbeing.

However, the route to this is shown by advertising to be through the

purchase of products. This suggests that profit could be the main driver for

advertising content. This profit is needed partly in order to fund the

publications, especially considering the competition from the growth in on-

line information.

“Men’s magazines have changes drastically within the past 5-10 years with

the issues of Sexism and Objectification of women. Objectifying women in

men’s magazines tended to bring out a different side in women by either

making them feel like they should be involved in this activity, as they felt this

would make men think they are beautiful, or it made women feel no good

enough, living them feeling anxious and self conscious.”

(Mesa-Bains, A. 2006)

From the knowledge of Blore and Barnard the conclusion was made that

advertisements in 21st century men’s lifestyle magazines use a very

sophisticated method in order to made the product advertisement

successful. This method consisted of tricking the reader in believing that,

from the purchase of their products, they can have the most power within

their desired social groups. Additionally, it was also acknowledged that the

media now turns luxuries into necessities, therefore it is the media that

created these modern social groups which the reader aspires to be a part of.

(Blore, C. (2000). Barnard, M. (2002).)

In the 21st century, advertisements have become a very important role in

men’s magazines as they play a massive role in the funding of the

magazines, since the introduction of the mass media. Equally, this allows a

bigger platform the companies to advertise their new products, concluding in

both companies earning a greater profit.

Bibliography

Books

Smith, P. (2014), ''Nuts' Magazine To Close As Sales Drop From 300,000 To 50,000 In 10 Years'. Web. 31 Mar. 2015. Gauntlet, D. (2002). Media, Gender and Identity: An Introduction, Routledge, p.173. Benwell, B. (2012). The Sociological Review, Special Issue: Sociological Review Monograph Series: Masculinity and Men's Lifestyle Magazines, p.132. Wolf, N. (1991). The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women, William Morrow and Company. Mesa-Bains, A. (2006). Homegrown: Engaged Cultural Criticism, South End Press. Weissman, R. (2005). International Journal of Eating Disorders Volume 38, Issue 1, p85–90, July 2005 Blore, C. (2000), The Media Monopoly, Sixth Edition, Boston, MA, Beacon Press. p.185. Barnard, M. (2002). Fashion as communication. New York, NY, Routledge of the Taylor & Francis Group. Sennett, R. (1996), 'The myth o f purified community', The Uses o f Disorder:Personal Identity and City Style, London, Faber & Faber, p.36, 39.                      

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- (Fig 1) Nuts July 2014

- (Fig 2) GQ July 2014

- (Fig 3) GQ August 2014

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