Women magazine + Industry

Women magazine + Industry 
Brand Identity 
-the way in which a brand individualises its self from other brands, how a businesses presents its self to be perceived by its consumers


What essential aspects must be considered when a magazine constructs its brand identity?

GENRE 
AUDINCE 
ORIGINAL CONTENT
LAYOUT
THEMES/SUBJECT
LEXIS
IMAGES
IDEOLOGY 
  

JULY 1965 VS AUGUST 1964

Sophia Loren vs Model 

VOGUE:

monthly high end fashion magazine

target middle class predominately female audience

aged 18-40, substantial secondary audience of men

sophisticated and elegant 

bold, serif font 

front cover focus on famous actress and singer

Italian women, exotic and lavish 

aspirational and unattainable beauty 

outlandish mise-en-scene

inspiration taken from film 'Lady L'

looking down at the audience, confident facial expression

dominate and hostile in mode of address

lacking in additional writing, small type in italic

lexis is vague and mysterious 

text functions as the hermeneutic code

more expesive

WOMAN:

weekly lifestyle magazine

target working class predominantly women readership 

house wives aged 25-45 non working women 

achievable and friendly

san-serif hand writing font gives personal touch 

using an anonymous model to represent/symbolise the housewife 

smiling at the audience in a submissive way 

girl next door style 

lots of writing telling you what the content is

model not the centre of attention, face turned to the side

lexis is explicit and loud 

uses simpler and basic language for everyday women to understand 

approachable, maternal and familiar 

Women magazine representation

Women Magazine Representation

HOUSE WIVES: very much implemented in society in the 1960s 

• fundamentally the kitchen is very important to women as shown in the double spread on kitchen app licenses and DIY set up 
• to be attractive to men women can wear makeup
• gender roles can change over time if women are continually subjected to these ideas 
• can reinforce an oppressed view of themselves eg. be less ambitious  

example or patriarchal hegemony

Women have something missing in their lives which they can only fill by reading women magazine, also a form of control with the male ideals

theory 9


FEMALE STERYO TYPING 
women holding tissue symbolic code that she is crying therefore emotional 

women cooks in the kitchen while man drinks beer, ones leisure activity and the other isn't 

men wears suit which shows his superiority and how he is the bread winner

the man is the consumer in the home as the women prepares it all 

women shown as unstable while man takes lead and forgives her

reliant on the man as she uses the handkerchief from his pocket 



Magazines generate revenue primarily through sales of copies (print and digital) and though advertising.

Advising accounts for approximately oner third of total revenues across the industry.

It is therefore vitally important that the magazine and advising content targets the same audience in order that the advising brand benefits from increased sales as a results of advising in the magazine.

magazine adverts can benefit the advertisers in an article: 
-High audience engagement
-Less distraction likely form other activities    
-target niche or small audiences
-High production values 
-potential for placement in highly relevant editorial environment
-non intrusive 
-long shelf life (week-6 months aprox)  

IMAGE

the experience is being sold rather than the soap

you are getting femininity

her pose and body language is flirtatious

the emphasis on the feeling entices female audience

presentation of perfect women 

LEXIS

using 'darling' could be flirty however is in the tone of a women so could be friendly and direct

repetition of 'you want' 

change between tone from adjectives like 'gentlist' to 'destroys' shows juxtaposition

soap ads: binary opposition

kindness on body compared to destroying bad oder 

target audience: women, no secondary audience

aspirational image 

subtle sexual connotations- wearing makeup, naked, lowkey messy hair, pouty lips  

Applying Hooks:

Man confirming the women is sexually attractive as she is the subject of the male gaze.

by using makeup she is attracting the heterosexual man

Stereotyping, good or bad:

benefits-
forms a community and gives people something to talk about

helpful for genres eg horror, comedy where character have to be established and quickly understandable to the audience 

make educated assumption that the target audience will respond therefore the lexis in the magazine caters for that eg 'darling'  

gives women a caring role, portrays them as good and paternal people in a positive light. Could then be a bit condescending and demeaning as not all women are the same 

provides people with a structure in there life  

Explore posible Audince responses

Explore Posible Audience Responses

Print

• Codes and conventions
• Layout and design
• Composition
• Images/photographs - camera shot type, angle, focus
• Font size, type of font (e.g. serif/sans serif), colour 
• Mise-en-scène – colour, lighting, location, costume/dress, hair/make-up 
• Graphics, logos etc.
• Language – slogan/tagline and copy 
• Anchorage of images and text
• Elements of narrative

• Happiness and continents symbolised by the sweet and motherly, feminine background colour
• The composition of the ad showcasing the woman centre
• Enticing and friendly, welcoming language 
• Audience wonder how they can be like the woman, she is stereo typically attractive through the hyminutic code 
• Some woman can resent the magazine as it presents the hegemonic idea that women should wear makeup    
• The questioning lexis forcing the audience to ask themselves "are you an A level Beauty" 
• Model is through her smile is welcoming drawing female audience in
• The feeling that woman magazine is successful because of the high profile directer "Alfred Hitchcock"
• use of community and inclusiveness for the audience with the title "Woman"
• Sexist and stereo typical portrail of housewife
• Oppositional reading could be anger at the fakeness of the ad and clear touch ups 
• The flowers of the womans dress symbolise the purity, honorable and kindly personality
• An ideal magazine for the ideal woman
• A maternal aspect of the soft pastel colours, Womans embracing nature and calm language ads teh idea of motherly love
• Anchorage of the idea taking up the majority of the page 
• Could have a sexual connotations giving appealing to the secondary audince of heterosexual men or gay women

Published 1937 to present day

set edition 23-29 August 1964

Price 7d (approx 80p)

Became very popular in post war period

1960s sales of magazine reached 12 million copies per week

after the war woman wanted a sense of normally therefore the magazine gave them this structure and ideals of the housewife and normal life 

the magazine was was market leader and bestseller 

Genre: Woman lifestyle

Includes content that hegemonic power suggests that women stereotypically should be interested eg. cooking, makeup, knitting

Makes the assumption that women should and will be interested in this content otherwise they are not a proper woman (hegemonic power)

Assumption of free time to do cross word puzzles therefore would not be working, no mention of a 9-5 job or paid work  

WOMEN IN THE 1900S:

Suffragette movement 

Legal requirement for equal pay 

Women can choose to have children

jobs are normal 

marriage is optional

gay marriage is legalised

ISSUEUS AND CHANGES

equal pay

cooks/wives

higher education

Womans lib movement

more freedoms

theory 7 




























target audience: heterosexual women, married or unmarried but with partner
secondary audience: single women or men buying for wives, girlfriends, mothers

image on top left explicitly shows mother and child, family orientated  
double page spread expresses intresteaded reading and popular content 
'any girl' condescending phrase, suggests women cant think for themseleves

possible to pick and mix the article?

YES: take useful and practical DIY information and instruct on setting up your home

NO: assuming women have a partner and focus on women being weak and unable ton perform complicated tasks 

QUOTE ARTICLE!

'Naturally, I chose an English girl, Alma, as my wife"

"After years of selecting, grooming and directing some of the most beautiful actresses"

 "I knew the kind of women Grace was"

"I'm such a happily married man that I can look at women quite objectively"


content- interview with high profile director talking about casting women 
ideology- focus of objectification of women in film industry
lexis- creepy with constant focus on the women in his life, nothing about actual filming 
Anchorage- Grace Kelly ideal women as she is attractive and sexualised 

Entire interview is more like a monologue rather that a two peoples conversation, this emphasises his power and domination  

MALE GAZE THEORY 

     Metonymy= a word, name, or expression used as a substitute for something else with which it is closely associated. For example, Washington is a metonym for the US government.

why is Woman magazine featuring Hitchcocks ideology?
 so women can aspire to his taste  

Regulation

REGULATION 

Rules and restrictions that the media products have to follow

regulations that we follow everyday?

wake up, brush teeth, get dressed, go to work/school

what are issues with regulation in the 21st century?
with social media it is hard for people to be reported if they make racist comments 

Do we need to have regulation eg. film ratings ect?
yes to make society work

Political cartoon: 'big Rupert is bugging you'   

Magazines lesson 1

Magazines lesson 1

why do people still read print magazines?

• its nice to actually have a physical paper to hold rather than on a screen
• its habit and traditional  
• its a collectable and becomes a hobby which is nicer in a physical format 

are magazines a luxury?

• they are expensive 
• they are not necessary  

theory 1, 4

genre- type/style/category

Allows producers to target certain audiences

Allows audience to make informed and preferential choices   

POP Fashion Magazine 

Layout design: bold design 

Font size, type, colour: mix of sizes, large title, small font for inside info 

Images, shot type, angles, focus: Single image, focus on super model Alexa Chung face and features, close up

Mise-en-scene, colour, lighting, location: plain yellow background, graphic quality 

Langue, lexis, text: bold and thick font, classy and sophisticated language 

Anchorage of text: Does not cover models face

Word woman in informal but inclusive as it is a broad term.

The font for 'woman' is a signature style suggesting a personal, friendly and female touch. 

The lavender pink background is very feminine and motherly. 

Direct mode of address of the woman looking out to the audience in friendly manner.

Air brushed smile and bright teeth illustrate healthy and glowing lifestyle.

Model is a genre convention aimed at 25-50 year old housewives.

The yellow bar at the bottom is an soft, unthreatening and pastels, binary opposition colour

Revising industry theories

Revising industry theories 

12- power and media industries, Curran and Seaton: The media is controlled by small number of companies primarily driven by the logic of profit and domination (process of conglomeration)  

13- Regulation, Sonia Livingstone and Peter Lunt: Transformations in the production, distribution and marketing of digital media, have placed traditional approaches to media restrictions at risk

14- Cultural industries, David Hesmondhalgh: Companies try to minimise risk and maximise audiences through vertical and horizontal integration 

Cultural Capital
The cultural resources of an individual for example knowledge, qualifications, art customs and tastes

-expensive designer clothes eg. gucci
-listening to classical classy music eg. Bateoven
-expensive designer shoes eg. louis Vitton
-posh accent eg. British
-qualifications eg. Oxford
-place of Study eg. Hills rd


Classy VS Tacky

Aimed at working class audience therefore....

minimal lexis
large imagery 
use of ellipses
colloquiums
advert in corner 
simple and graphic picture 
restricted, uncomplicated lang   
bright colours

allows producers to manipulate audience 









self for filling prophecy eg. being told you are dumb everyday makes you dumb 

Audience Negotiation

Audience Negotiation 

News paper 

what affects how audiences interact with media products? 

-age certificate of a film
-ethnicity   
-gender
-age
-sexuality
-reviews or peer pressure 
-experiences 
-upbringing 
-location
-political view

Stuart Hall theory of reception- how the audience receives and interprets something 

1) Preferred reading
audience agrees with ideology of producer

2) Oppositional reading
audience disagrees with ideology of producer

3) Negotiated reading
where the audience 'comes to an agreement' with the ideology of the producer   

True meaning of Christmas???

religious holiday

be with family and friends

giving and being joyful  

Thank God

celebrating Jesus birth 

Importance of local news:

always relevant, captive audience of 'locals', audience identify

ANCHORAGE = forcing audience into particular type of view

CAMBRIDGE NEWS (local newspaper)

'To Clever for Prison' page 11

preferred reading: frustration that she is not getting a sentence, smug image of her leaving the court, wording of head line insinuates snobbishness and class system  

oppositional reading: she needs help and support, she was misunderstood or treated badly, could have been avoided, what she did was really cool or feministic 

'Gender Agender' page 43

P: sympathy with issue, believe in peoples rights 

O: shameful and shouldn't be spoken about, fuss over nothing

N: agree with issue, not see it as a priority 

'Mental Health services inadequate for 1.2m abused children' page 14

P: horrified and shocked by amount of kids being abused

O: Thinks the issue is out of proportion and bias 

N: sympathy for families but does not want to invest in NSPC

(national issue therefore not as important as not local)