After reading a study about how advertisements are comprised
in fitness magazines (White & Gillett, 1994), we got into groups and
analyzed these findings with findings of our own. We looked at two different
magazines, one for men and one for women. The men’s magazine we looked at was Flex from 2008. We found that 77% of the
ads were for dietary supplements; 16% were for knowledge systems, 2% for body building
equipment, and 5% for competitions. In the study they found that dietary
supplements made up 52.7% of the ads, 19.7% for body building equipment, 12%
for knowledge systems, 8.5% for clothes, 2.6% for cosmetics, and 5.3% for
competitions (White & Gillett, 1994). Our findings were a little different
than the articles. We both found that dietary supplements make up for most of
the advertisements but we didn’t find very many ads for body building
equipment, clothes, cosmetics, or competitions. This could be the case because
of the differences in years the magazines were published. Since the article was
written in 1994, it’s hard to compare findings from a magazine published 14
years later. Also we just analyzed the advertisements from one magazine which
differed from the study, which analyzed ads from 12 different issues and took
the average.
After analyzing the men’s magazine, we looked at the ads in
a women’s magazine. The magazine we analyzed was Women’s Health from 2007. We found there to be far less ads than
the men’s magazine. Flex had 155 ads,
while Women’s Health had only 42 ads.
In the end we found that dietary supplements made up 23% of the ads; 7% for
knowledge systems, 28% for clothing, 23% for cosmetics, 2% for competition, and
17% were ads for water. These numbers
differed from the study but shouldn’t be surprising seeing how advertisements
in women’s and men’s magazines should be different. Men are looking to add
muscle, which helps by taking supplements, and women are looking to tone and
look good.
The main themes of men's magazines are positioning the
reader as inferior, promise of transformation, and hegemonic masculinity. We
found examples of all of these in Flex.
An ad for No-Explode had a muscular male sitting over large amounts of weight.
This is an example of positioning the reader as inferior. Next, an ad for Whey
Protein was an example of promise of transformation. Lastly, an ad for Jet Fuel
with Jose Conseco in the advertisement is an example of hegemonic masculinity.
Two main themes we found from the women’s magazine were physical
transformation and appearance. Physical transformation showed up in ads that
were promoting low calorie foods, and eating healthy. There was an ad for lean
cuisine which promoted lower calories. An ad for blueberries/fruit promoted
eating healthy. The 2nd main
theme was appearance. 51% of the ads were for appearance (clothing &
cosmetics). Appearance showed up in ads that were promoting makeup, shoes, and clothing. An ad for Puma shoes and Loreal skin lift are
examples of appearance themed advertisements.
The findings from the women’s and men’s magazines were mostly
different. The biggest percentage of the ads in Women’s Health was for clothing and cosmetics; while dietary
supplements comprised most of the ads in Flex.
Men’s magazines promote masculinity
which deals mostly with weights and gaining muscle. On the other hand, women’s
magazines promote femininity which deals mostly with being fit and trim, and
outer appearance such as clothing and makeup.
Men and women are different from one another when it comes to fitness
and working out, and their magazines reflect this.
Michael Berti
Matt Pitzulo
Mike Frank
Aaron Keyer
Joey Durant
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