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Saturday 13 October 2012

Task 2: Magazines and Audiences- Part 2!



Glamour is one of the worlds most popular magazine’s, containing love, sex, beauty, health and fashion tips as well as the latest celebrity gossip. It’s clear that Glamour aims to target the female population with the age range of around 18-49 by the colour scheme, the main image and also the plugs that it uses.

One of the first features that would appeal to females is the bright and vibrant colour scheme. They are stereotypically more feminine and the mix of the two instantly grabs your attention. The use of the colour scheme also suits the month/season that the magazine was issued which was ‘June 2009’, labelled in the top right, below the masthead. Beyonce, who this magazine uses as there main image, is also seen as an independent women and many females aspire to her for this reason. She’s well known for promoting ‘girl power’ so it is likely women would want to read about her as she could be seen as a role model to them. The text scattered around the cover also attracts its female audience. “The 50 best companies to work for if you’re a woman”, lures the audience in and it almost separates men and women in the hope that women would want to read this article so they can find the best place to work because of their gender. It also has the implication that the magazine is promoting ‘girl power’ which is backed up by the main image of Beyonce. Aiming at a female audience, gossip is a must on the front cover. The readers have a choice of the gossip they read into whether it’s Beyonce and how she “opens up about Jay-Z and ugly days” or “745 high street hits”. With Beyonce and her husband Jay-Z being a big celebrity couple, female readers are lured into buying the magazine as they’d be the first to know of the couple’s gossip. “745 high street hits” also entices the reader in as the use of the number empathises this huge news. Below gives further information on the “high street hits” as it shows the prices which are made to sound like a bargain. This implies that the readers would be working or middle class as they want to save money where possible but still want to be included on the latest trends.  Finally, one of the last major features that invite a more female audience is one of the most obvious to a passer-by. Above the masthead, “Britain’s No1 women’s magazine” is highlighted in a bold orange. Having this information there gives the suggestion that women should buy the magazine because so many others do. Women would want to keep on trend with the most popular magazine and it would also give the buyer a sense of being part of a community as so many other females buy it.

Glamour magazine use many designs of a typical front cover. Some of the most evident are the masthead which is bold and in sans serif font. It stays with the colour scheme, of pink and orange, and although you cannot read all of it, you still know what it says as it is such a popular magazine. Numbers are used all over the cover which draws the attention of the audience in and creates a bigger impression. The main cover-line which states “win everything” instantly gains attention as not only does it stand out the most but also offers the opportunity of freebies. Quotes are used to emphasis the idea of gossip and to tease the readers into wanting to no more.
Glamour uses many features to appeal to their target audience of females and it obviously works as it is, as it states, “Britain’s No1 women’s magazine”! 

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