Comparison of adverts in typical men and women magazines

Contents

1. Introduction

2. Company

3. Maxim

4. Adverts in “Company”
4.1 “Sure”
4.2 “The Hospital Group”
4.3 “L’Oreal – Telescopic Mascara”

5. Adverts in “Maxim”
5.1 “Gillette – Fusion”
5.2 “LA Muscle – Fat Stripper”
5.3 “Euphoria – Calvin Klein”

6. Comparison – Conclusion

7. Sources

1. Introduction

How would be a world without advertisement? Would it still be possible to attract people for special goods or products? Advertisement means communication, and without communication it is almost impossible to call attention to what one would like to bring to market. So adverts provide a well-directed and conscious influence on human beings. But how different can such an influence be in men and women magazines?

In the following essay I am going to write about British magazines, especially about advertisement that is made in typical men and women magazines, whereby I try to work out the details of possible differences between the adverts – if there are some at least. I will concentrate on only two magazines that are: Company and Maxim; two typical men and women magazines that I have chosen unintended to find some interesting adverts by chance.

The first step will be that I will briefly introduce the two magazines to get an overview about their contents and the main topics they write about. After this I am going to give examples for adverts in men and women magazines, from each of the two introduced magazines three. I will try to describe them in detail and illustrate their intentions towards their readers and audience respectively. Especially how the adverts are made up and which techniques the advertisers use, belong to the main point of this essay. Finally I am going to compare the three adverts of both magazines with each other and try to find out some differences between, or maybe common grounds with advertisement in men and women magazines. In this connexion I will draw a conclusion and sum up my results that I hopefully will get from my breakdown.

2. Company

The first magazine Company is a typical women’s one, which presents “the latest fashion trends, beauty secrets, health, sex and topical features every month”^[1]. There is also a chapter about men that detect typical misunderstandings about their way of life. Here one can find articles from the male perspective, dedicated to women to clarify their clichés towards the other sex. The contents are divided into nine categories, which subordinate the topics: “Features”, “Company people”, “Company male”, “trend”, “fashion and beauty”, “shop!”, “Company health”, “Company treats” and “me time”. “Fun, fashionable, fresh and sexy - Company is the magazine for young women enjoying their freedom years who live life to the full […].”^[2] It belongs to some of Britain’s favourite glossy magazines and - as it is said before- it appears once in a month and has a price of 2.10₤ per edition. Here you can have a look at the front page of one issue of the magazine to get your first opinion about it:

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

3. Maxim

With Maxim we have another glossy magazine – this time for the male population. It is aimed at young men and is known for its pictures of almost naked women. So it is called a “lad mag” and focuses its interests - and of course the interests of its readers - on girls, sex, entertainment, sports, movies, television, video games, reviews on CD`s, fashion, cars, crime, relationships and stupid jokes. The contents are divided into six categories, which subordinate the following topics:”Up Front”, “Noise”, “Features”, “Girls”, “Fashion Special”, “Regulars”. Maxim is an international English language magazine and has expanded into many countries, for example like: Argentina, Canada, India, Indonesia, Belgium, Romania, the Czech Republic, France (“Maximal”), Germany, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Korea, Mexico, Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Spain, Thailand, Portugal, etc. The first edition was published in the United Kingdom in 1995 and the first American version two years later in 1997. This magazine also appears once in a month and has a price of 3.40₤ per issue. Have a look at the following front page of one of its editions and form your own visual view on it:

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

4. Adverts in “Company”

4.1 “Sure”

The first advert I would like to introduce stands for a deodorant called “Sure”, which has an “incredible protection for incredible women.”^[5] Though there are three pictures on the left side of this page 191 the first eye-catcher is a big title above an accompanying text, which is positioned on the right side of the paper. This headline is written in two different colours, turquoise and purple, and also in two different font sizes – small and big letters or words respectively. Two words are written in a big format and in different colours: “horror” and “flowers”, actually two words, that absolutely do not fit together. Both of these words seem to illustrate the main idea of the text below, this is maybe the reason why they are emphasised. So when the reader of this advert looks at it, the first thing he or she would see is this eye-catching title.

[...]

^[1] http://www.qualitymagazines.co.uk/store/displayitem.asp?sid=1348&id=6632&custid=03@10@200654856@592976801&setext=magazine

^[2] At the same place

^[3] http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/B00006K9OT.01._SS500_SCLZZZZZZZ_V1135022388_.jpg

^[4] http://ec3.images-amazon.com/images/P/B00007J7OU.01._AA280_SCLZZZZZZZ_V59383453_.jpg

^[5] Company; British Edition: October 2006, p. 191