Magazines: Men's Health - Audience

Our first Magazine Close-Study Product is Men's Health.

We need to study both the target audience for Men's Health and the audience pleasures that readers get from the magazine.

Notes from the lesson

Men’s Health (UK edition) has a circulation of around 120,000 (down 16% year-on-year and including 40k free copies) and a readership of closer to 1 million. It began as a health magazine in the USA in 1986 and has gradually evolved into a men’s lifestyle magazine. The UK edition launched in 1995.

Definitions
Circulation is the actual number of copies printed and distributed. Readership is an estimate of how many people read the magazine in total (also known as readers-per-copy). For Men’s Health, copies in a gym or waiting room will be read by many different  people.

Circulation figures are provided by the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) and readership estimates by the National Readership Survey (NRS).

Demographics: Social class

Men’s Health has a largely middle class readership but also attracts readers in the C2DE bracket:

ABC1 men: 64%
AB men: 32% 
C2DE: 36%

It is significantly higher than rivals GQ and Esquire in terms of circulation and readership but GQ and Esquire have a more upmarket demographics (higher % of ABC1 and AB readers).

Psychographics

Men’s Health Media Pack focuses on products that reflect a certain lifestyle such as fashion, watches, grooming, fitness and cars. This would suggest targeting the Aspirer and Succeeder psychographic groups with perhaps elements of Mainstreamers and Explorers.

Audience pleasures

There are many potential audience pleasures for Men’s Health readers. Applying Blumler & Katz’s Uses & Gratifications theory, two in particular would be:

Personal identity: Readers enjoy having their lifestyle reflected and endorsed through reading the magazine

Surveillance: Men’s Health is heavily focused on self-improvement and learning how to live a healthier, more successful life: “When it comes to life goals, claim the hat trick”.

Men's Health - Audience blog tasks
Read the Men's Health Media Pack in full to get a good idea of the demographics and psychographics for the Men's Health target audience then answer the following questions:

1) How does the magazine introduce itself?

"Men’s Health is the biggest-selling men’s lifestyle
magazine, both in the UK and worldwide.

It’s success is built on a winning editorial formula which
combines visually-engaging health, wellbeing and
nutrition features with premium content covering
fashion, grooming, watches, tech and travel."

2) What does the introduction suggest about the representation of masculinity in Men's Health's?

Men's health focuses on having a good image and being presentable as a man; having lavish interests and life style is of the most importance.

3) How do the print statistics for Men's Health compare to GQ and Esquire?

Men's health is the most popular magazine, having a total readership of 650k more than GQ.

4) What is the difference between circulation and readership?

Circulation is how many magazines are printed and distributed, whereas readership is the estimate of how many people actually read the magazine.

5) What was the circulation of Men's Health in thousands at the time this Media Pack was published? What about the readership for ABC1 men? AB men? [Note: this Media Pack was published in 2016 and some of the figures have fallen since then. Up to date circulation figures can be found at the top of this blog post].

At the time of publishment it was 995k.
ABC1 readers = 643k
AB readers = 321k.

6) How do readers generally interact with the digital version of the magazine?

68% Phone, 11% Tablet and 21% Desktop.

7) How many people do Men's Health reach across social media platforms?

FACEBOOK: 944K

TWITTER: 285K

INSTAGRAM: 66K

8) What is the audience profile for Men's Health readers? 

905K ARE ABC1, AGED 25-44
700K HAVE A DEGREE
200K EARN OVER £50K

9) What is the Men's Health fashion philosophy? How much do Men's Health readers collectively spend on fashion?

Stylish, contemporary, wearable and individual. They spend £1.1 billion on fashion, three times more than GQ readers.

10) What is the average watch collection value for the Men's Health audience? What do the statistics about watches suggest about the Men's Health audience demographics and psychographics? 

£4,123. This suggests that they have a large middle-class audience belonging to the ABC1 or AB demographic group who can typically afford to spend large amounts of money. The psychographic groups that could be targeted are the aspirer and succeeder.

11) What percentage of Men's Health readers use moisturiser daily? What does this suggest about Men's Health readers' view of masculinity?

73% of readers use moisturiser daily. Their view on masculinity isn't toxic or stuck in the past as they aren't afraid to use skin care products that have previously been marketed as 'for women' (for whatever reason).

12) What does the media pack suggest regarding the Men's Health audience for fitness and technology? 

"Men’s Health readers are fitness evangelists and early adopters of tech."

13) Men's Health luxe is a series of magazines distributed with Men's Health targeting a specific aspect of the Men's Health audience. What are these three brand extension magazines called and what do they cover?

Urban Active (Sportswear), Synchronised (Watches), and Epicure (Cooking).
 ...Why are men so obsessed with watches?


14) What do the Men's Health luxe magazines suggest about the demographics and psychographics of the Men's Health audience?

Perhaps suggests a mainstreamer as they encourage following the latest trends and and explorer through trying to better themselves. 

15) What additional brand extensions do Men's Health offer?

Survival of the fittest which is the biggest urban adventure race in the UK and the Men's health product range which offers things like healthy food and exercising equipment.

16) What are the global statistics for Men's Health?

Global Statistics
International Editions 37
Countries Published 60
Global Circulation 4.5M
Global Readership 26.7M
Websites 25
Uniques 23.7M


17) What does the 2017 calendar editorial specials suggest about the Men's Health audience?

The specials also suggest that its readers are adventurous and ambitious, trying to become their best man and living life to the fullest.

18) What audience pleasures are offered by the magazine?

Personal identity: Readers enjoy having their lifestyle reflected and endorsed through reading the magazine

Surveillance: Men’s Health is heavily focused on self-improvement and learning how to live a healthier, more successful life

19) What lifestyle and job would you expect the average Men's Health reader to have?

The average reader would likely have a white-collar office job and have rich tastes and hobbies.

20) Why do you think Men's Health has managed to (just) remain profitable when many other magazines have struggled due to the rise of digital media?

They've managed to adapt quite well to the rise of digital media, as they offer online content on a range of platforms. They also seem to have an understanding of their audience and genuinely seem to promote healthy and beneficial presentations of masculinity that men aspire to be like. This could be because of their modern outlook on masculinity that has only been encouraged with the digital era.

Advertising and Marketing index

1) Advertising: Introduction - narrative in advertising
2) Advertising: persuasive techniques
3) Advertising: the representation of women in advertising
4) Advertising: Gauntlett - Media, Gender and Identity reading and questions
5) Advertising: Score case study and wider reading
6) Advertising: Maybelline case study and wider reading
7) Advertising: Assessment

Advertising: assessment

Advertising: assessment

We have now come to the end of the Advertising and Marketing unit.

Normally, we would be doing an assessment in class in exam conditions but these are clearly not normal times! Instead, we are going to set you a blog essay that you can take as long as you wish to complete. This means you have access to ALL the information, theories, quotes and CSPs so everyone should do extremely well.

Advertising assessment: tasks

Revision

We know that some of these Advertising CSPs will come up in your Paper 1 exam next year. Therefore, it's vital we have good quality revision material to return to over the next 15 months at various end of year exams and assessments.

Look over your blogs and create revision cards or knowledge organisers for each of the Advertising and Marketing CSPs:

• Score Hair Cream advert
• Maybelline That Boss Life advert

Here's an example template you can use for a Knowledge Organiser for this topic. You'll need to log in to your school Google account to view it. Alternatively, you may prefer simply to make flash cards for the theories and CSPs we have covered in this unit.

Assessment

David Gauntlett has argued against the idea that masculinity is 'in crisis’. To what extent do you believe masculinity is 'in crisis'?

In your response you should refer to your Advertising and Marketing Close Study Products: the Score hair cream advert (1967) and the Maybelline ‘That Boss Life’ YouTube advert (2017).

I'm also against the idea that masculinity is 'in crisis', and instead believe it is simply evolving and changing as the media becomes more reflective of liberal and progressive views. I don't think that men don't have roles in society anymore, but instead their roles are becoming more equal to women. Gauntlett commented on how, although not completely abolished by any means, gender roles such as the emotionless macho man and submissive house wife aren't as common in the media (which is reflective of a changing society.) He found new representations of masculinity when looking at men's lifestyle magazines, showcasing that the role of men in society is evolving similar to how women's has. Interpreting the evolution of gender equality and the deconstruction of men's dominance over women as masculinity being 'in crisis' may not be completely wrong, however it is stemmed from the fear of feminism and progressive thinking.

The Maybelline Boss Life advert from 2017 is an important landmark for the beauty industry, as it marks the first time Maybelline has partnered with a man as the star of a campaign. Manny is also a person of colour and openly gay, showcasing how much representation and acceptance has evolved in the media. Masculinity is now being looked at as fluid and many male make-up artists are having more dominant presences on the internet as social influencers. I think that, because of this, masculinity can be interpreted as 'in crisis' as men embrace more feminine expression, however it can also be seen as just evolving to become more fluid and equal with femininity.

Contrastingly, the Score hair cream advert from 1967 can be seen as a relic from the past in regards to representations of gender. The dominant male of the advert is held above a harem of women, scantily clad and desperately grasping towards him, reinforcing the gender patriarchy and the ideal representation of masculinity in the 60s. He wields a gun; a phallic symbol that symbolises power and dominance over other men and the women below him.  The women in the ad are subject to the male gaze and showcase Butler's ideas on the media reinforcing gender roles for both men and women.

However, Manny and Shayla are presented completely as equals in the Maybelline advert; The man and woman in the advert aren't framed any differently and Shayla isn't any more objectified compared to Manny. This goes against the typical represntation of the gender patriarchy in media that Van Zoonen studied, implying that the only real aspect of masculinity that is 'in crisis' is men's dominance over women. Due to this, I would argue against the idea that masculinity is 'in crisis' as men are evolving with women in their representations in media, instead of somehow being overtaken women.

In the score cream advert, the slogan "Get what you've always wanted" implies that men who use this will get scantily clad women, reinforcing a sexist narrative in order to appeal to a 1967 male audience familiar with this traditional representation of gender and masculinity. The Anchorage text uses the persuasive technique of inadequacy marketing, reinforcing men about their sexuality and masculinity with phrases like "made by the men" and "masculine scent." Due to 1967 being the year to decriminalise homosexuality, the advert may be in response to the fear that society is changing and created to reinforce the heteronormative narrative. This implies that the fear of masculinity changing or somehow dying has been present since 1967 at least, perhaps implying that masculinity has always been 'in crisis' as society has evolved to become more accepting and fair.

In conclusion, there are increasingly more diverse and fluid representations of gender in society compared to 50 years ago, which is perfectly highlighted with the differences between the Score hair cream advert from 1967 and the Maybelline Boss Life youtube advert from 2017. Therefore, I believe that masculinity isn't so much in crisis but more just evolving with the times, which some may interpret as a crisis.



[20 marks]

Advertising: Maybelline CSP case study

Advertising: Maybelline CSP case study

Our second Advertising and Marketing CSP is the 2017 Maybelline 'That Boss Life Pt 1' mascara video advert.

This gives us an opportunity to explore the idea of gender fluidity in society and the media - plus compare the changing representation of masculinity in advertising. Notes from the lesson are here:

Gender fluidity

Gender fluidity is when gender expression shifts between masculine and feminine. Indeed, gender identity has become a major media and social issue in the last 10 years. 

Young (and some older) people are increasingly identifying as gender fluid – and some have credited the internet for this change. They suggest that millennials grew up with the internet so can easily find information on topics like gender expression.

You can read more on this view and gender fluidity in this CNN article here.

Maybelline 'That Boss Life Pt 1'

The Maybelline ‘That Boss Life’ advert is part of a digital campaign for their ‘Big Shot Mascara’ product. It has now been removed from YouTube but is available for Greenford students at this link (you'll need to sign in with your Greenford username and password).

The campaign is significant as it was the first time Maybelline used a male brand ambassador and digital influencers. The use of YouTube stars Manny Gutierrez and Shayla Mitchell means the brand can reach their combined 5.1 million Instagram followers and 2.5 million YouTube subscribers. 

In addition, Gutierrez (‘MannyMua’) is Mexican-Spanish-American and openly gay, offering a very different representation of masculinity and sexuality to the 1967 Score hair cream advert.

Blog task: Maybelline 'That Boss Life' case study and wider reading

Work through the following tasks to make sure you're an expert on the Maybelline CSP and particularly the wider social and cultural context.

'That Boss Life' close textual analysis

Use your notes from watching the video to write about the connotations and representations created by the following technical and audio codes. Write at least a paragraph on each:

1) Narrative & genre: narrative theory and sub-genre

The ad follows Manny and Shayla as they arrive in New York and need to get 'bossed up'. The narrative alludes to stories such as Cinderella, with the mascara presented as a magic wand that transforms the actors into glam stars. Todorov's theory of equilibrium can be applied, as the actors are in a new city, which is a state of disequilibrium, and are saved by the mascara which leads them to getting 'bossed up' in a state of new equilibrium.

2) Cinematography: camera shots and movement

The camera is almost never still; It's constantly moving, panning and zooming until the shot where they begin to apply the make up. Here it enters a more vlog-like style of camera shots, with extreme close ups and a static camera. This is important as this highlights the hybridity of the advert and how different it is compared to the usual type of beauty adverts that lack the type of progressiveness that this one has.

3) Mise-en-scene: costume & props

The actors initially wear dull white that matches the room the begin in, however after they apply the make up they change into sparkling black and gold. The golden room has more props and set pieces than the duller room before, and the duller clothes of the bell boy have also changed. The gold suitcase has connotations of wealth and is a common symbol that audiences would be familiar with, as a suitcase filled with gold or money is a well recognised trope in media. This further associates the product as being extremely valuable and desirable.

4) Mise-en-scene: actors, setting, lighting and colour

The setting of New York is associated with aspirational ways of living. This would be desirable to the audience, with connotations of wealth and high class and lifestyle. New York is also very modern, which links with the style of the video and Maybelline as a brand. The actors being Youtube influencers and people of colour (With Manny being the first male brand ambassador and openly gay) is also very modern and shows just how much the approach to gender fluidity is changing in advertising. The beginning scene sets up the idea of wealth and riches for the advert to carry on with.

The room they start in is white and minimalist, seemingly a hotel or flat, again contributing to the sleek modern feel of the advert. After they apply the make up, they transition from the duller white room into a golden lit room with an emphasis on the extent of the transformation due to the product, which makes the audience want to desire it.

5) Editing: pace, transitions and visual effects

The advert doesn't use transitions, instead using hard cuts to change shots (If they're not panning the camera). This creates a faster paced advert that emphasises the ideals of luxury and wealth when the footage is slowed down. The ad is sometimes sped up and then slowed down to either normal speed or slower, creating a somewhat hyperactive and adrenaline filled advert overall. When they open the suitcase, a golden glow can be seen on the actor's shirts which could perhaps create intrigue as well as emphasise the wealthy aura the product gives off. When the product is revealed, a golden sparkle visual effect is used to emphasise the magical and luxurious quality of the mascara. When they flip the suitcase, they enter slow motion, perhaps to emphasise the quantity and abundance of the golden product. As they apply the make up, they blink in slow motion and more sparkles appear and when they enter the golden room, the gold is emphasised with more sparkles.

6) Graphics: text/graphics on screen

The video starts with anchorage text and the brand name Maybelline, cluing in the audience to the name of the ad campaign and the two influencers used in the advert. The maybelline logo can be seen in the bottom left hand corner throughout the video, switching to the hashtag #BIGSHOTMASCARA when the product is revealed and other times throughout the video. This obviously is utilised in order to create a viral buzz on social media and to get people talking about the product. The font used is a modern and sleek sans serif, pairing well with the Maybelline brand. The black and gold text used in the anchorage also has connotations of wealth and high class.

7) Sound: dialogue, music and sound effects

The dialogue is quite forced and unrealistic in my opinion, but it helps emphasise the narrative of the advert in getting 'bossed up', give exposition of the setting and praise the product they're trying to sell. The music is sort of club-like and the beat drops when the mascara is applied. The music helps set the pace and tone of the video. There are glittering, magical sound effects used (like those tacky ones on vlog youtube channels) when the make up is applied and when a sparkle effect is shown.

Maybelline 'That Boss Life': wider reading

Read the following articles on this campaign:

Glamour: Manny Gutierrez Is the First Man to Star in a Maybelline Campaign, and It’s a Huge Deal

Your Story: Cosmetics giant breaks gender stereotypes by choosing male model as a face of the brand

Complete the following questions/tasks:

1) Why was this campaign such a landmark for beauty product advertising?

"Not only has it teamed up with beauty influencers for the first time, this also marks Maybelline's first-ever partnership with a man as the star of a campaign."

2) What do the articles suggest regarding the changing representation of sexuality and masculinity?

There's still a long way to go in the beauty industry, but the field has become more diverse and inclusive with black and asian supermodels, plus size models and transgender models.

3) Read this WWD article: Maybelline Taps Digital Makeup Influencers for New Mascara Campaign. Why might 'digital influencers' be so attractive to companies?

As industries evolve and everything becomes digitised, companies would find characters that have large and direct influences over their fans to be very attractive, as getting them to endorse a product means almost guaranteed support from the influencer's fanbase.

4) Why do you think Maybelline chose to use MannyMUA and MakeUpShayla in particular?

Because they both have a large following and are make-up artists, with Manny being a gay man and Shayla being a black woman. Companies that are trying to be more progressive and inclusive would find these two perfect candidates.

5) What does the WWD article suggest is the crucial factor for brands regardless of whether they use influencers or more traditional celebrities?

A wide social media following and reach.


Media Magazine: The Changing Face of Masculinity

Now go to our Media Magazine archive and read the feature 'The Changing Face of Masculinity' in MM63 (page 15). This will allow us to compare our two advertising CSPs - the Score hair cream advert and the Maybelline digital campaign. Answer the following questions:

1) What message does the article suggest the Score hair cream advert is trying to communicate to the 1967 audience?

If you buy the product you'll become the idealised male fantasy and can have whatever you want.

2) How does the article suggest the Score hair cream advert uses narrative to sell the product?

The advert is using female sexuality to show men they can have power: you can conquer, you will be desired... "The narrative is clear: the consumer can have everything they want in the world if they buy the hair product."

3) What 1967 stereotypes does the article suggest the Score hair cream advert reinforces?

Women are objectified are portrayed as serving a man, being inferior objects that men can own. It also enforces the typical portrayals of masculinity, being overly macho and aggressive.

4) Applying Stuart Hall's reception theory, what does the article suggest the preferred and oppositional readings could be for the Score hair cream advert?

The preferred reading is that the product will make you desirable and give you power as a man. The oppositional reading is that the macho-laden ideas presented in this image are damaging to male self esteem and present women as passive and merely decorative.

5) Moving on to the Maybelline advert, why is the background of Manny Gutierrez and Shayla Mitchell significant?

It shows that the make-up industry is becoming more inclusive by having less represented groups lead their adverts.

6) What is the narrative of the Maybelline advert?

The product will transform you from plain to 'boss'.

7) What does the article suggest the Maybelline advert's message is?

You don't need to conform to masculine or feminine ideals to be comfortable in your skin.

8) The final section of the article focuses on masculinity. What do the Score advert and the Maybelline advert suggest regarding the changes in society and media between 1967 and 2017?

There have been significant changes in depictions of masculinity and gender since 1967. The score advert celebrated the patriarchy and the power of men over women, whereas the maybelline celebrates the fluidity of gender between men and women and that both genders can be equal in expressing themselves.