posted
Yes, even Hobbes is getting in one the latest Hatrack craze. One aspect that’s interested me is the fact that lots of things sold to women are made to appeal to men.
quote:Book: By the way, I do find it odd that many women's magazines have covers that are very sexually arousing to men, and in fact seem engineered that way.
I can understand the theory that when you make say a gym commercial, everyone working out is a good looking female because then guys think they can go there to see beautiful women and women think they can go there and be among other women instead of surrounded by men.
But when your selling something like Cosmos specifically to women why are there skimpily clad women on the cover? I don’t buy the everyone can appreciate a beautiful women argument, not because I don’t think it’s true, but because I think everyone realizes that it’s not any more difficult to show beautiful women fully dressed than in a bikini or what-not, and the only reason to show that much skin is to titillate. Which I doubt most women would enjoy, or at least have a positive experience with since… well they're women, most aren’t titillated by pictures of skimpily clad women.
So then why is it? I guess it’s possible that it’s because women see it and think they can look like that women who clearly guys like. But then why are there so many more magazines like this for women than men? I’m aware that there are magazines like this for men, but they’re far less popular. Whenever I see men buying magazines it’s things like “Death Sports” and “Semi to Totally Naked Women Weekly”. Why is this? Why is there such discrepancy?
posted
Fellas, the purpose of a fashion mag is to give tips for looking good...at least most of it is. A woman isn't going to buy it if there's an average-looking chick on the front. We can look average all on our own. The mag is trying to convince you that it has tips inside to make you as sexy as the women on the front. It's trying to sell what it has inside.
Now, if you want to talk about the articles, that's a different story. They seem to be obviously written by men, as they encourage women to "make the first move" by inviting a guy into the dressing room with you to give you his advice. Or to "impress him" by using oral sex on a first date.
Not that all men think this is a good idea, but almost NO women do.
posted
There's a difference between putting attractive women on the cover, and purposely making that cover titilating, which Hobbes says they do, and which I agree with.
Posts: 16551 | Registered: Feb 2003
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posted
There's also the fact that there's just plain way more women's magazines like this than men's magazines like this. Why? Why don't men have a large series of magazines that tell them how to look good for women? The guys I know buy at least as many magazines as the girls, or at least close to it, but none of them are about looking good. Most are about women looking good.
posted
Telperion hit on it. There are "scantily clad" men on the covers of Mens Health and Mens Fitness. I think the whole point is to convince the guy buying it that they can look like that guy with the 5-minute workouts they give you.
It's crap though. It takes me at least 6 or 7 minutes-a-day to maintain my buff physique.
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posted
I agree that such men's magazines exist, but I would strongly disagree with anyone who said that they were any where near as prevlant as the equivalent female version.
Part of the reason for so many Women's magazines is that the industry goes back to the late 19th century. All these magazines were originally started to sell consumer goods. Once companies figured out that women were the ones who were making most of the 'small' purchases in families, they decided to target them -- this is what really led to the explosion in advertising. And, of course, women's mags were the perfect medium for advertising -- esp. in the pre-electronic media world.
And really, they've always been about three things...
1. How to make yourself appealing to men 2. How to be a 'savvy' consumer 3. How to choose the right man
It used to be that homemaking skills were emphasized for 1 and 2 -- now with the rise of celebrity culture and the sexual revolution, the focus has changed somewhat. Sex is the currency du jour rather than, say, being able to make a good meal.
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posted
The ultimate motivation, Hobbes, is money. You can attach a social commentary to it if you think it can fit, but the only reason scantily-clad girls are on the covers of women's magazines is because of the product and its sale value. They put on the cover what will make them the most money, pure and simple.
I suspect that the discrepancy you see in the predominance of homoerotic images among women's pop literature will actually decrease over time. The discrepancy is also about money; but as men are increasingly abandoning traditional gender roles and behaviors, the market for similar magazines to cater to males will grow to be more lucrative.
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Men have a lot of magazines, just not fashion mags.
Maybe there is something to the organizational behavior of men and women. Like GQ is the "alpha wolf". Why need there be another?
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Did you know that full-page ads alone make up half of the content of the magazine? That doesn't even include ads in a page that's at least partly article, nor the blatent advertising IN the articles or fashion sections.
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posted
Jane Magazine's first issue featured a cover model with braces. They were going to be a new kind of women's magazine. The kind with depth and dignity and no market value.
I read through some of their 1 year anniversary issue, where they explained that they hadn't changed the purpose of the magazine, but readers seemed to prefer attractive cover girls, so that's what they have now.
On NPR, there was an ad exec who said that women audiences are more likely to respond to attractive women in an advertisement than to an average looking woman. And so are men.
It's that way because it's what we buy.
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posted
I always thought it was a way to get men to buy the magazine.
Average Woman on cover--Sells 70% of women. 2% of men.
Good looking woman on cover--Sells 85% of women, 7% of men.
Half naked good looking woman on cover--Sells 85% of women, 23% of men.
Man see's naked woman on cover of magazine telling woman how to please her man more often. He buys magazine and gives it to wife/girlfriend.
1)Gets to leer at scantilly clad woman. 2)Helps convince wife/girlfriend to try those things to please him more often. 3)Gets brownie points from wife/girlfriend for beind so kind and compassionate that he would buy her a magazine.
posted
If I ever have a product, I am hiring Dan_raven as marketing director. The man is obviously a genius.
Posts: 2112 | Registered: Sep 1999
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posted
When I go to the supermarket, I want to knock over all those magazine racks like Jesus in the Temple. All those magazines sell is low self-esteem. They basically appeal to low self-esteem. It disgusts me. Read one issue and you've read them all. Who needs a subscription?
posted
Hey, I inadvertantly started a thread. What are the chances that something intelligent would come out of this mouth, and this time it wouldn't be part of that textbook I tried to eat on a dare?
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