Magazine Analysis: Men's Health

The magazine "Men's Health" target audience is primarily men. We can tell this because there's always men centred on the front cover and the magazine is all about a man developing his self-image and gaining confidence by eating the right foods, joining the gym, working out, etc.

The masthead is iconic and the audience know it's Men's Health because it's always in the same typeface and the same colour and this makes the magazine recognisable. It's also a bold text and uses a bright red which makes it eye-catching to those who aren't regular readers and this may coerce them into reading the magazine.

The colour of the masthead ties in with the colours used throughout the issue - there's a lot of red used alongside the masthead and also greys and blues. This also shows the target audience because they're quite masculine colours as opposed to pinks and yellows for a more feminine woman's magazine.

The main image on the front cover is of a man and a half-naked woman and this compliments "The Vice Issue" because the nature of the main image could suggest that it's a sexual vice. The cover line "one month to a body she can't resist" is aiming at those men who care about their appearance and also care about how women perceive their appearance and they want to look attractive for them. That cover line in particular may entice them into buying or reading the magazine because in addition to the main image, they may think that getting fit and healthy will make them attractive and irresistible to maybe the woman they're with or the woman they like.

This is one of Katz and Blumer's use and gratifications, because it meets their need for personal identity. They may not personally identify with the man on the cover just yet but they may aspire to be like him and this is another way they'd pull the reader in, by giving the impression that if they buy the magazine and begin to become healthy and fit, that they can look like him. Another cover line that coincides with "The Vice Issue" is "Beat colds, cancer and old age... with sex!" because it's showing that a portion of the magazine is sexually orientated and further enforces the idea of a sexual vice.

  One of the gratifications of this is that the audience may read the magazine and it may make them feel pleasure from reading it at the thought of wanting to be like that and being given information on how to become healthy. It may inspire them and this may make them motivated and determined.

The dateline on this magazine is underneath the masthead and is in a smaller font compared to the masthead and the cover lines (puffs). It's priced at £3.95 which shows the magazine is aimed mostly at a middle-class audience (i.e. teachers, business men). A reason why the dateline is so small could be that everything else on the magazine has enticed the reader firstly, and that although the magazine is £3.95 and they might not be willing to pay that, they would because everything on the magazine has gained intrigue and makes them want to buy it and read it.