Men's Health is a fitness magazine aimed at men aged 20- 35. This magazine was of interest to me because, as a female, I am not aware of any pressures that men may face from the media and if it is of similarity to the pressures women face. Upon first glance, there is a lot of short, snappy sentences which are in bold fonts so catch the readers eye; all of these sentences quickly inform the audience that they can better themselves, and that the magazine is there to tell them how to. This in itself is an enigma code, as it will make the audience curious as to how they can do things like 'torch fat'. As well as this, the magazine always features famous male celebrities who are known for their superior physique, so this acts as a symbolic code as the audience will be able to infer the admiration these men gain from being so in-shape, and therefore make the reader want to look like this, too.
The inside of the magazine acts as an action code because it does tell the audience how they could look like the males on the cover, yet it always seems to make healthy lifestyles more fun and easy than what they actually are; they fail to mention the dedication required and the changes in diet you will probably need to make. The magazine clearly does this in order to sell more copies, as readers may not be as enthusiastic or willing to make these dramatic changes if they knew how much hard work was required.
The website for the magazine uses fairly similar tactics when marketing the magazine; it includes celebrities who act as aspirational figures, news about fitness-related topics (e.g. the Creed II trailer as it is boxing related), as well as quick/easy fixes for those looking to get healthy faster. The layout is very simplistic and easy on the eye, as to not overwhelm the audience with information or ideologies- all of the headers at the top are fairly self explanatory, and the website itself is fairly easy to use. The fact that the homepage includes two celebrities (Michael B. Jordan and Chris Pratt) who are iconic for their body and healthy lifestyles again acts as a referential code, and is an appeal for the audience due to the fact they are in the limelight a lot at the moment.
Something which I would borrow from the magazine / its website is the layout of the front cover and the website; it is very easy on the eye due to the plain background and the contrast between the copy and the photograph makes it easy to read and therefore conveys the information well. I would try to avoid the stereotyping which Men's Health includes, as I feel that it does have a negative effect on its reader and doesn't showcase a broad range of people. The magazine does tend to feature more 'ideal' males, and therefore isolates a vast majority of men who do not fit this image, this is something I would not do because I would want my magazine to be inclusive of all types of males/ people.
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