Case Study: 'Mens Health' Analysis

Men'sHealth: David Beckham

This magazine is trying to persuade the target audience,( Young – Middle aged men that are interested in fitness and sport) to believe or think certain things about themselves and the model on the front of it.

The image on the front of the magazine is a picture of David Beckham, a football sensation. David is wearing a bright red Adidas jacket. Adidas is a famous sports brand that at the time sponsored him. Red is a very bright eye catching colour. This contrasted with the white background makes him stand out even more. He is cunningly glaring at the camera drawing the reader’s eyes to his recognisable face. Women will feel the need to purchase this magazine as David Beckham is seen as an attractive male that every women wants and that every male wants to be. He was even named most attractive male a couple years ago. He is placed in front of the title "Men's Health", because it gives the impression that he is somehow more important than the magazine itself as a well-known, easily recognisable magazine. His chiselled features are so eye catching that he literally stands out of the page along with this bright red jacket.

The colour of the title also plays a part in attracting the readers’ eye as it is in orange. The orange colour next the red contrasts very well and draws the readers’ eyes to the foreground of the magazine. The title is so recognisable that it doesn’t even really matter that it’s behind David Beckham.

The articles are very eye calling as they are written in a bold black colour and the size of the articles varies in importance.

The first cover line that is noticed is "Style with Muscle- Clothes that fit the athlete in you"; this article is positioned next to the Model and written in bold. This makes the reader feel just like celebrity, this is something that happens very often in magazines especially. By making the reader feel better about himself makes him want to buy the magazine more and more as he feels like he could one day become just like David Beckham. This makes the reader feel 10x better therefore feeling intrigued to buy the magazine and see what else there is inside to feed their self-esteem. The next cover line that is very obviously highlighted in the "101 ways to look great!" this is, again, convincing the reader that he can still be just as great as David Beckham because the audience read the article, already thinking about the fact that David is looking great, and think that he could also one day wear what he wear and do what he does to look that good. This also gives the reader hope making him want to buy the next magazine to give him the same effect. This magazine is trying to persuade their audience to think they are better than they think they are even if they don’t necessarily believe so. Everyone wants to look great or ,just like David Beckham, making them intrigued to see what these "101" things are.

The language is not very formal and is quite friendly and casual. This makes the readers feel closer and more connected the piece of text and David Beckham.

The price and barcode of the magazine is not displayed on the front of the magazine. This gives the effect that the cover is way too important. The picture of David Beckham is almost too important and upper class to have a barcode and price on the front. It’s almost like the editors  are saying that the magazine is priceless. It makes the reader fall in love with the book and wants to read it to its end without even knowing the price. The barcode cheapens the magazine. The date is also something that is not seen at the front of the magazine. This is because along with the barcode and price, it dates the magazine. Having a date right on the front of the magazine makes it seem old and unpopular.

In this magazine the target audience would probably be men aged 25-35 who aspire to become like the man standing on the cover, David Beckham. this magazine being a sports magazine