During class this past week, our group looked at the advertisements in a magazine directed at females entitled, "Muscle and Fitness Hers," that came out in March/April of 2008. The article featured 1 protein advertisement, 11 ads for dietary supplements, 3 for bodybuilding equipment, 1 for the Marines, 6 for knowledge systems (such as workout DVD's or 'how-to become a personal trainer' books), 1 for clothes, and 1 for cosmetics.
We classified these ads into 3 separate themes; Sexy and Fit, Strength, and Sexiness. 'Sexy and Fit' themed advertisements featured very toned women showing off their muscles while at the same time, smiling for the camera while in a "sexy" stretching or exercise position. She could also be in a sexy pose while in her workout clothes and while stretching that accentuates those female parts that most stereotypical males are attracted to (i.e the "ghetto booty.") The second theme that we divided the advertisements into was "Strength." In these ads, females were featured that weren't necessarily showing off their sexy features but were rather in non-revealing clothing and were solely showing off their toned muscles. Our third and final theme was "Sexiness." This theme didn't seem to feature strength at all and nor were female models were working out to place them them in the "Sexiness and Fitness" category. This theme feature very attractive women in very attractive poses with "sexy" attire on. In one of these ads for example, a woman was glaring at the camera in a sexy pose and she was also wearing a cheetah print bra.
In the end, our group concluded that magazines targeting women wanted to prove that women could both be sexy and fit at the same time. Also, they differentiated completely from the magazines targeting men because male magazines featured models that were only aiming to show off their huge muscles and didn't care to show their sexy side. Also, female advertisements were much more "friendly" and welcoming whereas male advertisements tried to prove that if a supplement was taken or if a product wasn't bought then the reader would never be as strong as the model in the ad.
-Chris Cournan, Derek Zyski, Kyle McQuillen, Aaron Mehling
I like the themes that your group broke the advertisements down into. As a women, I agree with how they portray the ads in the magazine. Women do not want to be straight muscle, they work out to lose weight, tone up, and lose fat. At the end of the day, they want to stay "sexy" while doing so because majority of males do not like a female being bigger than them, so I like the way this magazine portrays these ads.
ReplyDelete-Turea Moore
I like the 3 categories that you used to separate each type of picture, I also agree with the categories as well. I think this all relates to what people view men and women as, sort of like your ideal "male" or your ideal "female." Magazines as such take some of the most fit people and put them in a magazine. I think magazines like this basically just give people motivation because if you didn't want to look and be fit you wouldn't be looking through a magazine like this in the first place (unless its for a class!)
ReplyDelete-Joey D'Agostino