MEDIA LITERACY CHALLENGE

MEDIA LITERACY CHALLENGE

Magazine Analysis

Today we will discuss two fashion magazines “Elle” and “Glamour”. First of all, it is worth saying a few words about the magazines themselves.

Elle is a French weekly women's magazine about fashion, beauty, leisure and health. The magazine's founder is Helene Gordon-Lazarev, a French journalist of Russian origin. The magazine is aimed at a female audience, mainly for girls from 20 to 40 years old. The main goal of this magazine is to entertain the audience. The main goal of this magazine is to entertain the audience. For this purpose, editors use large flashy headlines, bright glossy pictures, photos of famous celebrities, color and non-standard font.

Glamour is a monthly glossy women's magazine published by Condé Nast. Its main audience is a female audience between the ages of 16 and 43. Since the purpose of this magazine is also to entertain its readers, it covers almost all areas that would be interesting to women. It contains sections about fashion and style, beauty and health, career and shopping, relationships and sex, travel and interior design, as well as sections with horoscopes, recipes, humor, new music, movies, literature, and so on.

Since both of these magazines are about fashion, we as readers should understand that the images presented both on the cover and on the pages of the magazine are improved with the help of digital technologies. Take for example any photo with the image of a famous star. From the live, non-staged photos of this star that we can find in her Facebook or Instagram profile, we understand that her appearance is different from what we see on the magazine's page. Usually, to improve the image, editors resort to photoshop ( they smooth the skin, give shine to the face and hair, reduce the proportions of the body, etc.). They adjust the light, brightness, contrast, and work with the colors on the photo itself, so that some items look brighter, and some on the contrary less visible. And of course when taking photos they use the services of stylists and makeup artists. With no doubts, all this is done in order to attract our attention and make us buy the next issue, or better – to issue an annual subscription.

But one should take into account the characteristics of the audience. Some particularly religious people are offended by the sight of too unnatural stars. Teenagers can become complex, because their appearance is much different from what we are shown in magazines. Older women can get tired of such obsessive propaganda of ideal appearance, as they are more pragmatic and tend to favor natural beauty.

As for me, I don't really like fashion magazines. My vision of style is different from what I see on the pages of these magazines. I believe that the magazine should carefully analyze the criticism of its audience and focus more on its readers ( for example, enter or remove some categories, invite stars of plus size to shoot, cover those topics that are most popular). But I also do not exclude the fact that you need to use all possible technologies and tools to promote your product.