Analysis
The name of this magazine that I am doing an analysis of is more; they called it more because
they said they are the only magazine that gives you more! The slogan `it gives you more` is a
connotation in many ways, it displays that the content of the magazine is more than any of their
competitors, also that the price is better meaning you get more for your money.
The magazine is aimed at mainly woman in their late teens early twenties, it provides woman with a weekly dosage of celeb gossip, sex tips, and
fashion must haves and a lot more. They probably chose this demographic because woman of that age are most likely to buy these types of
magazines and follow exactly what it says in there. One way of many that More! Magazine has conformed and followed the conventions is with
the clothes they show, like any fashion magazine you have to change the clothes with the trend, clothes change quickly and over certain seasons,
they need to get all the new looks in so people who read the magazine know what to get and where to get it, this is one of the attractions of a
magazine such as more.
So to follow fashion they have to conform, they have to see what everyone else is doing and they have to copy it that is the whole point of
dressing like your favourite celebrity, you are conforming to what they want rather than what you want. More magazine have been very cleaver
about all the things they publish, they have no only put in clothes, make up and celebrities but they have also included film guides, DVD releases
and a `what’s on TV` page, this is not only interesting for the female reader but also for other people who would not have necessarily been
interested in that magazine in the first place, even men would be interested in hearing what the latest movie at blockbuster is and therefore they
will read it too. More also have a section where they ask men questions about woman, for example `What was your worst date ever? ` this is
very smart because not only will woman want to hear what they have been doing wrong but the men that have been asked questions will
deliberately go out and by that issue of more because they are in it, which makes sales soar.
A couple of Mores competitors would be look magazine and Grazia. More has had competition with look magazine before, More magazine used
to be fortnightly, which worked well for a while but then look, who provides many of the same aspects as more, started affecting mores sales
which is why more stepped up their game and decided to turn the magazine into a weekly issue.
This is a table of mores sales over the past couple years (http:
//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/More!), you can see here that the
figures are good but not always consistent. It is fair to say that
magazine such as look and grazia are having an effect on mores
sales. But I think it is probably more look causing problems
rather than grazia, Grazia is sold all over the world whereas more
is a UK founded magazine, Grazia (Italian for Grace) is an Italian,
weekly women's fashion magazine, with international editions
printed in Australia, United Kingdom, Greece, Portugal, the
Netherlands and Bulgaria. In Italy, on average it sells 18,000
copies. In the UK, it sells 220,125 copies.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grazia)
The pictures of clothes relate to
people need for mass
consumption, all these things
people see are not what they
really need , because people
such as Cheryl Cole spend their
days filling their houses with
unnecessary items and this
shows how magazines are saying
regular people should do that
too. The word bargains draws
your attention because as a
connotation against Cheryl cole,
we can buy just as much as she
can, but for a much smaller
price. And the words `Every
week` being bold and large
subconsciously tell the reader
these are the items you should
be buying this week, but come
next week and there will be a
new batch of items that you
have to have!
True life stories always grabs
people attention because
everybody wants to know that
other people struggle just like
they do , and that people can
move on etc, yet everyone still
wants to be someone like Cheryl
Cole which is a connotation of
real life, what people are
actually living and the image of
what people `want` to be living.
It states right at the top of the
magazine that it is a weekly
magazine. This straight away
lets readers know when the
next issue is out.
`Celeb exclusive` this makes people want
to read it because the word exclusive
reveals information that has never been
shown or heard before, making people
want to know the newest gossip.
Cheryl Cole, very famous
face. Every woman knows her
and probably wants to be her.
She has dipped her toe into
pretty much every aspect of
the famous lifestyle, she is a
footballers wife, she is a
fashion icon, singer, TV
presenter, has her own show
and the lost could go on.
Every woman wants to read
about what she is wearing
and what is going on in her
life, so by having her on the
front page woman will just
buy it because of her face.
Analysis
The name of this magazine is NME; it is called NME because it stands for New
Musical Express. NME `s genre is indie rock, which is a quieter version of rock; it
could also be quite pop like with artists such as Kate Nash and Jack Penate featuring
on the cover. NME is owned by Time Warner Inc, Who is a large global leader in
media and entertainment who have their toes dipped in almost every direction of
media including films, publishing and interactive services.
The main target audience for NME are 16-19 year olds, so teenagers with a sense of energy and easily influenced. Demographics refer to any
data related to consumer population information, psychographic relates to consumers beliefs, lifestyles, values personality etc which makes it
important for NME to know who to direct it at and predict what their reaction would be. NME are holding meetings for people to get involved
and give their ideas on the magazine, they want to improve their magazine and hear what the public themselves have to say. One way that they
want to conform is that they want everyone to like them and be interested in the magazine, I know this because they have stated on their
website that not only do they want opinions from their readers but they want opinions from ex NME readers and Non readers as well, so even
people who have never been interested in the magazine.
They do this so they know to change or keep their front cover the same, or to find out if readers think their images are too much etc. NME`s
main competition are magazine such as Kerrang, Mojo, Q etc, these are their competitors because in all these magazines are situated right next
to each other on the shop shelves, and they are all rock magazines. The people who read NME may also read magazine such as Q and Mojo,
although NME does stand out from the rest because they have a unique and young demographic. NME`s slogan is `First for music news` I am
guessing that they chose this because they want everybody to know if there’s anything in music you want to hear about then you know that
NME has it first. This would attract people to their magazine or their website because everybody wants to know the latest gossip about their
favourite bands. It’s a catchy slogan, and people would probably remember it. Kerrang was catching up with NME in the audit bureau of
circulation from July-December 2005, there’s a mere 600 copies between the two which backs up that kerrang is a very strong competitor to
NME. NME have sold 76,792 copies a month compared to kerrang 76,165 a month, (kerrang and NME are the only music magazines that are sold
weekly).
The representation of NME magazine through pictures is mainly about gigs and bands. They show pictures of the latest gigs and have reviews on
them and interviews with band members, also they have pictures of bands and information about upcoming gigs and how to get your hands on
tickets, it’s mainly a positive representation. The articles are all about music and all about new bands, old bands and new albums. Some
recurring themes can be the clothes that are pictured in the magazine; they are all quite similar because they are all the stereotype of `indie` so
all the bands could be said to be similar. Using the content and all the features I say that they are trying to mould young teenagers into making
music an important thing in their lives, I believe this is a very good thing because music is very important and should be followed in a way. Its
target audience are people who are already interested in music or that want to get into music, NME tries to show that gigs are cool and the
`must` place to be. In NME you mainly see young people from like 18-28; they are a mix of white males, white females, black males, and black
females. The social groups who are missing from NME are people such as, ethnic groups other than blacks and whites also people such as old
woman, but weirdly old men are in the magazine, people such as Noel Gallagher, Aerosmith, Paul Weller and the specials all make appearances
in this week’s issue.
Freebies is the ultimate way to make magazines
sell, if there is a poster of a band people like then
the magazine will sell well just based on that.
The way they have highlighted
25 greatest love songs and
then in a different font written
alternative is a very interesting
way of getting the audiences
attention, because this is a
alternative music magazine,
the people reading this
magazine will want to know
what the 25 alternative love
songs are because its
something different to the
average list you would expect.
Pete Doherty is a very famous
singer in two bands and some
would say he was infamous. He
is a very controversial person
and by being on the front cover
would easily sell loads of
magazines because people will
want to know what he is up to
now. The way that they have
called him Peter, which no one
really does, shows they are
being formal and this may be a
different type of interview than
ever before.