Different Target Audiences

2a) Choose one of the magazine front covers. Suggest two different audiences for this magazine. Give brief reasons for your choice. (6)

The magazine cover I have chosen is Mens Health. The demographic audience for this magazine is men in the age range of 18-30, however, as the cover has a muscular male on the front it could attract women and homosexuals. The psychographic audience is people who are looking to get fit and building muscle as well as women and homosexuals who like the look of topless men. This is mainly for teenage boys aspiring to the lifestyle implied. The demographic audience is for 18-30 year olds as stereotypically they are the people who are most likely to want to build muscle. Also this is made for males as they are seen as masculine and by having Mens in the title you know who the target market is mainly for. It could also be for women and homosexuals as it has a very clean cut shaven man with his top off on the front which attracts a different audience to it and gives them a larger target audience. The psychographic audience is people who aspire to be big as they have a muscular male on the front so males are attracted to buy it if they are  wanting to get big.

2b) Using the same magazine front cover chosen for 2 (a), explain how the main audience for this magazine has been targeted. (9)

The audience has been targeted by using the colours red, black and white as they are seen as masculine colours to tell the audience this magazine is aimed at males. They also use black and white to make the masthead in red stand out and draw the audience into looking at the masthead as soon as they glance at the magazine. The red stands out on the white as it is quite a bright red and it will stand out to the rest as most of the magazine is white and black. The image used is a muscular man who has his head to the side. This is done to show off his cheekbones and to give a determined look down the camera. This is the mode of address and actively involves the audience. He is also clean shaven as this is what homosexuals and women think is good so the magazine choose to put it on their. He also has his top off as this is the body most people want and what they aspire to be like. He is in the middle of all the writing also so he stands out to the audience. The secondary articles are also all about getting fit which makes the audience know exactly what is going to be inside the magazine before they buy it. There is also a sense of sexual content in this as in one of the secondary articles their is one about sex and the gaze down the camera from the man on the front of the magazine could also be seen as sexual as he is staring right down the camera with one eyebrow slightly raised.