Generally, one may breeze past the advertisements when reading a magazine, not paying close attention to the detail that goes into creating it. However, when I took a closer look I learned that advertisements were more than just the pictures we see. Every magazine company has their own target audience they are selling to and advertisers pay millions of dollars to be featured. I chose to read the beauty magazine Essence, directed towards African American women. This copy is the most recent edition, July/August 2018. Essence’s mission is “to tell Black women’s stories like no one else can. Authoritative and insightful, we bring you the Black woman’s experience” (Essence 2018 Media Kit). In comparison, Glamour magazine, a beauty magazine directed towards mainly white Americans, has a mission statement saying they “focus on providing today’s luxury consumer with an inspirational and accessible style as well presenting its readers with shopping ideas” (Glamour Media Information 2016). When comparing Essence to Glamour, the first thing I noticed right off the bat was the difference in the featured celebrity on the front cover. The front cover of Essence displays a widely known black celebrity, Janet Jackson. She’s a popular African American singer who many black women can relate to. Glamour on the hand Glamour used Anne Hathaway on their cover for the June/July 2018 edition. Hathaway is a white A-list celebrity who many people admire. By using Janet Jackson, an icon in the African American community, Essence is appealing to their African American readers.

Among Essence readers, 58.1% of their audience ranges from ages 18-49. Their median age is 46 and 42.3% of their audience has children. Among Glamour readers, 31% of their audiences ranges from ages 25-34 (Essence 2018 Media Kit, Glamour Media Information 2016). Their median age is a little younger than Essence which is 33 years old. Both publications have a majority of female readers and in Essence 52.5% of readers are employed and in Glamour 67% of readers are employed (Essence 2018 Media Kit, Glamour Media Information 2016). The cost for a full-page advertisement in Essence is $136,500 and the cost for a full-page advertisement in Glamour is $21,145. One major difference is the household income. In Essence, readers median household income is $47,700. However, in Glamour, 72% of their readers have high income and above average. Overall, there isn’t much of a difference between the two types of readers except for the income factor.

Throughout the magazine, there are African American models in each advertisement. When turning to the first page, there is an advertisement featuring an African American woman for Pantene hair products. I noticed many hair products featured in the advertisements are directed towards African Americans, who tend to have different textured and different hairstyles than Caucasian women. An advertisement for Maiu Moisture features Dayna Bolden, an African American fashion icon, who talks about how easy the product is to use for thick short hair. She states, “I love my texture: my kinks, curls and frizz and that I am beautifully me.” Many makeup advertisements are also directed towards African Americans. Maybelline, a famous makeup brand, decided to feature a dark shade of liquid foundation, Mocha, as opposed to a lighter shade in an ad for Essence magazine. In Glamour however, Maybelline chooses to feature their lighter shade foundation and use a white model.

The articles featured in Essence have to do with African American culture and stories that relate to them. Essence published a page about different braiding hairstyles. The magazine titles it, “Shape Shifters” and includes several different ways a person can wear their braids. Some styles include, “The Medusa”, “Knotted Up” and “Faux Bangs”. The article states, “Pay homage to the history and cultural significance of braids with regal styles that will make you look and feel like the queen you are.” Another article discusses the movie, Girls Trip, featuring four African American best friends who go on vacation together. The all black cast includes, Queen Latifah, Tiffany Haddish, Jada Pinkett Smith, and Regina Hall. Girls Trip was marked the first time an African-American female screenwriter’s work crossed the $100 million threshold.

Essence includes an article called “10 Things We’re Talking About”. The first issue is about how 64 percent of African-American adults and young people are not proficient swimmers. Another issue is titled “Never Forget”. It is about the killing of the 17-year-old African American boy, Trevon Martin and promotes a six-part docuseries airing in July about the story and the #BlackLivesMatter. In Glamour the articles featured are multicultural but mostly surround white Americans. For example, an article was written about Meghan Markle’s foundation she wore on her wedding day. The Dior foundation she used blew up the internet since it looked as if she wasn’t wearing any. Although Glamour magazine is reaching out and covering about a biracial woman, Meghan Markel, Essence’s articles focus almost solely on African American culture.

Before reading Essence, I always assumed that ethnic magazines would contain the same content and advertisements as a magazine I would typically read, such as People, Seventeen, and Glamour. As I was reading Essence, I felt like an outsider. I am an 18-year-old, white female so I was not the target audience Essence was trying to appeal to. Some of the celebrities featured in the magazine I had never seen before. I even had to look up some of the celebrities on the internet in order to write about them. Even the advertisements including makeup and hair products did not pertain to me since I do not have dark skin or dark, curly thick hair. Until I opened the magazine, which was directed towards a different racial group, I did not know much about African American culture. It was very eye-opening to learn about the things they are interested in and to see the advertisements I normally would not see. I now understand how advertisers pick and choose which ad to put in each magazine.