Cosmo Vs GQ: Media’s Advertisement Targeting

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Media’s (not so) Sexy Truth

In today’s digital society mass media have more access to audiences than ever before, resulting in the decline of printed media, such as magazines. Fortunately they still exist, partially because having a physical copy of information makes it much easier for readers to understand and effectively dissect. Every magazine lures in certain demographics and psychographics that they report on in order to get sponsorship from advertisers. In the case of fashion and style magazines, men’s and women’s are obviously polar opposites, but they interestingly have natural similarities as well. Cosmopolitan’s July 2015 Sex issue beautifully stacks up (for analyzation) against GQ’s The Most Stylish Men Alive issue. These magazine’s tips, editorials, stories, advertisements and overall message all attract specific consumers who are purposefully targeted and unconsciously manipulated.

This July, Cosmopolitan’s Sex issue featured pop rap star Nicki Minaj as their front cover. Minaj, a talented African- American superstar from Queens, New York, extensively discusses her celebrity life and how it is intertwined with her sexual life. Nicki is supposedly engaged to another rap phenomenon, an artist out of Philadelphia named Meek Mill, and she additionally talks about gauging that star-studded relationship. This type of interview and lead is exactly what consumers of Cosmo want: girls talking about their relationship(s) while throwing in helpful tips and advice. That, in turn, means the media practitioners for the company are understanding their audience and giving them what they crave. This specific issue appears more geared towards girls of African- American descent, as there are also more ads with women of color in them as well. With that being said, Cosmopolitan does a nice job of diversifying their issues and ads, and their ultimate target audience is any woman between the ages of 18-50. The majority of their advertisements display beautiful women applying makeup, posing with a luxurious fragrance, or using some form of skin cleanser. These ads, simple in design but bright with feminine colors, can cost up to $400,000, with the cheapest being $98,000 for a sixth of a page, in black and white! Cosmo’s circulation almost doubles the next best young women’s magazine, Glamour, with almost 54,000, over 28,000 of which are circulating digitally. Their unmatched success is attributed to their guaranteed sexual tips, celebrity stories/confessions, and information on self-improvement. Just like any successful business, Cosmo has vastly expanded its audience with 61 international editions and nearly 17 million readers a month! Lastly, their slogan really explains all that they strive to represent (and ultimately sell), they are “the bible for young women.”

Much like Cosmopolitan, GQ magazine gives men tips on style with celebrity references and interviews. Obviously GQ has a little less makeup and glamour advice, but where they lack femininity they make up for in beer and cologne advertisements. In this edition, The Most Stylish Men Alive, the magazine magnifies 20 of the “best dressed men,” these men all being celebrities of different races. From rapper A$AP Rocky to actor Ryan Gosling, this issue praises the best dressed celebs of almost every demographic and explains their esteemed selection. The magazine clearly targets men who desire a sense of sophistication, likely between the ages of 25 to 50, as younger men reasonably can not afford the luxurious brands being advertised. They have ads ranging from expensive watches like Longines, claiming, “Elegance is an attitude,” (106) to fancy water brands like San Pellegrino, promising, “Fine dining doesn’t have to mean fine china” (49). They certainly display a wide range of demographics as far as skin complexion and race go; unfortunately though, the psychographics and target economic class is clearly the wealthy and (desirable) sophisticates. Paying for such ads must be for the wealthy too, as their ad rates hover around the $200,000 mark. They are a very well known magazine, circulating in the high 900,000s with a ‘total audience’ of nearly 7 million people. These numbers, though comparable to Cosmopolitan’s whopping stats, are obviously dominated by the male population. GQ’s audience is 71% male, with 75% of them having some form of college education. With all that being said, GQ’s average audience is ‘well-off’ white males in their mid-thirties.

In comparison, the reoccurring theme between both magazines is the obvious implementation of minorities. Almost all of the ads, stories, or even tips were given (or partially given) by ‘people of color,’ basically by non-whites. This is nice to see, as generally media tries to target a specific audience, also known as audience fragmentation. Even if there still are (inevitably) target audiences, the apparent attempt to minimize such bias is comforting, and frankly enlightening. By first glance people usually feel like they can expect what is to come from a magazine, simply judging a book by its cover, but these issues surprisingly shared a fair balance of all kinds of people. Additionally, one of the only other similarities these magazines shared was in food advertisements. Quite obviously, everyone has to eat, so this comparison is not as nearly as interesting or advanced, but still worth noting. Whether it be fashion, style, life-tips, diversity or just average food advertisements, these magazines can compare just as easily as they contrast.

The beauty of fashion and individuality is that they apply to literally everyone: whether your style is basic (or even lazy), or if it is flamboyant and glamorous. Unfortunately there are still separations, even if they are not publicly noted, in media and the world as a whole. The greatest possible reaction to destroy this divide is communication, between all types of people, as it employs empathy and a greater understanding for one another.

 

“Racial & Ethnic Minority Populations.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 05 Feb. 2014. Web. 13 July 2015.

“GQ | Magazine List.” GQ | Magazine List. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 July 2015.

“GQ – Media Kit Print | Condé Nast.” Condé Nast. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 July 2015.

“Cosmopolitan Media Kit – Fun Fearless Female.” Cosmopolitan Media Kit. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 July 2015.

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