Jasmine Casey
COMM 100: Mass Media & Society
The Pennsylvania State University – Professor Nichols
Critical Reading: “Essence and Marie Claire Magazine”
Summer Session – July 11, 2019
The magazines I chose to compare, and contrast are Essence July/August 2019 and Marie Claire July 2019 and I first want to talk about how they are both very similar to each other. Both magazines had used an ethnic person as a model on the cover of the magazines. The L’Oréal advertisements were all the same in both the magazines, but Marie Claire had one additional advertising mascara. Many of the advertisements were not specific to a particular ethnic group and featured diversity with their model choices. They had both Black, White, and Asian models. Many advertisements were different, yet the same. For example, they both had shampoo and conditioner advertisements, but different brands meant for different hair types. Essence used Carol’s Daughter (page 5) shampoo and conditioner, which is meant for curly/coily hair and Marie Claire used Pantene (page 1), shampoo and conditioner, which is typically not used on curly hair because it has a known for drying out the ends of people’s hair. Also, Pantene used a White model, and Carol’s Daughter used two Black models.
Both magazines included current world news, books to read this month, horoscopes, beauty/health monthly must-haves, and advertisements. The advertisements that the magazines shared varied from shampoo and conditioner, makeup, medications, and alcohol. Now, most of what I have just listed are different between the magazines, but some aspects of them are identical, and that is very important. It is a fantastic feat for a magazine such as Marie Claire, I was prepared to look at the same company advertisements and for them to be completely different. I was shocked but happy to see many of them used the same advertisement. It means that mainstream magazine Marie Claire is doing a better job than most at including diversity into their magazine.
Marie Claire was pretty surprising to read because of all the diversity the mainstream magazine includes, and I do not just mean the typical Black person and White person standing side by side advertisement either. I mean the magazine had an abundance of mixed races, Asians and Hispanics, included in the advertisements and the editorial pieces. I enjoyed looking at the 101 Ideas advertisement spread throughout the magazine endorsing high fashion that almost always used Black and Asian models.
Maire Claire’s media kit does not give much information on it is readers but what it does say is that it is the top magazine at having the highest average household income at $80,826, making the magazine have the most affluent audience in the world. It makes sense as to why when you look at all the advertisements in the magazine. Marie Claire has a luxury car, Botox and breast augmentation advertisement in it. Plus, a lot of charities and organizations are spread throughout the magazine, I mean much more than typical magazines. The monthly circulation is 1,007,368 people. The second cover costs $209,300, which might make sense if they gave more information on Marie Claire’s reach and online presence.
My only real disappointment for Marie Claire was the advertisements that were shared between the magazines but had different advertising for both. One of those two advertisements is Dove, (page Essence 77) (page 67 Marie Claire). The change between the advertisement upset me very much because the advertisement, in Essence, talks about the call for the acceptance of natural hair in the workplace, and how they want to help end the discrimination. If they really wanted to end the discrimination, why would they only put it in the magazine directed at Black people?
I enjoyed reading Essence magazine because it was more than just a fashion magazine. The magazine included politics, articles on health and included ethnic models, singers, business leaders, and entertainment people. It is a magazine about the celebration of black people, and it was empowering to read. I could tell the advertisements were shifted to a different audience than the Marie Claire magazine because instead of Lexus cars being advertised, it was Ford trucks. When I looked at the media kit, it does not make sense. Essence is only a couple of thousand away from the average household income, and Essence has a higher circulation rate at 1,078,000. Essence’s cover page is also cheaper at $182,600, it just does not add up, but maybe it is because of the one-dollar difference between the magazine prices.
Both magazines were interesting to read, and I much enjoyed trying to figure out all the specifics as to whom the magazine was trying to attract and how they did it. I have come to learn that Essence is trying to attract the audience of Black women from the average ages of 35- 49, and Marie Claire is trying to attract the audience of affluent women. Personally, I enjoyed reading a magazine targeted towards black women, but I still want to see more cultural diversity across mainstream magazines. I know the media has come a long way from where we once were, but I still see a far journey in front of us. Analyzing the two different magazines has made me aware of how advertisements target specific people and manipulating the media can be.
I look forward to the next time I pick up a magazine because I know that I will never be able just to obliviously flip through the pages again. I know I am going to pick out details of the advertisements, look at the models, and pay extra attention to the covers of the magazines because now I know the editors choose every specific detail for a reason
Work Cited
“Essence 2019 Media Kit.” Direct Action Media, 2019, http://www.directactionmedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/ESSENCE-MEDIA-KIT-2019_9.20.18.pdf.
“Marie Claire 2019 Media Kit.” Direct Action Media, 2019,
http://www.marieclairemk.com/r5/showkiosk.asp?listing_id=5106905&category_code=miss&category_id=78327