Paperback magazines have been around since the early 1700s, so either they have evolved with the times or failed at this point because so many people today use online resources to get their information.
“The American” magazine was the first printed American-made magazine that covered a wide range of topics from government and history to nature, economics, and religion. This magazine was for everyone of all ages and backgrounds as long as they could read.
Most magazines today, whether print and online, tailor their content for a particular audience also known as readership. I was limited in what I could find shopping for magazines but purchased two for this project to compare and analyze: Allure’s July 2019 issue, which is an American printed magazine, and Black Beauty’s June/July 2019 edition, a UK printed magazine. Both are female-oriented magazines. However, because of their content they attract a different range of female readers. Black Beauty magazine focuses on beauty for women of color whereas Allure has a diverse range of subject matter for women of all backgrounds. Both though are still trendy.
While Allure’s content is diverse on topics and its ads, it caters to a younger generation with a high percentage of their readership being millennials. Black Beauty magazine appeals to women of a wider range in age but those women are of color and likely buying the magazine to learn about the newest and best beauty trends for women of color.
The models on the cover pages as well as the subject matter like the titles of articles are reflective of a magazine’s content. This issue of Allure magazine highlights a famous Caucasian plus-size model, Ashley Graham. Along with her name in bold and all-caps reads “AMERICAN BEAUTY” which draws a certain person in capturing their attention. On the cover of the Black Beauty magazine, the model is a beautiful Black woman.
On the cover of Allure, the highlights include a story on the cover girl, “Ashley Graham Embraces Her Power,” and had other titles of stories such as “Is Clean Beauty Only for the Rich?” and “Tattoo Nation we’re inking differently.” While on the Black Beauty magazine cover, the focus is all-things beauty such as, “321 WAYS TO LOOK BEAUTIFUL,” “Summer skincare switch up your beauty regime,” and “High definition colour looks for your hair”. What is on the cover of any magazine is crucial to its sales because it summarizes and highlights the content it will include. Those topics are literally what can determine if someone buys the magazine or not, if they are not already a subscriber.
After reading through both magazines, I got to their backsides, and coincidentally, both back covers featured hair product advertisements. On the back of the Allure magazine was an ad for a Dyson blow dryer. The ad features three different women of three different racial backgrounds using the blow dryer with the slogan “Fast drying. No extreme heat. Engineered for different hair types.” Dyson is putting out the message that anyone and everyone can use their product successfully. While on the back of the Black Beauty magazine the ad was promoting KeraCare products using a Black model with a lot of big curly hair. Who wouldn’t want her thick luscious perfectly curled hair? Under the name of the brand their slogan reads, “Luxury Care for Textured Hair.” Although this ad does not say the products are specifically for women of color and their hair, everything about it focuses on promoting a product for Black women with curly or unmanageable hair. The back cover ad of Allure uses a few women of different races as their models showing more diversity can use their product which seems to align with the overall readership of its magazine.
Advertisers promote their products in media to coincide with the sources readership. So when I turned the pages of both magazines again, I stumbled upon an advertisement in each magazine promoting a very similar product – a hair serum. Here, they both promote their product in a different way because of the readership of each magazine. In the Black Beauty magazine, the model again is a Black woman with a full head of bouncy curly hair. While the ad in the Allure magazine uses a Caucasian model with very bouncy curls. The product brands I am comparing are the Hawaiian Silky brand in Black Beauty magazine and the John Frieda brand in Allure magazine. Both ads recommend the products to people with frizzy hair, and state that the product will leave the users hair feeling smooth and hydrated. The only visual difference is the models and if you read a little closer, the formulas of the products are different to cater to the women’s type of hair.
Another big difference between the two magazines is that Black Beauty magazine is nearly double the number of pages as well as price compared to Allure. This could be due to the fact that the Black Beauty magazine is released every two months while Allure is a monthly source. Allure in fact has a monthly schedule of past issues listed in their magazine of topics and areas they focused on each month, so if the reader didn’t get a chance to read an issue, they can still buy it. The topics could attract the reader to spend the money on an older issue if they are not a subscriber. Both magazines promote the price on their covers with Allure’s at only $5.99 while Black Beauty magazine is selling at $10.50 an issue. I believe that the price of the Black Beauty magazine is almost double in price because it is double in size with content and is a bi-monthly magazine.
Despite the many differences of the magazines, Allure and Black Beauty, both are survivors in the print media resource industry and both focus on providing women information that they need for success whether it’s around beauty or life things. They both have a lot of advertisements which means companies view them as good resources to get to their markets and customers. They both are fulfilling the needs of a certain readership and have good content in them.