How do celebrity magazines promote bodily images to their audience?

Essay by india_xoA, October 2007

download word file, 3 pages 3.0

There is a large range of celebrity magazines on the market coming out throughout the week, and new magazines being launched all the time. Although they are a relatively new medium they have become a stable feature in almost all newsagents across the world. This is because over the past 5 years the public, especially women, have become evermore interested in the celebrity lifestyle. The general target audience of celebrity magazines are young women, teenagers to mid thirties, however the type of celebrity magazine can depend on the audience. For example, ‘Heat’ magazine would attract teenagers, women with young families and housewives whereas a glossy magazine such as ‘Grazia’ may appeal to more young professionals. I feel that the way body image is promoted depends on the reader, therefore I have chosen two different magazine front covers, one that I feel promotes a healthier body image and one that I feel promotes an unhealthy body image, I am going to talk about how each of them can be read in different ways.

In ‘Now’ magazine (8th January 2007) the main image and anchorage text ‘what celebs really weigh’ could show that the magazine automatically is obsessed with body image. The magazine tells us that Victoria Beckham weighs a mere 7 stone, stood slightly behind her is Kate Lawler with a graphic image stating she weighs 9st 2lbs, a step back is Coleen McLoughlin and graphic image ‘9st7lb’ and finally Tyra Banks ‘10st 7lb’. This could be read that because ‘Posh’ is stood in front of the other celebrities and because she ways the least, this is a good thing. Also because Tyra Banks is stood at the back and she weighs the most it could be portrayed that it’s a bad thing that she weighs 3stone 7lbs more than the...