"For the Fun, Fearless, Female" - analysis of Cosmopolitan magainze (articles and ads)

Essay by smilesf0rsaleCollege, Undergraduate January 2007

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"Sex Tricks He's Never Seen Before," or the infamous, "Sex - 10 Make Him Throb Moves..." Sound familiar? I wouldn't be surprised. Cosmopolitan's provocative headlines are ones that catch everybody's eye while in line at the supermarket. This notorious magazine has been gracing newsstands since 1886. Surprisingly, the magazine itself hasn't changed a bit, aside from the old-fashion hair-styles. The covers still feature the stereotypical model, with blonde hair, blue-eyes, and much slimmer than the average woman. Cosmo offers editorials on how to attain confidence and self-acceptance, and displays advertisements for perfect skin, perfect clothing, and perfect bodies. The magazine delivers these things; however, the ads feature mainly white women in their twenties and thirties promoting the need to attain flawless beauty. Along with articles that focus on finding and keeping a man to maintain happiness, while also striving to be a strong, confident woman. Cosmopolitan's misleading ads and articles for unattainable perfection is creating a false reality for the magazine's readers.

Cosmopolitan has been one of the best selling women magazine's for centuries, it tops shelves all over the world. The magazine's slogan: for the "Fun Fearless Female," is addressing the kind of women who would read this kind of magazine. That is, career women in their twenties and early thirties, most likely single, and looking to find and keep a man. Most headlines in the upper-left corners of the covers scream 'sex' by using big bold letters. None of the headlines are concerned with politics, economics, or the realities of the working world. The biggest news is about birth control, or the latest Hollywood stylist. Each issue has new articles that teach a woman to be a good seductress, and lover for her man. While also encouraging her to check out the new fashions that will make her...