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Number 023www.curriculum-press.co.uk

Magazines: An Introduction

M tudiesSedia

The aims of this Factsheet are to:• Define the differences between consumer, business and customer

orientated magazines• Explore the links between magazines and advertising• Discuss the role of institution in magazine production• Examine the impact of online magazine editions

Magazines first appeared as early as 1731 and their initial purposewas to advertise consumer goods in a catalogue format to highlightthe range of products available for purchase by audiences. Althoughthe formats of current magazines are more sophisticated, it could beargued that modern magazines still provide the same function astheir ancestors. Contemporary magazines act as lifestylehandbooks, directing audiences towards the products and lifestylesthey should aspire to lead. The National Readership Societyrecently discovered that over 80% of British consumers of all agesand both sexes regularly buy magazines.

DefinitionMainstream Magazines: These magazines are aimed at a largeand broad audience and the needs of the consumer aregeneralised.Niche Market Magazines: These magazines are aimed at asmaller audience whose needs are specific to the magazineproduced.

Audiences are generally attracted to magazines because they offera lot of information on a variety of topics in a format which is easyto read and is often written in a style that is also entertaining. Thefrequency of publication varies with each magazine produced.

Mainstream magazine editions are usually printed on regular intervalseither weekly or monthly, while some niche publications arepublished quarterly. Magazines can be classified into three distinctgroups:

1. Consumer Magazines are the most common type of magazine.Consumer magazines can be further divided into sub-genressuch as:• Women’s Lifestyle Magazines• Men’s Lifestyle Magazines• Youth magazines• Domestic (House and Garden) magazines• Radio and TV guides• Special Interest Magazines: e.g Bridal, Mother and Baby,

Slimming, Computer, Hobby related titles

2. Business Magazines are usually only available by subscriptionand tend to focus on specific jobs, trades or professions.

3. Customer Orientated Magazines are produced in-house bycompanies as a way of promoting their brand. Televisioncompanies such as Channel Four and the BBC also produce awide selection of magazines that complement their programmeschedules. Sainsbury’s and Marks and Spencer all produce in-house magazines that adhere to high production values. Becausethe publications are of a high quality and contain the sameamount of content as a consumer magazine customers usuallyhave to pay a small charge for them. Some customer orientatedmagazines that are free, such as in-flight magazines. Lower costexamples often have low production values, contain a limitedamount of features and use a lot of advertising to cover up thelack of content and limited production costs.

Home and Garden and Max Power: Two very differentmagazines promoting different lifestyles targeting differentaudience interests.

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AQA/WJEC/OCR?Magazines are an appropriate form to use within the case studiesin preparation for examinations for all awarding bodies both intheir paper and e-media form. In addition, the form could be usedas a text in the unseen examination and as the basis for productionwork at both AS and A2.

Exam Hint:- The AS examination will expect you to analysethe media language (technical codes) and investigate theinstitutional context and the impact of the representations withinmagazines. At A2 you would be expected to provide a moredetailed evaluation of the institutional context and theideological issues raised by the titles you study.