I am going to focus my coursework on the advertisements found in men's magazines, which are predominantly aimed at men, through selling products concerned with masculinity and male inhibitions.

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Andrew Frampton

Coursework 2004

English Language

AS Media Coursework

Introduction

I am going to focus my coursework on the advertisements found in men’s magazines, which are predominantly aimed at men, through selling products concerned with masculinity and male inhibitions. The advertisements were taken from two different men’s magazines - SORTED and FHM. The first is aimed at pubescent teenagers between the ages of eleven and sixteen, the latter at an older audience of young adults in there twenties and people in their late teens. The magazines have quite different audiences and aim to project contrasting images to the readers. The SORTED magazine gives an image of relaxing at home in your spare time and enjoying yourself maybe with a few friends round, whereas the FHM magazine promotes a very fashionable look for going out at the weekends, making you confident and attractive to the opposite sex.

Readers of the FHM magazine are likely to be old enough and able to afford the high prices of the products that they are advertising, as they will almost definitely have a source of income from part or full time employment. They are also likely to be very outgoing in their spare time as it gives them a chance to get away from the pressures of life. However, readers of the SORTED magazine are likely to be dependent on their parents and so products with high and extortionate prices are not likely to be found. Youngsters are not as conscious of the way they present themselves and act as they usually hang around in groups and not meeting new people all the time.

I have chosen to focus my coursework on adverts selling lifestyle products as today’s society is increasingly aware of they way they look, act and present themselves to each other, which has been picked up by the magazine editors who have increased the number and exposure of lifestyle products in the magazines’ advertisements. I hope to investigate whether language used by companies in their ads is altered to appeal to different age groups, how this is done and whether the image of the magazine affects the advertisements in it.

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The first two adverts are from the SORTED magazine and advertise a “Converse” shoe in the first advert and a mobile phone game “FIFA 2004” in the second. In the third and fourth adverts from FHM, the first is a “Lynx” advert and the second is a “Beck’s” advert.

I have seen other adverts publicizing the same products from SORTED on both television and heard them on the radio. On the television the adverts appear in the commercial breaks of young persons programs on terrestrial shows and on digital channels such as “SMTV Live”. On the radio they are to be heard ...

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