Are pictures on the front cover of magazines a positive or negative factor for the magazine? The pictures of Heather Mills on the front cover of Closer portray her to have bad characteristics like; being lonely and being emaciated. They print a picture of her alone sitting on a beach not smiling; from this image readers will perceive Heather Mills to be lonely, this perception of Heather Mills will urge the public to purchase a copy of closer so they can read about her lonely lifestyle. However I know that this information on Heather Mills is incorrect, I saw another magazine in the same month which had Heather Mills on the same day, on the same beach but with her family, she was looking happy and cheerful. So when readers of Closer are look inside the magazine they will see that Heather Mills is not really lonely, it was just the picture of her that caused the effect of loneliness. Another factor on the front cover is the picture of Heather Mills looking extremely thin, she is wearing a bikini, bending over and her ribs are showing, this picture may entice people into buying Closer because they will look forward to viewing more pictures of Heather Mills’ withered body, however the other pictures inside the copy may not show Heather Mills’ bad side in which case the picture on the front cover would of tricked buyers into the purchase of Closer. I have to say that the other pictures of Heather Mills’ inside are similar to the one on the front cover, so viewers will be happy if they bought the copy to view the article on Heather Mills’ emaciated body. Nevertheless the pictures portraying Heather Mills to be lonely are mental trickery and when the article is read by readers they may feel harmed and betrayed, this could cause a negative effect for the Closer as readers may not believe the front cover of the next issue. I conclude that if magazines lie about features on front covers it is a negative factor as readers will eventually find out the truth and question whether to believe the next issue even, this may result in a decrease in the number of sales. If magazines print truthful pictures on the front cover, the readers will consequently not be disappointed when reading the article, this will build trust between the magazine and the reader in buying the next issue, and as a result sales will not decrease. As I have proven that this magazine has lied on the front cover I believe that we cannot judge a woman by the cover of her magazine.
Next to the pictures of Heather Mills on the front cover of Closer they use short descriptive sentences to portray mental imagery of Heather Mills’ life, such as; “Why 7st Heather lives in fear" and “wasting away.” “Why 7st Heather lives in fear," leaves viewers on a cliff hanger as after they have read this disturbing sentence they will be extremely tempted into purchasing this copy of Closer, just to find out why Heather Mills lives in fear, it could be because she is too thin, too lonely or something that is also really serious, it is left to the buyers imagination, but this mental imagery is used to persuade people into buying the magazine.
“Wasting away,” is written next to the picture of Heather Mills bending over looking emaciated, the phrase “wasting away” may lead people to the perception of Heather Mills becoming thinner and thinner and risk the chance of suffering death. This is also another clever way of manipulating the readers into buying the magazine by causing them to think that Heather Mills is dying.
I conclude that in my opinion we cannot judge a woman by the cover of her magazine because magazines exaggerate celebrities’ problems in order to achieve a high number of sells. They do this on the front cover with big, bold headlines and appalling pictures of celebrities. It is a proven fact that many women do buy magazines like Closer and this portrays to me a sense of insecurity among these women. Closer use their front cover to appeal to the public about issues such as anorexia. The only reason for magazines lying about and ridiculing celebrities is to make sure that their sales are high and I believe they will do anything to ensure this.
