Judging Women by the Covers of Their Magazines

Judging Women by the Covers of Their Magazines

I believe that the answer to this question is no, we should not judge

women by their covers of their magazines.

Looking at the latest issue of Cosmopolitan magazine, a world-wide,

best-selling magazine, all I see is headlines relating to fashion,

celebrities, seduction and beauty designed to tempt the so-called

modern women of today to buy this magazine over others. Even though I

am thinking I have seen all of this before, I still find myself

wanting to know the secrets that the front cover promises, but why?

Cosmopolitan, meaning international, broad-based and sophisticated,

gives the impression to readers that it is a classy, intelligent

magazine, and that’s just the title!

However, looking at the rest of the front cover proves this is not the

case. The layout almost always, invariably, shows some beautiful

young celebrity, scantily-clad in some designer frock worth hundreds

if not thousands of pounds, looking out at you smugly from

heavily-made-up eyes with a smug look tempting you to read the secrets

inside. Then there are the same, re-hashed article topics with the

same old tag-lines

Screaming out at you, telling you what you need, or want or should do

to become like the celebrity in the picture; one-dimensional but

looking good on the outside!

There are the step-by-step guides, hints and tips and ‘how to…’

sections mentioned on the front, not to mention celebrity gossip and

illicit pictures of celebrities photographed without their knowledge

all advertised on the front to encourage you to delve deeper.

Advertising is used in all aspects of everyday life, in magazines,

newspapers, billboards, television and radio to mention but a few.

Magazines mainly advertise themselves, so they depend a lot on their

image. They aim to show their product to be bigger, brighter and

better than any other product on the market. Consequently magazines

use colour, text, images, language and layout to fight for the

reader’s attention; so that they can influence the viewer’s opinion of