Magazine Front Cover Analysis

This Slimming World magazine has a niche audience. The audience would be young- middle aged woman who are wanting to lose weight. The cover features a woman who has lost lots of weight which will make this audience want to buy it even more because they will be inspired by her and want to look as good as she does. Adjectives like ‘amazing’ are used to describe how good she looks which again persuades these women to buy it, as well as a quite from the woman, “Now I believe in myself”. Seeing this quote would really encourage them to buy as they would want to have the confidence that she has and would want to feel and look as good as she now does.

There are subheadings such as ‘The health danger you need to know about (and how losing weight can help)’. These sort of sentences are what will make people want to buy the magazine because they will feel worried when they see this that their health is poor and that they could be at risk of a serious health disease. The magazine almost sells itself as a solution, so women will buy it to find out what they should do. At the very top, it says that the magazine is ‘The UK’s no1 slimming magazine’ , which makes it sound very impressive and the best of its category which will encourage people to purchase. As previously mentioned, the use of the quote "Now I believe in myself" is very effective. It is a word sign as the use of "now" signifies that she had no confidence before, and it is only after joining slimming world and losing weight that she believes in herself. It almost suggests that you go on a journey and not only do you feel more confident from losing weight, but you also prove to yourself that you are capable of doing it and so you feel powerful.

In terms of mise-en-scéne, the ‘cover stars’ costume is colourful, and the top of it matches the orange text around it. This visual sign makes the orange colour scheme clear throughout and it is quite a joyful colour which could signify the fact that the woman on the front feels joy due to her weight loss. It makes the magazine look quirky and inviting. The woman’s make up is quite dramatic, with again an orange coloured lipstick and heavy winged eyeliner. The make-up again, is a visual sign, as it signifies that she is confident, as her make up is bold and makes a statement, suggesting she feels bold inside and ready to show off to the world. Her new found confidence will be from the weight loss, making the readers aspire to lose weight and feel like her. The woman is positioned with her hands on her hip in quite a confident pose also, which again reflects her new found confidence. The shot type is sort of in between a medium long shot and a medium shot - it shows more than just the waist up but it isn't quite her full body. As most of her body is included in the shot, I think from this, she is represented as being proud and confident again.

The woman’s face is covering a part of the mast head which is placed at the top of the magazine making it a convention. This could be so you are drawn to her face, which looks extremely proud and happy as she is smiling into the camera. Looking into the camera is also a convention of a magazine. This is effective as because she is looking into the camera, her eyes follow you, which engages the reader and almost forces you to buy it.

The colours used contrast really well because the back ground is white and the text is in orange and black, so everything stands out well. I think the background being white is effective because it makes the woman stand out more and look like the main feature.

There is a yellow circle to the right of her and in the middle it says ‘Win! A Cyrpus beach excape worth £2,000.’ This is very clever because the word ‘Win!’ is in a big black font so it grabs your attention and you read the text underneath which persuades you to purchase as everyone would want to win a beach holiday. Another persuasive feature is the sentence ‘Eat like an Italian and lose weight’. This uses stereotypes as it is suggesting Italians eat lots of food, it is persuasive as everyone would want to be able to eat lots of nice food and lose weight at the same time.

The price of £2.95 is relatively cheap for all of the recipes you will get inside (34). This will mean more people will buy it as it is affordable for most people, so it won’t just be upper class people that will buy it, it could well be working class and middle class. The magazine also links to Stuart Halls theory of representation because the woman is represented as being confident and proud, she represents all of the women who are losing weight.

The magazine uses direct address ‘Achieve your dreams’. This makes the reader feel as though they’re being targeted and it will make them want to buy it and lose weight because they will want to achieve their dreams, and this magazine tells them they will do so.

According to Curran and Seaton, "Newspapers and magazines respond to the concerns of their readers if they are to stay in business." This magazine clearly addresses the readers concerns because it is all about losing weight and how to do it, and the only people buying it would be those who want to lose weight. Therefore it is a perfect example of this theory.
Also, it links to Stuart Hall's theory of representation because the magazine uses the 'cover star' to represent people who have successfully lost weight with Slimming World. She is visually represented through her big smile, bold make up and colourful clothes, as well as posture, as being very confident and happy.