The Checkout Counter

A person can really catch up with society just by going to the grocery store. When I am checking out at the register I find myself looking at all the magazines and their covers. The pictures and headlines that these magazines have can really brainwash people who read them.

The images, the magazines have, are usually of really beautiful women and men. These models all have nice bodies. To a teenage girl this might mean a lot. She may believe that the only way for a boy to like her is to look like these models. She may become anorexic so that she can become “skinny.”

The link below is an article about if magazines are giving teenage girls the wrong messages. http://www.womensenews.org/story/commentary/031029/teen-magazines-send-girls-all-the-wrong-messages

Most of the images on magazines are not realistic. They are usually people in “paradise.” It just seems like every picture is on a beach or in Hollywood. This just makes the reader just admire the people in the image.

The headlines are most likely to be negative. The headlines I see the most are “They’re splitting,” or “He Cheated,” just things that people should not indulge themselves everyday with. Headlines are going to get a person to read the magazine or not so the magazine editors are definitely going to put what they believe is going to sell. The headlines are kind of fearful. They make the reader

I do not believe that diversity is represented in magazines very well. If a person is a celebrity and he/she has done something different then they are most likely going to be in the magazines.

The advertising the magazines offer are usually related to what kind of magazine it is. If the magazine is for women then there is most likely going to be advertisements about makeup and cosmetics. If the magazine is for men then the advertisements inside are usually muscle enhancement or weight lifting machines. When people read these magazines they want to become more like the people they are seeing and they want ways to become like them. That is why the advertising is targeted to the specific group of people.

I really try to find magazines that I can hold accountable and creditable. I enjoy “People’s Magazine, Sports Illustrated.” To me, these two magazines give me, the reader, what I want to know and see. There are some things that I disagree with sometimes but there is nothing I can do it about it.

I just think magazines are scrambling to keep there sales up. The magazines are willing to do pretty much anything they need to get people to read their magazine.

This link is about how the magazine sales are declining. This is resulting magazines to come up with unique ways to get people to buy their magazine. Big time celebrities with big news seems to be the way to sell a magazine even if it is not true. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/12/business/media/12magazine.html

Reference: http://www.divinecaroline.com/22261/62628-magazines-trying-make-ugly