Page 112 - Introduction to Electronic Commerce and Social Commerce

Sport and Magazines • 101

create the slogan ‘You and Improved’, thereby using intertextuality to construct the
consumer as the commodity herself.

The Cover Image

As indicated earlier, the image that takes up much of the space on the cover of the
magazine is crucial in identifying the magazine’s ideal reader. While it can be argued

that cover models are chosen to reflect the kind of reader the magazine is target-
ing, the way the codes work may be more complex than this. Critics such as Fuss
(1992) have pointed to the importance of desire as a reader’s gaze is directed at
magazine cover models. Similarly, White and Gillett (1994: 26) discussed the way
the images of muscular bodies in bodybuilding magazines are presented as desirable
but not necessarily refl ective of the body of the typical reader. Instead, they argued,
photographs of muscular bodies framed in a self-evidently positive light affi rm ‘the
insecurity of the reader who does not measure up to the envied image on the page’.
Other commentators have suggested that the formats used by magazines like Men’s
Health have adopted conventions associated with women’s magazines, and in play-
ing with reader’s desire to be the ideal body on the cover, risk creating tensions by
simultaneously mobilising a potentially homosexual desire for that body (Beynon
2002). To avoid this, Beynon (2002: 126) suggested that Men’s Health must chart
‘a careful course . . . to steer clear of the homosexual and promote the desirability of
heterosexuality’.
In contrast to women’s lifestyle magazines, which tend to feature close-ups of
women’s faces on their covers, Ultra Fit and Runner’s World both have a full-length
image of a running female on their covers. The woman on the cover of Runner’s
World is set against a background of blue sky and a strip of sandy ground, providing
a minimalist context for her activity. There is no contextual information on the cover
of Ultra Fit, which has a stark white background for the runner. These images of ac-
tive women could be considered to mark a positive difference from the sexualised,
passive images of female athletes that many studies have suggested characterise the
sport media (Kane and Greendorfer 1994). Information inside the magazine indicates
the cover photograph is of a real athletic female (‘Personal Trainer Jenny Pacey’)
rather than a model chosen for her looks. Nevertheless, neither woman appears to
have discernible muscle development (except for Pacey’s upper arms). Instead, the
photographs seem manipulated to give the bodies a smooth, glowing appearance.
These images of active women belong to the magazines with a less obviously gen-
dered address. The images on the cover of Health & Fitness, Zest and Women’s Health
are all of women shown from head to upper thigh. The model on the cover of Zest is
shown with the greatest amount of contextual information. She is depicted in a tropi-
cal beach scene, wearing a shocking pink bikini, arms raised, head tilted, mouth open
and back arched in a pose associated with sexual ecstasy. The model on the cover of