Page 114 - Introduction to Electronic Commerce and Social Commerce

Sport and Magazines • 103

While there appears to be a consistent emphasis on fat reduction, variations in fonts,
colours and punctuation communicate this message differently to the magazines’

specific readership. The wordy cover lines of Ultra Fit use a literate and scientifi c
discourse to address a knowledgeable and serious consumer. the best drug-free
ways to pack on muscle and size suggests that readers are so committed to build-
ing muscle that they may have considered (and rejected) performance-enhancing
drugs. References in the cover lines to articles on cholesterol, blood pressure, pre-
venting injury, healthy eating and the glycaemic index—myth or magic? address
a reader engaged with health issues and popular medicine.
In their analysis of Flex magazine, White and Gillett (1994: 26) noted the ten-
dency of text in advertisements to ‘speak to the male reader in an authoritative and
commanding voice, implying that the reader is lacking in control and is in a position
of relative powerlessness’. This strategy is discernible within the style of cover line
used by Men’s Health. The central image of a muscle-bound male is surrounded by
imperatives, powerfully reinforced by the use of large block font and exclamation
marks: sculpt your body in just minutes a day! power up your diet! look

your best now! The male figure is also positioned so that he appears to be looking
down from a position of authority on the reader.
Stibbe (2004) drew attention to an anomaly within the discourse of Men’s Health.
Stibbe suggested that

It is written for men who are most exposed to and have most to gain from the ide-
als of hegemonic masculinity, and it has an openly admitted agenda of promoting
‘the traditional male view’. On the other hand, traditional masculinity has been
shown to involve a large number of negative health behaviours, such as excessive
alcohol consumption and risky behavior. (p. 35)

This makes the magazine’s address to the reader extremely complicated. Stibbe
(2004) argued that the magazine actually endorses behaviour which may be injurious
to health (e.g. refusing to see red meat consumption as anything other than positive
because of its connotations of masculinity). The UK cover of Men’s Health included
lines such as be a pub genius! and the 6-pack pizza!, arguably endorsing both
drinking and eating fast food as a means to health.
Men’s Health addresses its readers by combining an image of a self-assured,
muscular male with textual commands to get in shape. The slim, controlled body
has been associated with the middle-class office worker who benefi ts professionally

from appearance (Cook 2000). Stibbe (2004: 34) suggested that the Men’s Health
readership forms a class ‘and it is the class most to gain from the reproduction of
male domination’. Nevertheless, emphasising appearance and bodily display has
long been associated with femininity, which threatens to trouble the masculine iden-
tity of the readership. In addition, the magazine’s voice of authority seems to shout
orders to lose weight, get fit, get better at sex and stop being stressed. All of this