For the purpose of identifying the target audience of a popular magazine, I selected Prevention, an American healthy lifestyle magazine as my research material. The results of analysis demonstrate that Prevention magazine with its colorful photographs, visual-friendly design and various healthy food recipes is mainly directed towards middle-aged women.
Delving into the entire magazine from its cover to the Table of Contents of several particular issues might be a good way to analyze and identify the target audience of Prevention. In addition, the advertisements throughout will also be evaluated in this report.
Examining the cover of Prevention, the readers can be easily led to the right track the magazine promotes-"Love Your Whole Life." On the cover of March 2013 issue of Prevention there was a bowl of fresh and juicy strawberries with the heading "52 Foods that heal" in highlighted font attracting the readers and arousing their interests in flipping through the magazine. All article titles on the cover have connections with staying healthy or being fit through diets, which clearly appealed to mature women aware of health issues. For instance, in the article titled "10 Fat-fighting foods at 40+," it states that these so-called superfoods such as chili powder or dark chocolate chips can help eat less, burn fat and slim down; moreover, they work on those women who are at their 40s well. Another example is the article "Pioneer Woman recipes-All the flavor without the fat." Again, obviously the recipes provided here are custom-built for the women. At first glance, these article titles are designed well for the female readers.
In addition to its cover, the Table of Contents in Prevention also shows its readers a clear pattern to pay attention to. There are five parts: Good to Know, Your Turn, Answers, Food, and Nesting in this magazine. Each well-organized part is strongly focused on particular issues that would attract its target audience-women who seek smart ways to maintain and enhance their health condition. For example, the article titled "Eat Yourself Happy" in the section of Good to Know informs its audience how they can improve their emotions by eating the right foods. Moreover, Prevention magazine provides some personal experiences in the monthly column Your Turn to inspire its audience who have the problems such as weight loss. Normally the narrators are women at the same age as the target audience. For example, in the March issue of Prevention, Taneisha Marks, who is in her 40s, told a story about how to lose weight by walking. Therefore, such a story surely draws great attention from those women.
Last but not least, observing the advertisements throughout is another approach to identify and analyze the target audience. The advertisements in Prevention can be categorized into four types: beauty products, health products, nutrient snacks or juice, and health equipment. It is not difficult to recognize these advertisements aim to get attention from specific group of people. For example, as for beauty products in Prevention, the products are not eye-liners or cream blush as in other beauty-oriented magazines such as ELLE or VOGUE; instead they are wrinkle-free lotions or the lifters to solve skin problems in order to become younger. Another way to identify the target audience is the advertisements of health equipment. A teenaged girl might not be able to afford the equipment such as treadmill, blood glucose test or heat wrap. In short, the potential customers these advertisements cater to would not be teenaged girls but mature or married women.
To sum up, Prevention magazine as a leading health publication in the U.S. is devoted to providing information on how to deal with the aging process, weight loss, and stay healthier in a natural way. Judging from the magazine's cover to advertisements throughout, the readers can undoubtedly recognize this magazine is mainly for those middle-aged women who are in pursuit of living well.
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This is my first time to write short analysis report. Any suggestions are welcomed and I will be grateful for that!
The purpose of this report is to analyze and identify the target audience from popular magazine.
