Blog 5: Magazines

1) Magazine Title: Madame AIR FRANCE

2) Magazine Type: Fashion

3) Cost (magazines that are delivered as a part of a subscription will not have a price): Free

4) About what percentage of the magazine is advertising? 95%

5) Describe one story in this magazine:

"Keeping love alive" talks about a book called, "In Praise of Love" by a French Philosopher Alan Badiou. It advertises his book about how nowadays, women seem to think that if they spend more than three years in a monogamous relationship they might as well check into a retirement home. But the essence of love is self-fulfillment over the long term. He talks about the predominant romantic notion of love and focus on the idea that physical attraction help to fuel the mechanism of consumer society and that does not allow us to progress beyond the narcissistic stage of love. Instead we should overlook that and see the hedonistic satisfaction that goes beyond just appearance.

6) How would you describe the readers (audience demographic) for this publication?

Anyone who is interested in fashion no matter if its men or women, young or old.

7) What kinds of products are advertised in this magazine?

Do they seem to target the intended audience? How? All types, perfumes, colones, clothes, watches, destination tourism places. It is intended for people who travel a lot and also one who likes to keep up with high brand name fashion.

8) Count the men/boys and women/girls in the photos and illustrations

57 women, 6 men.

9) Are men and women portrayed in similar or different styles (activities, dress style, formality)? If displayed differently, in what way are they different?

The men seems to be portray more different than women. There is more women models than that of men. Most men is either authors or judges in a fashion runway. Also one interesting advertisement had a men getting step on by a women shoe which portray a sense of power if the women were to own those pair of shoes.

10) Looking at the photos (both editorial and advertising), does there seem to be representation from a variety of ethnic groups? A variety of ages? A variety of social classes? Describe what you found. Interestedly enough there wasn't really much diversity in the models as I thought. Most of the model is of European/Caucasian and I found one African American women model and about one single men model. The ages mostly in the young 20s and middle age models. And as for class, it seems to portray more upper middle class to high social class status.

11) If you were called in as a consultant to help this magazine increase its circulation, what would you suggest?

I would add more historical fashion stories of how these fashion became a trend and where the idea came from or how much work it took to make it. It would give the audience a better understanding to buy and appreciate what they are buying if they are going to spend that much amount of money on a product.


12) Did anything that you learned about this magazine surprise you? If so, explain.

The "Keeping love alive" was an surprisingly interesting article to read because it talks about how appearance shouldn't matter as much as real love, espeically in a fashion magazine? Ironic. Also I would expect there to be more diversity in these magazine but what can I say, I picked it up at the airport in France so I should expect it to target mostly Europeans.

In class on Wednesday, we watched a documentary called "News War" from FRONTLINE news. It is a four part special series examining the political, cultural, legal, and economic forces that is challenging the news media today. In chapter four, newspaper played the origin of where real journalism is from but today it is being challenged by the taking over of corporate ownership and technological advances.

Is the news a form of entertainment? Today it seems like news can be compared to a form of entertainment. Ted Koppel once said, "give the public what it wants, not necessary what it aught to hear, what it aught to see, what it needs, but what it wants. That may prove to be one of the greatest tragedy in the history of American journalism." It used to be that news had a real mission, to serve the public what it needs, but it seems like these days news can be in any form. Before the government actually had the FCC mandate the news to inform the public what was important. Corporate take over change all that, today it is just the money making industry of entertainment in which real journalism is limited to its successor.

Today, there are so many forms of news. Take for example; Rocketboom, a simple amateur news media in which anyone with a laptop can present news because technology enables people to do so. And with the uncertainty of newspaper in the near future, real journalism is once again in danger of being eliminated. However, technology solve some of the problem of needing more diversity in news reporting. Now anyone and everyone can have the opportunity to present and connect to whatever news that interest them. In my opinion, people will watch whatever interest them, and real journalism will continue on with the ones that dig further for the truth than just what is presented to them.

Week 3 Blog Assignment: Books

The three most influential books in my life I believe is: Slowing Down to the Speed of Life, The Bible, & Chicken Soup for the Souls. The first book is written by Richard Carlson & Joseph Bailey. It is about how to live in the present moment and not stress over the future as often as we do. I came across this book through my sister when I was a teenager. She recommended it to me because I was always worrying about stuff and rushing to get things done in order to have my free time. During the time, I believe that if I was to finish the job then I would have extra time to relax. Well as life has it, there are always things that come up even when we get the job done. Stressing and rushing to get their faster isn’t a good way to finish what we started. This book changed my attitude and the way I think about the future. A really good quote I learn from the book is, “the best preparation for the future is to live your life fully in the present.” With that said I enjoy life less stress than I was before.

The next book we all know is the Holy Bible. I was born a Catholic, and so we believe in the teaching of Jesus Chris and the bible. The teaching of Catholic Church is based upon the Holy Bible handle down from the time of the Apostles. The book itself is interpreted through church. And so as I go to church every Sunday, I listen to the stories that tell me how to live life. Although I am not a fully active member of the Catholic community, I do tend to listen to the lessons that given in the bible. The bible contains many stories that give directions to take in life and is useful in many situations throughout life.

The last book is a very casual collection of books. Chicken Soup for the Soul as many of us have already heard contains many short life stories and lessons we can all learn from. I don’t recall how I ran into this book but the book itself is has interesting stories that I read just for causal reading.
All these books have influence my life in ways that I live still today. The best sellers of today are like the books I have read. Chicken Soup for the Soul is still a good seller even today, the Holy Bible of course has been the number seller in the market, and lastly Slowing Down to the Speed of Life to me is a classic.