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At one point in a person’s life, he or she has read at least one magazine, whether it was Time, National Geographic, Playboy, or, one of my personal favorites, Reader’s Digest, etc. There are tons of magazines for all different kinds of interests. Personally, I have been a magazine reader since I was a child. I subscribe to a number of different types of magazines. As time has passed, one thing has caught my eye as far as magazine content has been concerned—the number of advertisements is definitely increasing. In some magazines, the ads way outnumber the actual articles. The assignment for Week 12 is to analyze the images in a magazine, including whether they are a part of an ad or an article. I have chosen to look at Reader’s Digest (or RD).
I will start with general statistics about this month’s magazine. There are 185 pages. Out of that, 65 of the pages are full page advertisements. This means that approximately 35% of this issue of RD is completely advertisement. Of course, this is not including the ads that take up space on some of the article content pages. The other 65% of the issue is devoted to articles and magazine related type things, such as the table of contents. As far as images are concerned, RD is filled with images. The articles all include several images, and most of the advertisements are full color and contain images as well.
These are the images that appear in the magazine, in order of appearance:
1. The cover features a picture of an orange tabby cat with reindeer antlers on its head
2. The inside cover is an ad for Stetson cologne, with an image of beautiful scenery with the bottle of cologne in front of it.
3. The table of contents has a picture of reindeer at the bottom, which is the topic of one of the articles.
4. Page 2 of the table of contents has 2 images: a picture of a girl that is featured in one of the articles, and a picture of a salad that is a featured recipe in an article.
5. The next page is a full page advertisement for a contest that RD is hosting. It has a cartoonish-image of the United States, a couple of trees and birds.
6. Next is a cat sitting on a towel in a sink, advertising Fresh Step litter.
7. The next image is a picture of a previous RD article that a reader is commenting on.
8. An image of a woman in a swimming pool, advertising a medication that will help moderate or severe plaque psoriasis.
9. An image of a Discover credit card, in an advertisement for…you guessed it, a Discover credit card.
10. An image of 3 adorable polar bears from a book that RD recommends in an article.
11. An image of Nigella Lawson, a cook, from an article.
12. An image of Jamie Oliver, another cook, from the same article.
13. An image of Molly O’Neill, yet another cook, also from that same article.
14. An image of Rachael Ray, from the article.
15. An image of Amanda Hesser, from the article.
16. A picture of some sugar cookies in a recipe in an article.
17. A yummy looking picture of a cupcake, the Pillsbury Doughboy, a cake mix box and frosting in an advertisement.
18. A picture of a pork loin above a recipe, as part of an advertisement.
19. A full page article with the same picture as mentioned in #19.
20. An image of a happy, middle aged woman and some bottles of vitamins, advertising the vitamins.
21. A cartoon image of a happy, running egg saying to “Keep Your Sunny Side Up!” in an article about being optimistic.
22. A picture of a bowl of chili, in an article.
23. A picture of a middle aged woman standing in front of a chalkboard, advertising a medication.
24. A picture of Helen Phillips from Biggest Loser, in an article about Biggest Loser.
25. A picture of several stethoscopes, in an article about doctors.
26. Pictures of blueberries and a cocktail being poured, in an article.
27. A picture of a woman in her late 20’s, holding a box of cough syrup, advertising the cough syrup.
28. A picture of a red shopping bag that says Sale and a container of popcorn from a movie theater in an article about sales.
29. An image of coins and a $100 dollar bill in an article about spending money.
30. An image of 4 pairs of legs wearing jeans and shoes, standing in a line, in an article.
31. A picture of an older man, smiling and taking a picture, in an advertisement for insulin.
32. A picture of a blonde woman holding and hugging a blonde toddler to her, both grinning, in an advertisement for a health website.
33. A picture of a woman sitting at a laptop, in an article.
34. A picture of a bottle of mouthwash, in an advertisement for that particular brand.
35. A picture of a happy family with a dog in an advertisement.
36. A picture of a vet listening to a dog’s heart in an advertisement.
37. An image of a plate of good looking food in an article about meals.
38. A picture of a dog in a short article about marriage.
39. A picture of a bunch of women’s eyeballs in an advertisement for eyelash growing serum.
40. A picture of a white table in an ad for Boniva.
41. A picture of an actress (I think Sally Field) standing at a kitchen counter in the same ad for Boniva.
42. A picture of a dog licking its lips in an advertisement.
43. A cartoonish image of a small home in an article about granny pods.
44. A picture of 2 people near their indoor tornado shelter in an article.
45. A picture of a woman screaming and holding a pillow to each ear in a small article.
46. An image of Rapid Sleep PM medication in an advertisement for it.
47. Several pictures (5, to be exact) of books that RD is promoting as must reads in an article.
48. A picture of Fran Lebowitz in an article about her.
49. A picture of a fancy looking ring in an advertisement for it.
50. A picture of a man, woman and their dog sitting on a bench, in an ad for dog food.
51. A picture of a woman sitting on the couch petting her dog in an ad for dog food.
52. A caricature of Edward Norton in an article about him.
53. A picture of a woman and two other people carrying a Christmas tree in the snow, in an advertisement.
54. A picture of a dog holding a wreath in an advertisement.
55. A picture of a dog with muddy foot prints leading into a room with hardwood floors in an advertisement.
56. A picture of a woman getting a massage in an advertisement.
57. A picture of a woman looking at a gift and then getting a massage in an advertisement.
58. A cartoon image of Santa Claus holding 2 big sacks in an article about spending.
59. A picture of a woman sleeping, a clock, and a moon in an ad for sleeping pills.
60. A cartoon of 2 pregnant women with toddlers and another woman standing in between them in an advice article.
61. A picture of a travel guide in an advertisement for travel.
62. A cartoon of a man with a candy cane in his mouth in an article.
63. A picture of Always pads in an ad for them.
64. A picture of 6 children with cleft problems in an ad for a company that is asking for donations.
65. A cartoon of 2 soldiers in a humor article.
66. A picture of a young woman and a tote bag in an ad for Rite Aid.
67. A picture of a woman with half of her face off camera, for a skin care ad.
68. A picture of an E-reader and some skin care products, in an ad.
69. A picture of a woman and little boy pulling a tree on a sled in an ad for Rite Aid.
70. A picture of an Aleve bottle and 4 bottles of Tylenol, in an ad.
71. A picture of a woman with half of her face off camera, for a skin care ad.
72. A picture of a glass of water and a bottle of Olay body wash, in an ad.
73. A picture of an older woman in a tank top, smiling, in an ad.
74. A picture of a couple of woman, a couple strolling on the beach, and a box of pills in an ad.
75. A picture of a little girl with a messy apron, in an ad for a cleaning product.
76. A picture of a dirty man and 3 dirty kids on the ground in front of a soccer net, in an ad for cleaning products.
77. A cartoon of Santa with a tattoo, hanging up his Santa suit, in a humor article.
78. A picture of an empty roll of toilet paper in an ad for medication.
79. An image of a teenager holding a toddler and another girl riding a bike in the background, in an article about the teenager.
80. A picture of an older man and a house with a lot of Christmas lights, in an article about the man and his home.
81. A picture of a firefighter holding a child next to a woman holding another child in an article about the firefighter.
82. An image of a man with some reindeer in an article about the reindeer.
83. A picture of a woman in a colorful outfit and a man with a heavy wool jacket in an article about them.
84. A beautiful night sky picture with a tent in an article.
85. A picture of a blonde girl and a boy with a dog in an article.
86. A picture of 2 women in colorful outfits standing in the snow, in an article.
87. A picture of an action figure, a mini golf set and water bottles in an article about Christmas presents.
88. A picture of a wine glass, a bomb clock, Scrabble Flash, and a planner set in the same article.
89. A picture of 2 books in the same article.
90. A picture of 3 books and stuffed animals in the same article.
91. A picture of a hat, a gift set, cookies and a lighter in the same article.
92. A picture of a fleece vest, thank you cards, flowers and lotion in the same article.
93. A picture of caramels and soaps in the same article.
94. A picture of a puzzle, a board game, a book and a GPS in the same article.
95. A picture of a woman and a baby in an article.
96. A picture of a female doctor smiling in an article.
97. A picture of a woman, man and their baby in an article.
98. A picture of Bill Clinton in an article about him.
99. A picture of Bill Clinton in Indonesia in the same article.
100. A picture of a locker with textbooks and a pill in an article.
101. A picture of a woman and her daughter, holding a picture of her deceased daughter in the same article.
102. A picture of a man and woman holding a picture of their deceased son in the same article.
103. A picture of a woman sitting in front of a sewing machine in an article.
104. A picture of a model and a cartoon image of the dress in the same article.
105. A picture of John Ratzenberger in an article about him.
106. Several pictures of things made in the United States—a trailer, bathtub, makeup, glasses, a piano, a slinky, motorcycle, a pot, and a baseball bat, in an article.
107. A cartoon image of a man flying a paper airplane out a window in an article.
108. A black and white image of a planning book for a will in an ad for the Salvation Army.
109. A picture of a smiling woman and a box of medicine in an ad for the medicine.
110. A picture of a man using a piece of exercise equipment in an ad for the exercise equipment.
111. A picture of a red phone with a shovel handset advertising to Call before you Dig.
112. A cartoon image of 2 cartoon characters playing instruments in a short article.
113. Another image with those same characters in the same article.
114. A cartoon of 2 women shopping and a big Christmas tree in a humor article.
115. A bunch of pictures of tools in an ad for Harbor Freight Tools.
116. A cartoon image of Christmas Trees in a mall in a humor article.
117. Pictures of the 3 stars of Biggest Loser in a Ford ad.
118. The back cover is a picture of Drew Brees sleeping in an ad for Nyquil.
As you can see, the issue had 118 images. Out of those, 52 of the images were related to advertisements. That is approximately 44% of all images in the magazine were associated with advertisements.
I didn’t really find a lot of differences between the images in advertisements and the images in articles in this issue. Both utilized images that relate to the content. Both had both cartoonish images and people images. Both used the images to draw eyes to the content, and, in my case, it worked. I think the editors of RD use the images in their magazines well. They use images that relate to what they are trying to get across, whether it was in articles or advertisements. They know their general audience is mostly older people (younger readers are the exception for this magazine typically), so the advertisements and articles are usually geared towards older people.
In conclusion, I think the RD editors do a fantastic job pairing article content and images with advertisements and images. However, I do wish there was more article and less ads.
