After
carrying out my research I found that in order to attract a wider audience, one
of the main things I had to do was photograph my images in line with the male
gaze. The male gaze is a feminist theory which Laura Mulvey established in 1975
within her essay: ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema’. This Marxist theory
suggests that within the media industry the camera is male, therefore placing
society in a male’s perspective. This can be seen in the pictures below where
the men imitate the sexy and beautiful poses that the women do, but are
automatically seen as unattractive and funny, reinforcing the idea that society
think through a males perspective.
This places
men in an active position and women in a passive position which reinforces
dominant ideology. However, women also aspire to these representations, even
when they are the ones being placed in the subordinate position. Women see how
men react to these representations of women and view them as successful, in
turn making women want to be that object. These women collude in the pictures
and demand the gaze of men, making them seem like they are in control. This
however sends out a message to women that in order to be successful and
powerful, you need to present yourself as weak in comparison to men. This again
reinforces hegemonic values that men are the dominant sex. This, along with
hyperreality through the use of photoshop can have a long lasting and arguably
damaging effect on girls exposed to media representations. However, I am
creating a business so in order for me to make profit from my magazine, my
images have to address these media conventions. 
By
photographing and editing my pictures in this way I made the model on my front
cover desirable, therefore aspiring to be like them. This is in line with
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs which outlines human beings basic needs which, once
fulfilled, develop into higher needs. The stages are as follows; ‘psysiological’
needs, which consists of basic necessities in order to survive and function adequately
e.g. food, water, sleep etc. The need of ‘safety’ which entails a known
security for family, employment and physical safety. Once these first two
stages are fulfilled, a humans needs become more dependent on social interaction.
The next stage is the need for ‘love/belonging’ which focuses on emotionally
based relationships such as friendships, families and sexual intimacy. The next
stage is ‘esteem’ which, according to Maslow, is the need to be respected, have
self-respect and also respect others in order to gain confidence. Finally, the
need to be the best we can be and reach our full potential was classed as ‘self-actualisation’.
Magazines use this theory as they know that we as humans have a need to strive
for bigger and better things, hence why humans have dreams and aspirations in
life. However, rarely are humans satisfied even once they have reached one of
their dreams and continue to look for harder and higher ambitions to achieve.
Taking this into consideration, magazines harness onto this idea and advertise
themselves as a ‘dream’ which their audience literally buy into. This theory
works alongside the theory of hyperreality as photoshopping and the
manipulation of photographs has made it possible for magazines to advertise their
contents as a ‘dream’, as dreams are rarely practical and achievable and
neither are the images which are displayed in their magazines.
Knowing this
and understanding the impact it can have on young girls, I wanted to address these
theories, but not overtly, as I still wanted to attract an audience. I did this
by taking images which were not completely in line with the male gaze e.g.
striking, forward facing photographs, but manipulate them in line with
hyperreality. This way, my audience are not seen as inferior to men but are
portrayed as a desirable image for women through the use of photoshop
manipulation as, after all, my audience see themselves within the pages of my
magazine.
Another way
in which I attracted my audience was to use colloquial language such as ‘big
thing’ and ‘other stuff’ which are common in my demographics age group of
16-24. However, I didn’t want to over-do it on colloquial language as I wanted
my magazine to be taken seriously and adding phrases such as ‘OMG’ and ‘LOL’ on
the cover of my magazine would deter my audience from even picking it up as
they may feel these terms are too mainstream to use. Due to this, the buzz-words
I used were also different to common buzz-words on a magazine. As my
demographic are very associated with their music, it becomes a huge part of
their lives so I used actual artists names as ‘buzz-words’ for my audience. If
they see that one of their favourite bands or artists is on the cover and will
feature inside the magazine, this will prompt them to buy it. This is also why
I filled my top banner with more artists names instead of another article as
the more artists on the cover, the more music content my magazine appears to
have which will attract my audience to buy my magazine. I also included
language such as ‘exclusive’ and ‘latest’ to create the sense of a community
amongst my readers. If they feel they are the only ones to know an exclusive
story on their favourite artists, it will get people talking about the article
so they feel as if they are part of a community and this reinforces the ‘personal
identification’ stage of Maslows Hierarchy of Needs as readers sympathise with
the cover stars.
I also used additional incentives to attract my audience.
This was an advertisement which said ‘FREE DOWNLOAD’ which I emphasised with
the use of a button. To claim their free download they have to sign up to the
website which will send them monthly newsletters and e-mails about what will be
in the next issue of the magazine and give them an opportunity to subscribe to
the magazine and receive a copy and additional offers each month. This promotes
the idea of synergy as my magazine advertises my website which instantly
advertises my magazines brand. This is a vital part of keeping magazines alive
as it has become extremely hard for magazines to compete with online
information which is available for free.
Another feature I have incorporated into my magazine may
become a unique selling point that will attract customers. This is the idea of
an online blog through an account made on my website which will have message
boards where people can ask questions about university, festivals, gigs etc and
create a COMPASS community. Through this, my customers will be able to interact
with one another, instead of all information coming straight from the magazine
and getting advice from people who they can relate to as this is a time of
exploration and doubt for my demographic. In doing this, I have also created a
page within my magazine which will feature the most popular questions that
month and will be a regular page within my magazine. This will give my
customers an incentive to sign up to COMPASS’s website and start interacting with
one another for a chance of their questions and answers appearing in the
magazine.
An
additional way I hope to attract my audience is through retail psychology. This
is when shops strategically place magazines at the front of shelves and at
eye-level with customers. This will give my magazine more of a chance of
getting noticed. My magazine already stands out from other magazines due to its
size and form but additional techniques such as retail psychology can make a
big difference when attracting your audience.
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