Globalizing male attractiveness: Advertising in men’s lifestyle magazines in India

This study examines the construction of new models of masculinity in men’s lifestyle magazine advertising in India. Using textual analysis of advertisements, the study shows how certain kinds of western masculine ideals and body aesthetics are being adopted and reworked into advertising to appeal and facilitate consumption among middle and upper-class Indian men living in the urban centers of India. The contemporary construction of upper and aspirational middle-class masculinity includes size and hypermuscularity, fair skin/whiteness, and a view of self as global ethnic. These types of constructions help to globalize the male body and masculine ideal while also privileging whiteness and class in the local and global arena.

Socnarcyzm, czyli celebryci w PRL-u (na przykładzie miesięcznika „Ty i Ja”)

Soc-narcissism (or socialist narcissism) – celebrities in communist Poland on the example of the monthly "Ty i Ja" The article assumes that during communism time in Poland, especially during the period of increased television development in the Gomułka era (the 60s), there were no political, socio-communicative and cultural conditions for the development of the culture of celebrity and the related phenomenon of narcissistic attitudes of individuals popular in the media. This thesis is confirmed by the content analysis of the monthly “Ty i Ja”published in 1960–1973, considered to be the first Polish lifestyle magazine, presenting the stars of theater, film etc., but these presentations were far from revealing any narcissist features characteristic of contemporary culture or Western culture at the time.

Indie Magazines as Brands: Aesthetic Communication and Designing the Kinfolk Experience

Over the past years, Kinfolk magazine’s minimalist aesthetics has created a visual voice for a global slow lifestyle audience. Although Kinfolk has become a publishing phenomenon with many imitators, lifestyle magazines are frequently treated as light fare. Pioneering this particular genre of lifestyle magazine, Kinfolk fulfills a deeper purpose of helping readers define themselves. The magazine helps curate and perform lives and strives for authenticity, attraction, and positive valuation to generate short-term affective experiences and long-term cultural value. This article analyzes Kinfolk’s aesthetics as an architecture of relations assembling visual and textual page arrangements that are recurrently meant to be looked at more than read. While current studies associate Kinfolk’s slow lifestyle with Instagram’s blend of people and photography, this article seeks to demonstrate how editors, designers, and art directors have extended the visual personality of the magazine. In doing so, it will explore the magazine’s advanced aesthetic communication, establishing Kinfolk as the template for the millennial set and the culture of neomodernism.

Micro-Archives and the Survival of Print in Momma Tried and Sabat

This article focuses on two independently published magazine projects, Sabat (2016–) and Momma Tried (2013–). It introduces Sabat and Momma Tried in the context of the contemporary independent publishing boom and considers their engagement with the print magazine form as affording a micro-archival stance towards the near past and personal histories as well as the magazines’ experiments with their material form.London-based Sabat appropriates the look and formula of women’s fashion and lifestyle magazines but reworks these templates to create a ‘lifestyle magazine for witches’ in a polished minimalist design. In three themed issues, Sabat establishes a meta-narrative of its own death which issue four materially enacts. Momma Tried is rooted in the art scene of New Orleans and started out as a celebration and record of the local community of creatives before the third issue turns the magazine into a ‘cyborg’ combining the print object with an app to create an ‘installation’. Both magazines evoke print as a way of conserving and archiving a specific moment but also engage in experiments that dissolve the magazine form, undermining its archiving function by staging the magazines’ ‘deaths’ as transformations.

Konstruksi Citra Joko Widodo dalam Sampul Majalah Milenial Arrajol, Arab Saudi, Edisi 20 Mei 2019

Indonesian President Joko Widodo is widely discussed on social media because he was chosen as the cover story in Arrajol, a monthly Arabic men’s lifestyle magazine published in Saudi Arabia. On its official Facebook page, Arrajol displays a promotional video of their latest edition by writing, “President of Indonesia, a figure in the new edition of Arrajol magazine.” The video was uploaded by Arrajol on Thursday, May 16, 2019. The purposes of this study are to determine the symbol contained in Arrajol, the meaning contained within the symbol, and how these symbols constructing Joko Widodo’s image as a role model. This study uses qualitative methods with semiotics analysis from Charles Sanders Peirce. The result of this study showed Arrajol magazine consists of two main symbols, the gesture symbol of Joko Widodo who is dressed in a suit with a thin smile on his face, is Joko Widodo’s authority, and followed by the text on the bottom right showing Joko Widodo’s personality. These symbols have different meanings. The meaning contained in each symbol constructs the image of Joko Widodo as a model for the world community.

THE LANGUAGE USE OF SEX ARTICLES IN WOMEN LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE IN INDONESIA CASE STUDY: COSMOPOLITAN INDONESIA

The choice of words is one of important aspects in writing articles in printed media. Creative language use in lifestyle magazine may create interest for readers. The purpose of this research is to analyze the language use in sex articles in Cosmopolitan Indonesia. Launched in 1997, Cosmopolitan Indonesia is the first licensed Indonesian women lifestyle magazine and the first women magazine in Indonesia that openly discusses sex. This marks a change in Indonesian printed media. Before the publication of Cosmopolitan, sex and intimacy were only discussed in non-public spheres. Although the topics are discussed openly, the magazine uses special terms to describe man and women genital organs. After 22 years, Cosmopolitan Indonesia is still using the same terms in its sex articles, despite the fact that other women magazines are now discussing sex more openly and most of them are using the medical terms to describe genital organs. The focus of this research is mainly on what factors that consider Cosmopolitan Indonesia to use special terms in sex articles. The methodology will include purposive sampling interview and content analysis of 6 editions of Cosmopolitan Indonesia. The findings of this research may help the media and journalists to be more creative in choosing words for particular articles to attract readers interest, also to established the media unique identity, especially for lifestyle magazine. Pemilihan kata-kata adalah aspek penting dalam penulisan artikel dalam media cetak. Bahasa yang kreatif digunakan dalam penulisan untuk majalah gaya hidup agar menarik perhatian pembaca. Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah untuk menganalisis penggunaan Bahasa pada majalah Cosmopolitan Indonesia. Diterbitkan tahun 1997, Cosmopolitan Indonesia adalah majalah gaya hidup berlisensi Internasional untuk perempuan pertama dan majalah perempuan pertama di Indonesia yang mendiskusikan topik seks secara terbuka. Hal ini menandai perubahan pada sejarah media cetak di Indonesia. Sebelum terbitnya majalah Cosmopolitan Indonesia, seks dan hubungan intim umumnya tidak didiskusikan secara terbuka pada media cetak. Walaupun topik-topik didiskusikan secara terbuka, majalah ini tetap menggunakan istilah tersendiri untuk menggambarkan alat kelamin lelaki dan perempuan. Setelah 22 tahun, Cosmopolitan Indonesia tetap menggunakan istilah istimewa untuk artikel seks, walaupun majalah perempuan lainnya kita telah membicarakan seks dengan lebih terbuta dan umumnya menggunakan istilah medis untuk menggambarkan alat kelamin. Fokus dari riset ini adalah untuk mengetahui faktor apa saja yang membuat Cosmopolitan Indonesia mempertimbankan untuk memilih istilah khusus dalam penulisan artikel seks. Metodologi yang digunakan adalah purposive sampling interview dan content analysis dari 6 edisi Cosmopolitan Indonesia. Penemuan hasil riset ini diharapkan dapat membantu media dan jurnalis untuk lebih kreatif dalam memilih kata-kata untuk beberapa artikel spesifik untuk menarik perhatian pembaca, juga membentuk identitas unik sebuah media, khususnya majalah gaya hidup.

‘For Men Who Should Know Better’

Between 1969 and 1997 there was an ongoing re-evaluation of male consumer behaviour, which manifested itself through an emergent men’s lifestyle magazine sector, but also an expansion of established media—that is, newspapers, television, and radio. New applications of persuasion also came to the fore as public relations and branding began to play a salient role in the marketing mix. The result of these changes was a concerted increase in the quality and quantity of brand communication aimed at men. This chapter examines the changes in attitude within the persuasion industry towards male consumers and young men in particular and the emergence in the UK of a mass-market men’s magazine sector between 1986 and 1997. It also explores the relationship between titles such as LM, Q, Loaded, and FHM and the public relations industry.

Changing patterns of conspicuous consumption: Media representations of luxury in second homes

This article examines the potential of utilising representations of luxury in second homes to chart the changing patterns of conspicuous consumption. It is situated within a New Zealand context and based on the analysis of representations of luxury in second homes in an architecture/lifestyle magazine from 1936 to 2015. A qualitative thematic analysis was carried out on the written and visual text of 305 second home articles. The findings are divided into time periods which relate to distinct socio-cultural, political and economic events and ideologies that have influenced New Zealand society. The analysis reveals a change from ‘quiet luxury’ during the war years to the luxury of imported products, reflecting a fascination with first American and then European style in the mid-century. It also shows a change from a reputed cultural reticence to display one’s wealth to the flagrant conspicuous consumption of luxury goods and services in the 1980s which aligns with the rise of new wealth after the introduction of neoliberalism in the country. Finally, the variance between representations of luxury during recessionary times in the 1970s and 2000s demonstrates a change in attitude towards conspicuous consumption.