Men's Health magazine targets men aged 20-40 from upper working class to lower middle class. It has over 1 million readers, most from middle class backgrounds. Owned by Rodale Press, the magazine focuses on lifestyle topics tailored for men, such as fitness, food, sex, and style. Articles promote an idealized masculine physique and advertisements feature toned, shirtless men to appeal to male readers and sell products.

1. Case Study
Men's Health

2. Target Audience
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Men in their mid 20s to 40s
Socioeconomic group – higher working class to
lower middle class
The men who can afford to buy what has been
advertised such as the Dolce and Cabana cologne
Men who want the lifestyle/physique that the
magazine offers

3. Readership
Oct 2012 – Sept 2013 estimated readers 1017 of adults
Men: 869
148
Women:
64% of the total amount of readers are from the upper
middle class, middle class and lower middle class.

4. Ownership
Owned by Rodale Press they are focused on providing
lifestyle magazines.
Other titles include:
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Women's Health
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Children's Health

Bicycling
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Runner's World

5. How might this affect the audience,
style and production values of the
magazine?
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Same topics may be addressed such as fitness but
they're tailored for the specific audience of the
magazine.
Branding through text format and the layout of
images and articles cross through each magazine.

6. Genre Conventions
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Layout is simple, understandable features the
generic contents page, lifestyle advice,
advertisements
Bright colouring is used as a promotional tool
This magazine focuses on the male physique so
images of shirtless men are shown.

7. Narrative Content
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Immediately reader is given a series of
advertisements which then goes onto the contents.
Articles on fitness, cooking meals, sex and life
improvement advice.
Adverts of products for men to improve their
appearance feature regularly throughout the
magazine.

8. Representation of gender, race,
ethnicity, social class, age and sexuality
Gender – Men are shown
as muscular, tanned,
the 'ideal' body for a
man. Women – mainly
used to promote
things. These
photographs are remediated through
photo manipulation.
Race and ethnicity –
advertisements have
models relating to the
brand for example
Dolce and Cabana
with Italian models
mainly the magazine's
images are of white
men and women.
Social class and age –
advertisements aimed at the men
who are in the ages of 20 to 40
that want to better their
appearance through watches, hair
products, clothing.
Sexuality – men are shirtless
showing their body suggesting to
the reader that to get women they
have to look a certain way.
Within the magazine the women
are with little clothing visually
appealing to men. This magazine
could also be homoerotic.

9. Representation of their 'own' gender to
the reader
Cpt Powell is directly addressing the reader as he is
looking straight at them in a bodybuilder pose, men
would then aspire to have his body.
The language is specifically aimed at men allowing
the reader to be able to relate and engage in the
magazine.

10. Representation of their 'own' gender to
the 'other' gender
To others these men featuring in the magazine are
sexualised and objectified as shown through the use
of images.
The magazine's contents of ads and articles can be
seen to increase the male readership's anxieties
about their bodies.