Magazine Review- Logan Walker, Jeremy Shay, Darion Delaney, Greg Gant

In class we looked at two different fitness magazines to see the different types of ads. The first magazine we looked at was a men's magazine called "Flex". This magazine was published in April 2008. We counted 137 ads, which fell under the categories of Dietary Supplements, Bodybuilding Equipment, Knowledge Systems, and clothes. Cosmetics and Competitions were also categories of ads that we were looking for, but we did not find any ads for those two categories. The following list is a breakdown of the number of ads we found:

Dietary Supplements: 101-73%

Bodybuilding Equipment: 2- 2%

Knowledge Systems- 24%

Clothes- 1-1%

We also looked wanted to find pictures that displayed positioning the reader as inferior, promise of transformation and hegemonic masculinity. The first picture we found was for positioning the reader as inferior and the picture shows three massive males after using "ignite", the workout booster. He was easily holding a very heavy dumbbell that someone that does not workout probably couldn't lift. The next picture we found was for promise of transformation and it displayed various males who used a fat burning supplement and it showed the before and after pictures. They had normal bodies before the supplement and the their after pictures showed them with sculpted bodies. The last category, hegemonic masculinity, we found a picture that advertised a bodybuilding competition and it showed the male as way more massive than the female in the picture. 

The next magazine that we looked at to review was a women's magazine entitled "Sports Illustrated for Women." This magazine was published in September 2000. In this magazine we were looking for photos that displayed Athletic Competence, Ambivalence, All-American Girl Next Door, Hyper Heterosexual, Sexy Babe, and Soft Pornography. We found a total of 67 photos that displayed these themes in this magazine. The following breakdown list is a breakdown of the photos that we found:

Athletic Competence- 55-82%

Ambivalence- 4-6%

All-American Girl Next Door- 1-2%

Hyper Heterosexual- 2-3%

Sexy Babe- 3-4%

Soft Pornography- 2-3% 

The Athletic Competence photo that we liked the best was of Marion Jones as she was long jumping in uniform at the 2000 Olympics. 

The picture displaying Ambivalence that we liked the best was of Allison Williamson because it was evident that she played a sport but it showed her in a dress looking non-athletic.

The picture of the All-American Girl Next Door that we liked the best was a picture of Felicia Zimmerman because the whole article was about her shopping and this is stereotypical of the All-American Girl Next Door. 

The picture showing Hyper Heterosexual that we liked the best was of Cathy Freeman and Bideau, who are showing affection after winning a race. She was portrayed in the "girlfriend" role. 

The photo that we found for soft pornography was also of Marion Jones, who is in a picture with her shirt off. 

This assignment was very helpful in showing our group how articles and ads are broken down in magazines. This is something that our group had never really thought about or looked as close in to as we did in class. The most astonishing finding we had was how many supplement ads are in these fitness magazines. It almost seems as if supplement ads are all that fitness magazines are composed of. It was a great activity and learning experience for our group.