VISA 1500- Advertisement Analysis

I’ve chosen to analyze a “First for Women” magazine cover ad from the magazine section in Walmart. “First for Women” was first published in 1989, having a main focus on women’s health and diet culture. Diet culture is the focus on losing weight to be skinnier by using diet methods. The magazine cover is titled “Keto Liver Detox.” The main focus of the ad portrays an ethnic older African American woman in a slim fitting purple dress. She is skinny and smiling at the camera with her left hand placed on her hip. Straight brown hair cusps the top of her shoulders and her bangs almost cover her eyebrows. The woman is wearing makeup, long sparkly earrings, and a bracelet on her right wrist. There are no shadows that appear on the cover. Huge bolded headings cover the whole surface area besides the woman’s face. The cover has a bright cyan backdrop with pops of purple, yellow, red, and white headlines and texts displayed all over the page. Food is featured on this cover as well, in the top left corner cupcakes are shown. In the top right corner, a healthy salad. Three colourful small smoothies are at the bottom corner on the right. There is a total of eighteen headlines on the cover, other headlines are bigger than most due to targeting the audience and grasping attention. The second largest headline is a purple circle titled “Drop 7lbs in 7 days!” This is the main method to purchase the magazine. The target group is older women trying to seek a healthier lifestyle. The headlines are effective grabbing attention however, women may not reach for this magazine as more information and sources are accessible online. Furthermore, research suggests that there has been a decline throughout the years on printed magazines and other printed publications. I have never recognized or seen this brand before but, it did catch my attention in the environment due to the range of colours used. Although it was difficult to find a reputable source specifically critiquing “First for Women,” there has been multiple critiques on general magazines portraying women’s body image. In the article “Why Do We Struggle with Beauty and Body Image?” by Tamara Anderson. She discusses how media in Western culture has a huge influence on image. “And, according to the current literature, one in four women in Western culture will have an eating disorder-anorexia or bulimia-in their lifetimes.” (Anderson 1) This magazine brand overall has effective advertising however; only exemplifies a specific body image of skinny women and does not provide much science-based evidence on the diet methods.