Advertisements in Flex Activity

I realized while commenting on classmate's blogs today that I have never posted the results of our in-class activity looking at the advertisements in men's exercise magazines.  I analyzed the January 2001 Muscle and Fitness magazine using the techniques of White and Gillett's "Reading the Muscular Body: A Critical Decoding of Advertisements in Flex Magazine" (1994).

When looking at the ads in Muscle and Fitness, I found several interesting differences from the results of White and Gillett's 1994 study.  While the categories of ads in the magazine and the percentage of ads in each catergory were similar, I had a few significant differences.  I had a much higher number of "Knowledge systems" ads and a much lower number of "Bodybuilding equipment" ads than White and Gillett's 1994 study.  I also found a seventh category to include, which tied for the 3rd most frequent type of ad.  This would be the self titled "Other" category.

While this may seem to lump many items into one, this was a category for advertisements that have nothing to do with bodybuilding.  This includes Tide detergent and many other products you might not expect in a bodybuilding magazine, making up over seven percent of the advertisements I counted.  I believe this is a significant change in the 7 years from the publishing of this volume of Muscle and Fitness and the publishing of Whie and Gillett's 1994 study.  This could indicate that Muscle and Fitness has gone more mainstream and is appealing to a broader, or at least larger, audience than before.  Depending upon your opinion of this magazine, this could be a positive or negative thing.

One thing that did not change were the themes of the majority of ads.  From a man lifting a cow over his head, to the traditional 28 days later pictures, to a woman on her knees begging a buff man for Hydroxycut, Muscle and Fitness, as well as similar magazines, continues to have advertisements that attempt to position readers as inferior, promise transformation, and promote hegemonic masculinity (White & Gillett, 1994).