Leisure and Wealth

Leisure and Wealth

Valerye AntantisCMC 100 – Paper 2

Magazines

• The New Yorker: politics/social issues/art/literature• Wired: business technology• The Atlantic: literary/cultural commentary• Newsweek: news/business

• Audience: Young, upwardly mobile, educated people (or people who see themselves this way)

• Paper will analyze how leisure is marketed to this demographic

I. Type/Location of Ad• Most pages with advertisements in the first half (2 quarters) of the magazine

New Yorker- 1-1/4: 65% 2-1/4: 52% (3-1/4: 16%, 4-1/4: 32%)Wired- 1-1/4: 68% 2-1/4: 60% (3-1/4: 52%, 4-1/4: 22%)The Atlantic- 1-1/4: 72% 2-1/4: 41% (3-1/4: 34% 4-1/4: 70% )Newsweek- 1-1/4: 47% 2-1/4: 44% (3-1/4: 33% 4-1/4: 26%)

• Advertisements in the second half of the magazine (where actual content/cover stories appear) are smaller, located in the margins of the text, and are more numerous

New Yorker- 83% (of 16% pages with ads in the 3-1/4) are full or partial column ads, 92% (of 32% pages/ads in 4-1/4)

Wired- 45% (of 52% pages with ads in 3-1/4) are full column, and 67% (of 22% pages with ads in 4-1/4) are full or partial column

The Atlantic- 10% (of 34% pages with ads in 3-14) are full column, and 77% full or partial column (of 70% pages with ads in 4-1/4)

Newsweek- 25% (of 26% pages with ads in 4-1/4) are full column• Products advertised (mostly travel, cars, “tech” and financial services)

The New Yorker: Accessories (17%), clothing (16%), travel (16%), art (11%), education & medicine (each at 7%)

Wired: “Tech” items (like televisions, computers, cameras- 31%), cars (18%), accessories (all watches- 11%), also alcohol (7%) and phones (10%)

The Atlantic: Cars (16%), books (16%), travel (16%), financial services (10%) Newsweek: environmental/economic (33%), financial services (12%), medicine (12%)

II. People in the ads• Ads with people:

New Yorker: 30%▫ Mostly women alone (43%), then men alone (21%) and couples (17%)

Wired: 36% ▫ Mostly men alone (57%), then women alone (20%), and two men (13%)

The Atlantic: 60%▫ Mostly men alone (44%), then women alone (32%), and couples (16%)

Newsweek: 38%▫ Mostly men alone (38%) and groups (mixed gender, 25%)

• Race: (Mostly white men and women) New Yorker:

▫ White men: 47%, white women: 47%, asian women: 3%, black women: 3% Wired:

▫ White men: 60%, white women: 21%, black men 15%, racially ambiguous males 3% The Atlantic:

▫ White men: 46%, white women 39%, black women 8%, black men %, asian women 2% Newsweek:

▫ White men: 48%, white women: 29%, black women: 18%, asian men: 5%• Identity:

35% are doing leisure activities, 34% are in professional/work setting, 19% are travelling or abroad, and 12% are posing with a product.

• Ads without people Advertising mostly tech products like televisions and computers (13%), cars (11%), travel

(10%), accessories (mostly watches, 9%), education/books (7%), “green” ads with economic emphasis (6%) financial services (5%)

III. Overt Connections to Culture & Wealth•Topic

▫Many ads are about financial services, special credit cards, luxury items and travel abroad, which links to both wealth and culture

-Rosetta stone ads, airline ads- Vanguard, economics/environmentalism

•Setting/appearance▫Class signifiers: style of dress, activities▫Work signifiers: professional style of dress,

briefcase, laptop•Copy

▫Many ads make reference to quality, excellence, being “the best”

Ads