Magazine 2018 Abstracts
Satiric magazines in Latin America as Hybrid Alternative Media • Paul Alonso, Georgia Tech • This article explores the cases of two satirical publications—The Clinic (Chile) and Barcelona (Argentina). Through critical humor, visual subversions, and parody, these independent magazines challenged mainstream journalism and official political discourse, offering alternative interpretations about the ruling class and society after traumatic periods—the Pinochet’s military dictatorship in Chile and the 2001 economic crisis in Argentina. This article examines how these satirical publications responded to their respective national contexts by questioning the functioning of power on several levels of society. Through interviews with the editors and content analysis, this study also analyzes the patterns of production and the evolution of the magazines after they became popular and examines how they negotiated their space within the national mediascape. Finally, it suggests the notion of “hybrid alternative media” to describe these publications, which had become part of a liberating process of collective healing. Initially perceived in opposition to mainstream media in contexts when the press’ credibility had decreased, they filled gaps in their society’s political communication.
Selling Yoga ‘Off the Mat’: A 10-year Analysis of Lifestyle Advertorials in Yoga Journal Magazine • nandini bhalla, University of South Carolina; Leigh Moscowitz, University of South Carolina; Jane O’Boyle, Elon University • This content analysis of advertorials from 10 years of Yoga Journal suggests that Health supplements, herbal remedies and lifestyle products such as clothes, shoes were most often featured between 2008 and 2017. The most common format was a regular feature, entitled “Off the Mat,” which promotes yoga lifestyle products identified by the magazine as “our partners.” Implications about the commodification of yoga and the role of advertorials in print magazines are discussed.
So they claim: A content analysis of magazine food advertising techniques and branding. • Clay Craig, Texas State University; Mark Flynn, Emmanuel College; Andrea Bergstrom, Coastal Carolina University • This study addressed a gap in the current literature on food advertising in U.S. magazines. A content analysis of food advertisements from fifteen magazine across five genres (men’s, women’s, health, fashion, and food) was conducted to determine the different tactics (product category, claims, endorsements, and product interaction) used by advertisers. Some key findings suggest: foods high in fat/sugar was the most frequently advertised food category; consumer-focused claims were most common; seals and/or celebrity endorsements were not used often; and more than 15% of ads featured individuals interacting with the food product being advertised. Also, magazine genre and season-based differences were present in the types of food products advertised. The paper concludes with managerial, theoretical, and ethical implications for advertisers when using magazines to promote food-oriented products.
Slam Dunk: An Examination of How Magazines Can Create Loyal Readers • Kevin Hull, University of South Carolina; Joon Kyoung Kim, University of South Carolina; Daniel Haun, University of South Carolina; Matthew Stilwell • As various sports magazines have eliminated print issues, the basketball magazine Slam continues to have a strong and loyal following. Using impression management and social identity theory as a guide, both visual and textual analyses was used to examine the magazine’s covers. Results demonstrate that Slam’s covers were designed for a demographic that is familiar with the players, interested in being on the cutting edge of information, and passionate about the sport of basketball.
Understanding the Process of Construction of Masculinity in Indian Editions of Global Men’s Lifestyle Magazines • Suman Mishra, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville • This case study explores the process through which Indian editions of American and British men’s lifestyle magazines are produced. It shows connections between global strategies and local production of content. It highlights commercial logic, global strategies, formal and informal structures, and power dynamics within which local producers operate and negotiate to create local editions and construct assimilatory hybrid models of masculinity.
Traditional Journalists on Gaming Journalism: Metajournalistic discourse on the rise of lifestyle journalism • Gregory Perreault, Appalachian State University; Tim Vos, University of Missouri • Gaming journalism, which finds its origins in public relations-oriented gaming magazines, attached itself discursively to traditional journalism in the wake of the GamerGate controversy. Yet it is unclear where a journalistic niche like gaming journalism fits within the ecology of journalism. The present study examines metajournalistic discourse regarding gaming journalism from 2010-2018 and analyzes 53 discrete articles about gaming journalism from that period in order to understand how the broader journalistic field conceptualized gaming journalism’s place within it. This study argues that gaming journalism is consigned to a lower and marginal form of journalism due to differences in paradigmatic professional values and journalistic savviness.
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