An Analysis of a Men's Health Magazine Cover

Here we have a magazine cover from the popular “Men’s Health” issue. One could simply state that this cover was made to inspire young men the positives of looking like the man on the front cover, while giving tips and advice along the way to fulfill this life long goal, or one could look much more in depth and see the actual purpose of every detail put into this cover and what it’s really implying.

This magazine cover grabs the attention of the unhealthy or people wanting to be healthy and fit.  They use a handsome young man to portray the dream of many young men striving to be lean, muscular and fit. His serious expression implies that he knows what he’s doing, and is also driven to keep this so called “ideal body” suggesting he’s motivated and others should be like him. The sepia color in his skin tone brings extra attention to his muscular features, making Paul Walker look that much better, sharpening the intensity of his physical features like the cuts in his arms and also grabbing the attention of more and more subscribers along the way.

People who made this magazine cover are obviously trying to attract younger men who are driven to be fit and look like men like Paul Walker. They use bold words to entice fellow readers of tips and advice on how to achieve this picture idea they are portraying. Slogans such as “10 Ways to Grow Muscle Fast!” makes the idea of building muscle seem so easy, inviting customers into the magazine to read this interesting information, who are hoping to achieve this personal goal.  Another slogan they use “The BEST Abs Exercise” the word ABS is enlarged in bold simply to draw attention to one of the many features any guy would like to improve on himself. All these different slogans basically entice those in need of sex appeal to then attract members of either the same or opposite sex, as well as hoping to improve their self-esteem along the way.

Overall this magazine uses simple details such as oversized lettering and bolded words to attract customers, using sexy people to induce people in wanting their ideal sex appeal. Customers are drawn in immediately by the “perfect” body they dream of and instantly want to learn more in order to achieve that goal and eventually look like “that guy on the magazine cover”.