Advertising throughout magazines

Is there to much advertising in magazines? Are magazines becoming just another tool to persuade society into materialistic needs, and are magazines now just a commercial tool for advertising companies? This question is often raised by magazines readers, however on the other hand can magazines survive without companies paying to place advertisements in the magazine.

Magazines are one of the important avenues advertisers seek to promote their goods. Advertisers are willing to pay for the attractive pages of a magazine as well as fight for prominence with in a magazine, for advertising companies recognize the power of being seen in particular magazine and on particular pages. Recognition of the wide audiences made available through magazine readership has ensured advertising companies use this tool of communication to advertise everything from woman’s razors, and the latest Gucci clothing to sports cars and holidays. However, it can be argued that Advertisements are beginning to take over the magazines content. For example, the Vogue October 2007 edition displayed purely advertisements for the first 40 pages. After these 40 pages the reader arrived at the first content page, and in the following pages every second page would display an advertisement. Throughout the whole magazine, even if there was a page that wasn’t an intended advertisement, the page would contain the brand of the clothing the model was wearing, where to get it, how much it costs and a phone number to call and order.

Thus it can be seen why many readers of magazines are frustrated and feeling that advertising is taking over magazines. Within magazines selected advertising companies, due to the power of money, have a large influence over editorial content and lay out of magazines thus, poising the question, how much of our favorite magazines is stylized with the sole intention of persuading us into a purchase a product? Clearly it can be argued that an advertising frenzy is occurring within magazines making this popular media tool a commercialized area to further sell and influence its readers.

On the other hand, it is a fact that advertising is a necessary component of a magazine production and without this the magazine will most likely fail. Within the production of a magazine there are three areas necessary to keep the magazine alive: editorial, advertising and circulation. Editorial must keep the reader interested and provide what the reader wants, circulation shows to the advertisers that the magazine has the audience they desire, and advertising provides the funds to keep the magazine alive. So, if all three work together there should not be the perception that is currently around, that magazines are becoming one of the biggest advertising tools in today’s mass media.