When I work on something related specifically to the women's market, I have heightened awareness of advertising and marketing issues.
I, and all of my smugness, settled down on the sofa to enjoy a homemade latte and a magazine. While thumbing through the magazine, I began to wonder, "Hey! Where are the women?"
It seemed to me that men were photographed and featured significantly more often than women. Instead of making accusations and assumptions, I decided to count. I wanted data.
I simply thumbed through the magazine and counted the number of female and male images. This included ads, stories, editorial and anything that was not in the small ad section in the back of the magazine. If there was a male and a female featured in a single photo, I didn't count them at all-they cancelled each other out.
I was surprised with what I found. My smugness changed to disappointment.
I checked more magazines, five in total. The magazines are non-gender specific related to outdoor or endurance sports. Here is what I found:
- 6 female, 80 male
- 12 female, 101 male
- 13 female, 55 male
- 38 female, 68 male
- 81 female, 99 male
Go on a magazine hunt and let me know what you find...
I studied women in the media a lot in college; I'm very intrigued by this kind of stuff.
If you don't mind revealing what your magazines #1 and #5 are, I'd be interested in knowing!