EWM as a form of advertising

The next section presents further characteristics of EWM as a generic type of discourse.

Popular culture forms such as women’s magazines are in themselves a very significant type of promotional discourse, representing an instance of the broader definition of advertising. Their type of speech is distinctive in terms of informality, of interpersonal elements, of topics related to women’s issues, and other textual parameters, as already seen. Moreover, they produce a range of different signifying materials, part of the

‘information-and-publicity’ discourse (Fairclough), such as agony aunt columns, interviews, horoscopes, EWM etc (see diagram in the beginning of this chapter).

McCracken states:

Understanding women’s magazines as business enterprises and as cultural texts reveals the crucial role of advertising in shaping the cultural content of these publications. Advertising and editorial material are, on a practical level, inseparable in women’s magazines... (McCracken, 1993:3)

The editorial material and the advertising are carefully put together forming a

‘master narrative’ of a ‘woman-centered articulation of the world’ (McCracken, 1993:2).

These publications are not only the vehicle for the advertisement of many products especially for women, but they are in themselves a commodity to be sold (Ballaster et al, 1992).

Advertising companies know and count on the power that women may exert over other women, friends, relatives and people in general in terms of acting in favor of or against certain products. Women’s image as critical, demanding consumers is generally explored on TV, radio and in the press. As industry, commerce and the various sectors of capitalist society need to sell as much as possible so as to make profit, all these sectors somehow want to attract women's attention as they are desirable, potential consumers. The general assumption seems to be that when women buy certain products (which are usually advertised in women's magazines) or recommend these products to their friends or close acquaintances, this will help the wheel of capitalism to continue turning; consequently, more products will be developed to create new ‘necessities’ for the general public. In order to captivate this powerful market, women's magazines serve as vehicles for promoting new products. As such, these magazines must attract women's attention in relation to different aspects of their lives.

Concerning advertising sponsorship in the press, for example, Dyer (1982:67) criticizes the way advertising works in women’s magazines,

In [women’s pages], women are defined as consumers of fashion, cosmetics and domestic goods, and feature articles are biased towards this aspect of women's lives. While there might be no direct endorsement of these consumer commodities, the fact that feature articles are product-related tends to reinforce a stereotypical view of women as mothers, fashion objects and home-makers.

EWM constitute a significant instance of advertising of the magazines, an example of

‘hybrid information-and-publicity (or ‘selling and telling’) discourse’ (Fairclough, 1992a:115), an amalgam of advertising and editorial material (McCracken, 1993), since these texts provide information about features of the issue but they do so stressing the

‘wonderfully useful’ (from ed 30) features in the issue.

I suggest that as advertising, EWM represent a form of the argumentum ad populum, used in argumentation theory, understood as ‘any attempt to use ‘emotively based’ persuasive techniques to arouse the enthusiasm, approval, and desires of a multitude’ (Ballard, in Willard, 1989:230). This kind of argument invites people to accept ideas by means of emotions, by exploiting ‘the bias of an audience toward its own interests’ (Walton, 1992:3-4). Appealing to women’s feelings and thoughts, EWM ultimately exist to advertise the magazine, to win women’s approval of that particular issue of the magazine and of the magazine as a whole.

4.7.1 EWM as hard sell and soft sell

One way to categorize ads has been by the techniques employed, usually referred to as ‘hard sell’ and ‘soft sell’ (see Cook, 1992). Whereas ‘hard sell’ makes a direct appeal,

‘soft sell’ works indirectly, implying that ‘life will be better with the product’ (Cook, 1992:10). In EWM, both techniques are present, since there is a direct appeal for readers to read certain features and buy the magazines, and indirect ways for readers to ‘buy’ the ideas or points of view expressed in the features. Regarding soft sell, there are 60 occurrences of read, including this word as a noun (a quick read, an extraordinary read), as a verb in the past (when I read), and with the modals can and will (you can read all about it; as you’ll read). As soft sell, examples with read include:

Well, on page 27 we're testing...brollies. The last time I used mine, the spokes shot through the side, so I'm off to the brolly shop after a quick read!

You can read his findings on page 128. (ed 22)

Mr Porter assured me it was and you can read his piece on page 174. (ed 30)

As you'll read on page 22, our normally hale and hearty Chief Sub was laid up with hepatitis, but has now been given a clean bill of health (ed 112)

Well, you can read all about it on page 105 and if you manage to concentrate until page 109 you will see the list of symptoms. (ed 30)

Notice that in the last example, from ed 30, the editor uses three indirect appeals: a) the use of the particle Well, serving as a modalizer; b) the use of the modal can, in you can read (showing ambiguity, meaning you are allowed to or I allow you to do so); and c) the use of a conditional clause referring to readers’ concentration complemented with another clause with the modal will predicting a frame for the future. It seems that soft sell ads become ideologically more powerful than hard sell, since they disguise their persuasive power and may work by means of ‘implicit assumptions’, that is, by causing women to believe that they should have the beliefs referred to indirectly, as the examples above show.

Different from soft sell, examples of the 22 occurrences of hard sell with the verb read in the imperative include:

eling. She also said ‘most men’ didn't matter. Read her piece on page 176. On a Sunday mornin 're serious. We said, Here's your plane ticket. Read his Danger -- the Kampf fires are burning on pa reason other than the woman doesn't fancy you.’ Read How men feel about sexual rejection on page ed balloon. Her trip didn't go as planned. Read In the line of fire on page 82. You can ask it. We've all said it, if only to ourselves.) Read Irma Kurtz's But I love him on page 138 and you

The direct request with the imperative form Read is typical of hard sell ads. There are many other occurrences of imperative form, such as:

Don't miss it! (ed 13)

So don't get caught out: DO IT TODAY. (ed 17)

And are office affairs a good idea? See Ros Miles's piece on page 115. (ed 22) Turn to page 63 for more. (ed 43)

Turn to page 23 to see how we got there. (ed 76)

Want a free bottle of Eden eau de parfum? Write and tell me what you think of this issue. (ed 115)

The verb turn in the imperative form together with the circumstantial to page...

frequently occurred with an if conditional clause before, indicating, thus, a direct and an indirect appeal, typical of both hard and soft sell. For example:

If you're in the throes of the greatest love affair of the century turn to page 65. (ed 29)

We decided to try the prediction business ourselves, so if you want to know who's who, what's what and what will be The Next Big Thing, turn straight to page 24. (ed 33)

If you recognise yourself in any of these categories, turn straight to page 20. (ed 36)

And if you've ever caught yourself asking your partner, ‘What are you thinking, darling?’

and then regretted it, turn straight to page 96. (ed 58)

If you have a wedding or christening to go to this summer, turn to page 26. (ed 111)

In these cases, different problematic situations are created for readers before the direct demand is put forward.

4.7.2 EWM as covert advertisement

Advertising and editorial texts together form an integrated whole, a cultural continuum, and it is difficult to establish a definite boundary between what is strictly an ad or editorial material. Language, photographs, images, color, and placement comprise ‘a complex semiotic system’ (McCracken, 1993:13) which interact to produce meanings, to produce a natural, harmonious and logic sequence, which stimulates consumerism.

As advertising texts, women's magazines are 'an integrated cultural whole in which covert ads and overt ads interact continuously with one another and with the minimal non-advertising material in each issue' (McCracken, 1993:81). McCracken makes the distinction between overt and covert advertisements: overt advertisements are purchased ads, and covert advertisements are the promotional elements disguised as editorial material. Covert advertisements in women's magazines, which may be verbal or non-verbal, link ads to editorial material in a disguised way.

Among the techniques of covert advertisements, relay devices or relay texts play an important part. Relay devices or relay texts are techniques of disguise which prepare 'readers to be positively disposed to other ads and features', and they are part of the 'planned integration of the editorial and advertising material' (McCracken, 1993:46-7).

According to McCracken, some relay texts include the cover, the table of contents, color, the horoscope and the editor's introductory column, which I refer to as editorial. Thus, EWM function as a kind of covert advertisement, as they point to what follows, signal ahead, and prepare readers to create a positive frame towards the content of the magazine.

In this sense, EWM are similar to the cover:

The cover functions as an interpretive lens for what follows by offering us pre-embedded definitions through the magazine's title, the headlines, and the photo. Syntax, tone, color, visual

images of beauty and success, and covert images of consumption work to position us favorably to the magazine's content. (McCracken, 1993:36-7)

I suggest that EWM also function as an interpretive lens for what follows, in the sense that editors 'talk' to readers about specific features or topics which are developed in the issue. These texts function as a preview of what is inside the magazine, just as the cover and headlines do. The difference is that EWM are written in the format of a letter, as in most weeklies, or as if they were a short feature, in the case of most monthly magazines. In ed 5, for instance, the editor points to the booklet The Target Diet and the recipe Crispy Duck shown in subsequent parts of the issue, evaluating them positively.

Another group of covert advertisements suggested by McCracken (1993) are the sweepstakes, promotions and contests of all kinds, which are also found in EWM. For example:

In the glamorous ballroom of London's Langham Hilton hotel, SHE's winning Jugglers of the Year quaffed champagne, dined on fine food and wine and accepted their glittering prizes. (ed 61)

Congratulations to all our prize winners and thank you all for your lovely letters. (ed 83)

So why not join us -- and give your family the chance to win our fundraisers' competition! (ed 106) To add to the fun, we've a lively ‘spot the difference’ competition. And with 1,000 worth of Marks &

Spencer vouchers to be won, it's certainly worth trying your luck! (ed 113)

Want a free bottle of Eden eau de parfum? Write and tell me what you think of this issue. See you next month. (ed 115)