Most people do not know this, but when you look at a magazine each advertisement has been strategically placed based on specific guidelines created by each company being advertised. If a magazine wants the company's money, they need to comply with their rules. For instance, Burger King would not want their ad placed next to an editorial about health, and weight control. Magazines are not permitted to badmouth a product that they advertise. For instance most magazines don't give bad movie ratings; they only talk about the good ones. Why? As stated in Gloria Steinem's article, "If you have nothing nice to say, do not say anything at all". A company will not want to advertise to a magazine in order to try to sell their product if the magazine in going to write about its product in a way that would make it less appealing to consumers. For example, in the August 2013 edition of Cosmopolitan has an editorial called "Cosmo Campus: New School Year, New You!" In it are pictures of five different celebrities and next to them, certain products which they seem to insinuate that these celebrities use. For instance, next to a picture Julianne Hough's edgy bob cut, is a picture of a particular brand of hair glue and where to get it and for how much. Flip to another page and there are the "how-to's" which shows not only step by step exactly how to get the look that the beautiful model in the picture has, but also conveniently, which products to use. .
It seems that every single advertisement in a magazine like Cosmo, is specifically targeted to women, but not to the liberated successful women of today. All of these ads are either for makeup, hair products, fashion, or food; and that is definitely no coincidence. Not many electronic or car companies believe that there is not a women's market for their products and do not want to waste their money trying to sell do a market which they believe to be nonexistent.
