Analysis on Rolling Stone

The magazine I've chosen to do my analysis on is the October 2012 Rolling Stone. Rolling stone is an extremely popular magazine involving music, liberal politics and popular culture. When you think about the target audience of this particular magazine you couldn't immediantly categorise it into a single genre or social group as it’s a sort of magazine that can relate to most people, this is from its popular celebrity’s that fill the covers and it’s inside contents which involves all sorts of different sections including music from pop/country to rock and roll, movie reviews and book reviews. Something from each of these sections can appeal to most people making it a magazine that is really good at fitting in with the style of all types of different people.

However when you take the October issue, which covers Taylor Swift, you can take different bits from the cover to get a estimated choice of who the target audience is likely to be. Taylor Swift is a popular country/pop artist, who has fans of all ages and sexes, so they’d be a very big target audience, but forgetting who it is on the front cover you can get a different vibe. Her position on the floor along with her brushing her hair from her face could be giving out a look of being sexy, or showing that’s she’s grown up a lot and is coming into her age more than other’s may have previously thought, also the way her hair is positioned and the make-up she’s wearing almost gives out a ‘dirty trashy’ look which with all this combine would defiantly be a stereotypical look that men would fine attractive and appealing, plus she’s showing off her legs so from just the main image of her, it’s got more of a men’s magazine look to it.

The sub heading ‘the heartbreak kid’ goes well with the clothes she’s wearing, the jacket that covers her shoulders seems more like that’s it a men’s jacket, which could suggest she’s very popular with boys, and has a reputation either as being the one who get’s with loads of guys and breaks their hearts, or they’re the ones who break her heart, which could explain her messy hair and scruffy make-up resulting from a break up. The sub heading would intrigue readers, making them want to see what it’s all about, the target audience being fans of her’s, or any casual reader could be wondering where she got this reputation from.

The next subheading ‘the 2012 hot list’ which are the best, brightest and baddest things in 2012, which concludes of music, technology and fighters, which can be a relatable issue to anyone. Down the left side of the cover, there are two subheadings ‘Rod Stewart's Wild Moments’ and ‘Lennon’s Lost Letters’, these are two very popular musical artists whom have been around for the last 50 years or more, so even from these two small headings, it could really be appealing for the older audience and generation to read up on these classic musicians who were and still are worldly known.

To conclude, if you had to place this magazine from the cover into a separate audience, it would most likely to appeal to men because of the attractive perhaps innocent image placed upon the front. Plus all the Taylor Swift fans would be absorbed in from seeing her fill the cover. But from going into detail, this magazine can relate to all people through its subheadings and the way it’s a magazine that involves something that a wide range of audiences can appeal to, through its music, cultural and political issues that fill the magazine it’s done well when trying to appeal to as many people as it can.