NOW Magazine: A worrying read (Now)

Member Name: Logan33

Product:	Now
Date:	09/02/09 (50 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: some good articles

Disadvantages: massive inconsistancy's regarding health and image perception

NOW magazine is unfortunately going to bear the brunt of my worry regarding womens magazines as it is the one that has most recently annoyed me!!!!

NOW: What is it?

Now magazine is a lady magazine that apparently "Brings you all the celebrity gossip". It will cost you about £1 and for that you will be transported into the world of celebrity's, fashion, beauty, horoscopes, advise, photo's and competitions.....not bad eh! The magazine is in full glossy Technicolor and is tea proof (I spilt mine and not a single drop infiltrated into Holly Willoughby - who, by the way, loves wearing hi heels during sex - according to the headline! Nice).

What are the articles like?

And so my rant begins. Now maybe its just me and I may have missed the point regarding these magazines, but NOW magazines articles were full of inconsistency's all the way through the magazine. Articles were contradicting each other and for me, were sending out a worrying message to anyone reading them.

For Instance, In the last issue I looked at, there was an article on diets and healthy living. Now this article was actually brilliant. It looked in some detail into the psychology of why people over eat. It offered supportive websites, provided a healthy eating plan; including some recipe ideas and also looked at an exercise plan for helping to tone up. Now I used to be a personal trainer and my degree is also in nutrition so I have a keen eye on all things health related. This article was giving out good sound advise for those reading...........................so what's the problem?

Well in the same magazine there was a double spread with pictures of celebrities who had apparently "put on a few pounds". This was ridiculous as ALL of the girls in the picture could never be described as over weight AND in my opinion were either bang on the weight they should be or in some cases were underweight! How can NOW magazine get away with this? The pictures that were taken of course were all cleverly designed to show the worst possible exageration of this perceived weight gain. There is not a person in the land that at some point at the wrong angle and the right amount of shadow may not look there best. For me all of the good work that occurred in the article on health and fitness had been lost. Way to go NOW magazine, your really helping women across the land to have a healthy perception of healthy living and perceived image.

And so to the next article, an extremely frail looking Cheryl Cole was apparently looking "Fabulous" on a night out in London. You could have played a tune on her ribs they were sticking out so far, and the article actually said "She is looking so much better after her recent weight issues". Well done NOW magazine.....now the 1 million regular readers have been given a stick thin example of what is apparently not just normal but "fabulous".

And so the trend repeats itself throughout the magazine, page to page, air brush to air brush, on the one hand saying how beautiful people look, then slagging them off about their weight in the very next edition. It comes as no surprise to read that half of these famous icons have serious issue with eating disorders and/or having surgery, because the reality of their lives is they can never live up to the pictures that are projected in these types of magazines........and in an effort to try, they develop serious physical and psychological problems. In conjunction, the girls reading these magazine are propelled into a world where image appears to be paramount to success or failure. Surely magazines have a moral responsibility to preventing this?

Here is an extract from the Royal College of Psychiatrists depicting some of the issues relating to image perception leading to eating disorders.

This girl thinks Marilyn Monroe is great. She hates Kate Moss. She thinks Kate Moss is thinner than she is.
The girl with anorexia is convinced that she is fat even though she is not. She is so fixed in this belief that it seems like she is being stubborn, or stupid. In fact she has her back to the wall.
She has to be the thinnest person in the world. It's the only way she can survive. She's on a knife edge. Too fat and she has to face the world. Too thin and she dies. Being in the world is so awful she would rather die.


Any form of media has an effect on the way that we think about a subject and I just think that magazines like NOW should understand (maybe they do?!?!?!) the moral implications that some of their articles have upon peoples lives.

Would be interested to hear your thoughts,

Logan

Summary: A worrying influence on how women perceive health and body image