Cosmopolitan started back in 1886 but did not become a women's magazine until 1965. Cosmo, for the most part, is appealing toward women. The magazine has articles about improving one's sex life, upping one's style, and getting in shape. But who is Cosmo's target audience and what is the demographic behind it?
Many of Cosmo's articles seem to deal with improving sex. On the front cover of the March 2012 issue, they give a preview as to what readers should expect in the issue. The two the pieces of text that stand out the most are "Your Orgasm Guaranteed: The New Trick Experts Swear By" and "50 Sex Tips," both are found on the front cover next to a very mature looking Selena Gomez wearing a slightly revealing dress (complete opposite to what she was wearing while she was involved with Disney). The magazine is filled with advertisements from advertising perfume (there's a delightful sample inside the March issue) to advertising make-up. Some of the articles are also trying to sell products. For example, there's a section in the magazine that talks about taking care of one's skin. It lists all sorts of products available for dry skin, normal skin, and acne (few of the items listed are below $30). This is being used to sell beauty and make girls feel that they aren't beautiful without these products "fixing" them.
Further in the issue readers begin to find the more sexual content. There's an article in it to teach girls how to walk in to a room and draw all the attention away from "those bitches." Near the end are the sex tips which are rather shocking. Even going onto the Cosmo website, they have a picture near the bottom representing the sex position of the day.
The majority of Cosmo's readers are female between the ages of 18 and 34; the majority is also single. The magazine also appeals more to an audience that makes $30,000+ a year. It's not exactly middle class and it makes sense, there aren't any upper class products advertised in the magazine so it's safe to say that the readers are living on a budget. The total number of people that read Cosmo is about 18 million with 15 million being female. Men are most likely reading this to figure out what women want. It would also explain why some of the ads seem rather sexual and seem to be aimed at men even if the product is not meant for them.
Cosmo is a very interesting magazine and it is meant mainly for women. For men looking to find out more about their female counterparts, it takes patience and courage to work through the magazine since many men may find the content to be shocking. It's one thing to hear about it from someone but it's another to actually read it.
Mike -- yes, Cosmo is filled with sex and its readers have a rather low average income ($30K is low for magazine readers). So...if you were a marketer, what could you advertise here? Who is a "typical" Cosmo reader? Think about the point of this exercise -- it's not just to get to you read a women's magazine, it's to help you think about the matchmaking function of magazines, bringing customers and marketers together in shopping bliss.
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