GQ: Media- Paper 1 section A

• GQ: Product context

  • GQ started as Gentleman’s Quarterly in 1931, originally for the fashion industry insiders.
  • Customer popularity led to a rebranding as GQ in 1967.
  • Now produced by Condé Nast, GQ has expanded into a multiplatform brand.
  • The magazine is available in both print and digital formats, with a well-regarded website and applications.
• GQ is aimed at ABC1 men aged between 20 and

  44, it is mostly funded by magazine sales and advertising.
• The magazine cover features a gold font for its title in the top left corner, signifying luxury and exclusivity.
• A cohesive color scheme of black, white, gold, and orange reinforces themes of luxury, sophistication, and masculinity.
• Raheem Sterling, a celebrity footballer, is featured to captivate the audience with star appeal.
• The cover price suggests the magazine targets an ABC1 demographic with disposable income.
• The cover is designed to appeal to men interested in fashion, celebrity, sports, politics, and music.
• Sterling’s direct gaze and cool expression suggest admiration and aspiration, enhancing the cover's personal touch.
• His outfit conveys high fashion rather than functionality, indicating GQ's focus on lifestyle.
• Sterling is presented as a "Guardian Angel" for football, alluding to his efforts against racism, further framed by his angel wing tattoo.
• Cover lines about fashion advice position GQ as a guide for maintaining a fashionable appearance.
• Exclusive content teases such as "GQ Heroes" and "All the sizzle" imply unique celebrity insights within the issue.
• Political content is teased with sensational language about Andy Burnham’s plans for Manchester, offering readers serious journalism alongside entertainment and fashion.
• Historically, British black men have faced underrepresentation on magazine covers due to systemic racism.
• A 2018 Guardian study showed only 9.3% of covers featured people of color despite BAME individuals making up 13.7% of the UK population.
• Despite minimal change in diversity representation in magazine front covers, Vogue, under editor Edward Enninful since 2017, has celebrated all forms of beauty, including blackness.
• The 2020 anti-racism protests contributed to a more diverse range of ethnicities on British GQ covers.
• In 1994, journalist Mark Simpson coined 'Metrosexual', indicating a societal shift allowing men to care about their appearance, which men's magazines adopted.
• Simpson also introduced 'spornosexuals' in 2014, referring to men extremely focused on body image, reflected in GQ's choice of cover images like Sterling's showcasing physical fitness.
• Raheem Sterling called out racial inequality in the British press in December 2018, using his platform to shed light on disparate treatment of black football players.
• Incidents of racism in the same week corroborated Sterling's concerns, leading to his emergence as a key spokesperson for social causes off the field, as stated by Gary Lineker.
• British Jamaican football star Raheem Sterling is featured on GQ’s cover, serving as an aspirational figure beyond his sporting prowess, embodying desirable principles and a strong work ethic.
• Sterling is presented shirtless with tattoos, reinforcing hypermasculine ideals, and his attributes are symbolized through imagery like the cross for his faith and black wings suggesting extraordinary talent.
• The cover constructs Sterling as a guardian figure advocating for justice, underlined by the "Guardian Angel" headline and his dominant stance which signifies confidence.
• The main cover line implies Sterling has had a significant impact beyond football, shaping him as an influencer, with visual cues linking success to wealth through accessories like silver jewelry.
• Other men mentioned on the cover, like Andy Burnham and Machine Gun Kelly, are portrayed as successful, fulfilling genre norms of men's magazines by showcasing achievement in different realms.
• The magazine cover suggests modern societal expectations for men to attain health, wealth, and physical strength, resembling the consumerism-driven messaging found in women's lifestyle magazines, promoting acquisitions such as fashion items.