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Micaela Martinez
ENC 1101
Ashley Humphries
6 Mar 2015
In the February 2015 issue cover for Cosmopolitan Magazine, Kylie Jenner is the center
of attention. Throughout the entire cover, ever detail ties in with Jenner, which is a common
aspect in all Cosmopolitan covers. Most, if not all, magazines and other forms of media tie in the
visual and written texts to promote or advertise an idea. More times than not, we do not even
realize that advertisements do this. Cosmopolitan is very notorious for doing these said things in
their magazine. Some of these things include the placement, color, font, and lighting of the visual
and written texts which are used to grasp the readers attention.
Cosmo Magazine is very formulaic with their covers and everything on the cover has a
purpose, from the placement of the text to the lighting of the cover. In the February 2015 issue
specifically, the first thing that screamed out to me was the text placed next to Kylie Jenners
face, Hot Tips for Hot Lips + Hair + Skin + Nails. A huge reason why this specific text popped
out to me is because Kylies lips and rumored lip enhancement have been the talk of the town for
a few weeks now, as well as her new hair line, Kylie Hair Kouture. From this, readers look over
to Kylies lips and might think wow how can I get my lips and hair to look like hers, or
anything along those lines.
Look Sexy Now for who? For me? Or for men who treat me like a piece of meat? I can
hear all the feminists screaming from a distance every month when a new issue of Cosmo comes
out. Cosmo Magazine is supposed to be made for women, but really, all this magazine does is

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promote unrealistic standards of beauty, and give you tips on how to please your man. I can go
the feminist route and completely bash this magazine, though I dont really care much about the
movement myself. This magazine is actually directed towards men, which is something known
as the male gaze theory.

Kite, Lexie, and Lindsay Kite. "Cosmo Magazine: The Best-Seller That Sells Women Short."
BEAUTY REDEFINED. N.P., 04 Jan. 2012. Web. 25 Feb. 2015.

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Pritchard, Annette, and Nigel J. Morgan. "Annals of Tourism Research." Privileging the Male
Gaze: Gendered Tourism Landscapes 27.4 (2000): 884-905. ScienceDirect. 2 Nov. 2001.
Web. 25 Feb. 2015.