Sex Sells: An Analysis of Cosmopolitan Magazine Covers (1965-2005)

Abstract and Summary of Findings

Cosmopolitan is the best selling young women’s magazine in the world, with 64 worldwide editions available in 35 languages, sold in more than one hundred countries. Since its transition to a women’s magazine in 1965, Cosmopolitan covers have depicted society’s perception of the ideal woman, and both its “cover girls” and cover stories have become increasingly sexually explicit. From a review of 18 covers, six each year in 1965, 1985, and 2005, it is evident that Cosmopolitan has used sex to sell magazines by increasing the sex factor in the way the cover girls dress, the type of shot and cover headlines. However, in those 40 years, there has been no change in the race of the cover girls, as all 18 covers analyzed solely depicted white women as cover girls.

Summary of Previous Studies

The previous study by Lambiase and Reichert (2006) explores how women on magazine covers are used to sell magazines to young adult males and how Maxim magazine influenced other men’s magazines, such as Details. GQ, Rolling Stone, and Esquire, to sexualize their covers to compete with Maxim. Coding categories of the prior research by Lambiase and Reichert were used for this study, specifically the categories of “sex factor” – or as they put it, “sexual tone,” cover girls’ clothing and the type of camera shot.

The previous study by Maslow (2015) investigates how the “ideal American woman” has changed over the years through a content analysis of women depicted on Cosmopolitan magazine covers from 1959 to 2014. Parts of the coding sheet for this study were adapted from Maslow’s study, including the type of shot, the cover girl’s dress attributes, race, and facial expression, and the cover headline topics. Maslow’s study additionally coded cover girls for hair length and color, eye color, perceived age, body type, makeup, imperfections, jewelry and tattoos – factors that were not used in this study for relevance purposes.

Corpus and Method

The corpus for this study consists of 18 Cosmopolitan magazine covers over a 40 year period, from 1965 to 2005. Six covers are analyzed for each year studied (1965, 1985, 2005). The method used for this study is a quantitative content analysis, in which each “cover girl” is coded for her facial expression (smiling or not smiling), her dress attributes (demure, suggestive, partially clad, and nude), the type of camera shot (close up, semi-close up, three quarter, between three quarter and full body, and full body), sex factor and race, and each cover headline topic is coded for relationships/men, sex, beauty, style, career, and health/fitness/weight loss. The purpose of this study is to explore whether the perception of the “ideal” sexy and beautiful American woman has changed over time, and, if so, whether or to what extent Cosmopolitan has influenced the change based on the women and content it chose to portray on its covers.

Findings

Analysis of the 18 Cosmopolitan covers reveals that the magazine has increasingly sexualized its cover girls and cover topics as a way to sell magazines since 1965. There was little variance in whether the cover girl was smiling or not smiling between 1956 and 2005. Likewise, there was no variance in the race of the women depicted on the covers. Of the 18 covers coded, no cover girl was a woman of color, showing a general bias against a woman of color as the ideal beautiful woman. However, there was an evident transition in the type of cover girl shot from 1965 to 2005. In 1965, the women depicted were shot either from the head or breasts up, whereas, in 2005, all cover girls were shot from the knees up. The transition between focusing on the face to the entire body illustrates how the ideal woman has changed from just a pretty face to a sexualized body. Additionally, there was a visible progression in the way the cover girls were dressed. In 1965 and 1985, a majority of the cover girls were demurely dressed, meaning their clothes were somewhat modest or a more every-day style. However, in 2005, all six cover girls were dressed suggestively, with partially exposed breasts or cleavage. In 1965, none of the six girls cover girls had a sex factor, while in 1985, five of the six cover girls were deemed not sexual. However, in 2005 all six cover girls were seen as being sexual, primarily because of the way they were posed or dressed. For instance, Avril Lavigne is depicted on the June 2005 cover tugging down on her pants in a sexually suggestive fashion.

From 1965 to 2005, Cosmopolitan also transitioned from cover stories about relationships and health to solely sex. In 1965 and 1985, a majority of the Cosmopolitan cover headlines discussed men and relationships or health and fitness. For instance, the September 1965 cover headline said, “How Yoga Can Change Your Life ‒ From an Amazing New Book.” Whereas, in 2005 all six cover headlines were about sex, including “69 Sex Tricks: Mattress moves so good he’ll forget his own name… but remember yours forever,” “Ultimate Sexual Pleasure,” and “101 Sex Tips.” Of the 18 covers analyzed, none discussed women’s careers, beauty or style, which other magazines seem to prioritize.

Conclusion and Ideas for Future Research

In conclusion, since its transition to a women’s magazine in 1965, Cosmopolitan has increasingly used sex to sell magazines by depicting sexy, beautiful women as cover girls. The type of shot, the cover girls’ dress attributes, the cover headline topics, and the sex factor of the cover girl have all become increasingly sexualized over the years. A future study could use a comparative content analysis among different women’s magazine covers, such as Vogue, Elle, and InStyle, to observe how different magazines strategically use sex to sell publications and whether the extent of a magazine’s sexual exploitation of women correlates with its popularity. Another prospective study could explore the changes in magazine covers and content depending on the editor at the time of its publication.

Charts of Findings

Magazine Covers Coded