PART 3: CRITICAL ANALYSIS

PAPER WORDS AND PICTURES

(NEWSPAPERS, MAGAZINES,
BOOKS)

By: Andrew Smart

Comms 1500
Part 3: Critical Analysis Paper Words and Picture
Andrew Smart

Why did the Kindle succeed in the e-book market where other devices had failed?

I believe the Kindle was such a success because of the company who backed it,
Amazon. On Wikipedia it states Amazon released the Kindle, it's first e-book reader, on
November 19, 2007, for $399. It's sold out in 5 1/2 hours. The device remained out of
stock for five months until late April 2008.
The Kindle succeeded because Amazon is one of the top five booksellers in the
world where they already have a huge archive of books and data. With Amazon already
having such a reputation for bookselling in the used book market it would create the
perfect platform for the tablet which gives the reader access to all of these books. Where
a lot of people like myself are limited on space, the reader is limited to the number of
books they are allowed to have in their possession, so they would have to pick and
choose what physical copies of books they want in their house. Having a Kindle gives the
reader freedom, because it eliminates the problem of storage space. With the Kindle, the
reader can have any book and as many books as they want on their tablet. The
convenience of this tablet is one that you could put in your backpack, briefcase, on
airplane and access it anywhere, anytime and read what you want without bringing a
physical copy of the book, giving the reader a mobile library.

I think the reason why other companies werent as successful with their
tablets/ebook devices as other companies because of Amazon. Amazon already had
everything that would make the Kindle successful, they just didnt have the device to
outsource their stock of books. So when the Kindle came out, they became a success
because they didnt have much more to do to build their library, unlike other ebook
companies who had to create a source hub for all the books they would sell.

How did magazines position women in the new consumer economy at the turn of the 20th
century?
In 1929, home economists and marketing expert, Christine Fredrick published
Selling Mrs. Consumer, a popular book that schooled manufacturers and advertisers in
the art of pitching products to American Women70 years later, womens role as
consumer seems almost a natural one. 1
Captured by the phrase born to shop, shopping once a task of work turned into a
form of leisure during this time. Shopping was placed in public forums like malls and
shopping districts filled with restaurants and other activities to appease women on their
shopping days out making shopping fun. Magazines were also used to strengthen the role
of women as being consumers. The big six womens magazines Ladies Home
Journal, McCalls, Delineator, Womans Home Companion, Pictoral Review, and Good

American Women and the Making of Modern Consumer Culture, author Kathy L Peiss, The Journal for
MultiMediaHistory Volume 1 Number 1 1998: http://www.albany.edu/jmmh/vol1no1/peiss-text.html

Housekeeping were founded from 1885-1910.2 These magazines targeted womens

interests by containing dress patterns and farm journals. Quickly the magazines morphed
into an all purpose trade papers for women as they eventually were stocked with
general interest news, fiction articles, food prep information, fashion and household
management ideas. One thing the big six magazines did was told women to buy namebrand products in a time when most products were unbranded and sold in bulk.
Magazines used strategic layout to secretly tell women they were the consumer.
What the magazine companies would do to implement this strategy is group similar ads
near similar articles. For example, fashion ads near fashion articles, home appliance ads
near housekeeping articles etc. Magazines would also mention name-brands in their
articles, to subtly tell women which brands to trust, so they would go out and buy the
name brand mentioned.
By the 1910s women were considered the main consumer in a household.
Women consumers were considered emotional and impulsive buyers. Advertisement
companies knew women would purchase an item based on the social and psychological
status of a product, so ads were written in a way to target these aspects in women.
Advertisers used a different persuasive tactic when it came to writing for women, "If you
are selling to women, nothing succeeds like a womans view point." Advertising expert
Carl Naether advised copywriters to write "in womans own language," using evocative
words, poetic images, French phrases, and soft touches. Ads, he observed, should imitate

22

American Women and the Making of Modern Consumer Culture, author Kathy L Peiss, The Journal for
MultiMediaHistory Volume 1 Number 1 1998: http://www.albany.edu/jmmh/vol1no1/peiss-text.html

the "intimate conversations" that "take place at the glove counters, in the drug or toilet
preparations department."3
By the 1920s, magazines eventually targeted womens body image. Women at
this time were able to now vote, receive a higher education and were recognized for
having some rights. Views on women were changing, so women were being used more
in the media and began to be portrayed as youthful, beautiful, a sexy.
Looking at this history, we can see how magazines have profited from women as
the consumer. In my findings, I found that men arenot emotional buyers, but are more
apt to buying something if they know the product is good and works well. But because
women are so emotional when it comes to their purchases, women consumer magazines
have become incredibly profitable because they are able to fill pages of articles,
advertisements, news segments, how-to segments etc. with emotional content to subtly
tell women what they really want, and how they should be by using strategic writing
and advertisements. One way they have been able to be so profitable is by using women
as ad copywriters, because they have a life experience of being a woman and know how
to speak to a womans psyche. Asonewomancopywriterobserved,Ifthelastword
andthemostimportantwordisalwaysgoingtobeamansword,Ithinkonawomans
accountthatcouldbedamaging.Mencananddowriteverysuccessfulcopyaimedat
women,statedanother,buttheyhaveaharderjobandmoretoovercomethan
women.4

33

J. Walter Thompson News Bulletin no. 21 (24 October 1916): 2. Carl Naether, Advertising to Women (New York:

Prentice-Hall, 1928), 35. http://www.albany.edu/jmmh/vol1no1/peiss-text.html

44 Nancy Stephenson interview, Sidney Bernstein Papers, J. Walter Thompson Advertising Collection, Duke
University Library, Durham, North Carolina [JWT]; Frances Maule, "The Woman Appeal," J. Walter Thompson News
Bulletin no. 105 (January 1924): 6. http://www.albany.edu/jmmh/vol1no1/peiss-text.html