We bring to your attention reviews of two popular glossy family magazines, published in Russia for many years by the largest publishing house "Hearst". To what extent the declared topics correspond to the content, and what can the audience learn from acquaintance with such “literature”.
Domashny Ochag magazine
Domashny Ochag magazine is a monthly magazine with a circulation of 280 thousand copies and a volume of 170 pages. According to the official version, this is an informative and educational magazine for family reading, dedicated to health, family, beauty, career, relationships, love. Each issue contains interesting articles, a huge amount of practical and useful advice, stories of readers and show business stars. Began to publish in Russia since 1995.
For analysis, I took the June 2019 issue. Of 172 pages, the reader is presented with 25 full pages of advertising only. The magazine contains both direct advertising of various cosmetic products, and covered with articles from "experts of cosmetic companies." For example, expert Garnier shared the opinion that women use little sunscreen, which needs to be applied to the body in much more. The emphasis is on research by Western scientists with a hint of some kind of advertising product. The magazine contains a lot of advice on self-preparation of cosmetic substances, the recipes of which are quite complicated, and you need to spend a lot of time on their use, and whether they will bring real benefits is a big question. The used vocabulary of articles is replete with inappropriate borrowings from other languages (often English),which, taking root, "pollute" and disfigure the Russian language.
Present in the magazine and advice on choosing clothes for the summer season. Well, advice - the reader has already chosen what he should want to wear, and signed the exact names of these products.
A separate place is occupied by interviews of women famous in show business, the meaning of which is that the increasing introduction of high technologies into life is fashionable and popular, and being strong and independent is always good.
Promotional video:
“It's time to see a psychologist with a child” - an article with such a title makes it clear that you don't need to raise a child on your own, explain what is good and what is bad, show positive examples and get out of difficult situations together, and in any difficult case, you should immediately go to a psychologist …
The article "Why We Changed Our Mind to Divorce" introduces the reader to 4 stories that show people who were frustrated and unhappy in family life. After reading it, you understand that it was better for them to get a divorce.
Russian Domashny Ochag is a licensed product of the global brand Good Houskeepin, which belongs to the largest publishing house Hearst. This brand also owns such famous glossy magazines as Elle, Elle girl, Elle decoration, Maxim, Marie Claire, Happy Parents, Psychologies, Departures, Antenna-Telesem, StarHit, Around the World. Most of these journals contain empty and destructive information, and many of the articles are simply reprints of English materials previously published in Western journals.
In connection with the above, we can conclude that the Domashny Ochag magazine, like other glossy publications of the Hearst corporation, teaches the reader:
- live a consumer lifestyle;
- pay undue attention to your appearance;
- health problems, appearance, body? - chemistry will help!
- forget the Russian language, replacing Russian words with Western counterparts;
- abandon the usual institution of the family;
- waste time studying and preparing various useless foods;
- unconditionally trust the opinion of purchased or fake experts;
- that children are a burden and evil;
- not self-raising children.
