Research: GQ Magazine - December 2017/January 2018 Issue

The December 2017/January 2018 issue of GQ is informative on a variety of subjects, including food, travel, and sports pertaining to men. The cover is dominated by a singular photo of champion basketball player, Kevin Durant, front and centered towards the right. Kevin Durant’s face covers the right-side ending of the GQ logo, while the rest of his figure takes up nearly the entire cover. Only slim spaces on the left, top, and right edges of the magazine are left uncovered by his large photo. The cover has a plain, white background layered with short textual previews of the stories inside the magazine. The magazine utilizes solid, bold colors – primarily white, black, and red. As it has shifted its focus towards personal lifestyle choices for men, the magazine includes articles concerning all aspects of culture and current events, such as “Gifts We Love”, “Gorge Yourself on the New Nostalgia”, and “Men of the Year: Stephen Colbert Makes America Great”. The articles appear in sections towards the middle and end of the magazine due to the frequent inserts of advertisements. Placed one after the other all throughout the magazine, various ads appear for products and brands such as Rolex watches, Bloomingdale’s, and Patron tequila. The table of contents is spread out over multiple pages in between ads and contains the titles and brief summaries of each magazine article. Pertinent large photos serve as the background of each table of contents page. For example, Colin Kaepernick is the background for the table of contents page containing page numbers of articles for “Men of the Year”. The articles also contain photos ranging in size. From miniature photos to large ones that take up entire pages, the number of photos average about 4 per article containing relevant people and events. The distribution number for GQ in the Unites States is approximately 946,726. GQ has not been reported to win any awards for its publications. Unfortunately, this men’s magazine is frequently criticized for various tendencies, such as its sexism in its portrayal of women.