Marjorie Ferguson Modes of Address

You will analyse magazine images and produce a list describing the modes of address.

Key words: Marjorie Ferguson. Chocolate box. Invitational. Smiler. Romantic.

Scopophilia; from Greek "love of looking", is deriving pleasure from looking. As an expression of sexuality, it refers to sexual pleasure derived from looking at erotic objects: erotic photographs, pornography, naked bodies, etc.

Categorizing facial expressions

Marjorie Ferguson 1980

 Identified four types of facial expression in the cover of women’s magazines:

Chocolate Box: half or full-smile, lips together or slightly parted, teeth barely visible, full or three-quarter face to camera. Projected mood: blandly pleasing, like a warm bath, where uniformity of features in their smooth perfection is devoid of uniqueness or of individuality.

Invitational: emphasis on the eyes, mouth shut or with only a hint of a smile, head to one side or looking back to camera. Projected mood: suggestive of mischief or mystery, the hint of contact potential rather than sexual promise, the cover equivalent of advertising’s soft sell.

Super-smiler: full face, wide open toothy smile, head thrust forward or chin thrown back, hair often wind-blown. Projected mood: aggressive, ‘look-at-me’ demanding, the hard sell, ‘big come-on’ approach.

Romantic or Sexual: a fourth and more general classification devised to include male and female ‘two-somes’; or the dreamy, heavy-lidded, unsmiling big-heads, or the overtly sensual or sexual. Projected moods: possible ‘available’ and definitely ‘available’.

Task 1: 

Ferguson undertook this work over 15 years ago. Explore her theory to see if it still  applies.

Look at a range of magazines and try to categorise them according to Ferguson. 

Pick two covers of women’s magazines. 

Identify the mode of address. Consider what they suggest women are like, what they are interested in. What they are NOT like and NOT interested in. 

Look at the main photo and any other images, the cover lines, the language used as well as the content, and list of the following:

• What do women look like, according to the covers?

• What are women interested in, according to the covers?

• What things are they NOT interested in (ie things that the cover lines don’t, er, cover)?

• Describe women’s personalities according to the covers.

Write 200-300 words on blogs

Do this exercise on a new post on your blog call it Marjorie Ferguson modes of address.