The National Geographic

Once again, I am here to write about…things, surprising right? Well this week, although it is only my second post I’m going to be changing it up quite a bit. Along with my original assignment of choosing, supporting, and following a non-profit of my choosing, I also had another chance to flex my choice muscle to decide upon reading a magazine! My choices this time around were National Geographic, Details, Rolling Stone, and Vanity Fair. This time ill cut to the chase and fill you in…I chose National Geographic. Why? I’m not actually sure, it seemed more AJ-like and I thought it’d go along quite well with my choice to follow the WildAid non-profit, which in hind-site…was completely true, but I’ll touch on that in another post. The point of today’s post is actually to discuss the qualities of this magazine ranging from its audience, why it has the specific audience it does, what they expect and how the magazine delivers. After reading my first copy of the National Geographic, and attempting to read my second (my second copied has disappeared into the darkness and will be found or *shudder* repurchased at a later date) I think I have somewhat of an idea.

Before I dive deep into the critical parts of this conversation I’d like to point out how immensely useless I found the first 15 or so pages of this magazine… While I say useless I do, in fact, believe that this completely “unnecessary” first half of the magazine is imperative if the magazine is to deliver the desired experience to its target audience. The beginning of the magazine is filled with a myriad of advertisements, disembodied pictures and blocks of text so small I wouldn’t bother to call them “Articles.” Their more like matter of fact tidbits of information, trivial in nature, something like a “The-More-You-Know” type deal. They would be great for starting a conversation that begins with, “Hey have you heard about [insert random topic here],” but they do absolutely nothing to contribute to the larger scope of the magazine. The article right between the “we thought you might find these interesting” articles and the true meat of the magazine is actually called, simply, “The Big Idea”, letting the readers know that they’re about to be ushered from the completely mundane into a much bigger, more vibrant experience.

Moving on to how I believe this helps the magazine perform its key purpose…first, I should tell you what I believe its purpose is. It is…drum roll please…to take its readers on a journey. To take them to places they haven’t seen, and to go in depth about places that people have been. They go to places the general populace can’t reach, and write about it! I believe that in order to accomplish this, they get all the advertising out of the way at the very beginning and insert a block of text to simply remind the audience that they are still reading a National Geographic and that the real material is close at hand. Beyond “The Big Idea” there lies a wonderful world unseen. The articles beyond that point have no advertisements in between and feature a myriad of amazingly vibrant pictures and illustrations that take up a corner to two whole pages of space, showing you the majesty of everything the reporters experienced during the exploration involved in writing their 5 – 10 page long article. That’s right! Almost every article in the last half of the magazine is more than 5 pages long and goes into extraordinary detail of any topics, of a national scope, that one could think of. From diving into the depths of a humanly intolerant underwater cave, to rhinos, elephants, and tigers, The National Geographic has it all and more!

That is what the reader of this magazine expects and how their expectations are fulfilled, but who is their audience? Anyone and everyone who has an interest in the world, as in, people who see the whole picture or simply wish that they could, that’s who. This audience includes people who travel, people who want to travel, and those who just like to keep track of global issues in general. Reading notes to the editor about a special edition of the magazine showed me the variety of people who frequently purchase the magazine. Some people spoke about the places they mentioned as if they had just left, some wishing better fortune upon those mentioned but never encountered, but they were all worried about the issue at hand and I don’t believe the magazine has to do much to reel these readers in.

I think the appeal is all in the title. The title is straightforward. It isn’t clever or sassy, and almost sounds more like an encyclopedia than a magazine, but when the words “National Geographic” are combined with a beautiful picture of an awe inspiring underwater cave, or the face of a sarcophagus the intellectual travelers, and those interested are sent into a craze. They simply must get a glimpse of what’s going on thousands of miles away, and what new inventions are being created to make the world a better place…what happened to a native or deceased tribe of a tropical island filled with as much danger as it is beauty, and all this from the safety of their own home. That is the appeal of a National Geographic and I think it’s gotten me hooked too.