Men's Health UK

The Men's Health UK edition (with a separate editorial team) was launched in 1995, and it now publishes 36 editions worldwide, distributed to 48 countries. In the U.S., its 1.8m circulation (as of 2005) exceeds that of "GQ" and "Esquire" combined.

The content of the U.S. version of "Men's Health" in the year 2000 was analysed in Stibbe (2004). The findings of this research suggested that "Men's Health" magazine at the time gave some useful health advice but included images of masculinity which were counter-productive for health promotion. In particular, the form of hegemonic masculinity promoted by the magazine had the potential to promote negative health behaviours such as excess alcohol consumption, excess meat consumption, reliance on convenience food, unsafe sex, and aggressive behavior. The scope of this study did not include how the content of the magazine has changed over time, or how the content of the UK version differs from the U.S. version. The U.S. and UK publications are also available via Zinio.

In addition to the "Men's Health" magazine, a website can be found at [http://www.menshealth.com menshealth.com] , which was instituted into the "Men's Health" portfolio in January of 1998. With the help of the web designer James Thoroughgood, a native of Fort Wayne, Indiana, "Men's Health" has increased its profit margin by 9%, a number that continues to grow. Currently their website continues to provide information to subscribers between issues concerning fitness, sex & relationships, health, guy wisdom, weight loss, nutrition, and style.

To further strengthen the idea of achievability, the staff of the magazine often try out the health and fitness programs themselves and write about their experiences alongside pictorial evidence. In March 2006, one of the UK writers, Dan Rookwood, appeared on the cover of Men's Health having transformed his body shape while working at the magazine. The staff of German "Men's Health" have also appeared on their cover,Fact|date=February 2007 and UK fitness editor Ray Klerck has appeared on the cover as well as within the pages of the magazine as a model.

Cover Models

In 2002, the UK edition started what became a yearly competition in order to find a Men's Health reader with a body seen fit to front the magazine in the hopes that the image of a "normal guy" will spur other Men's Health readers to obtain the 'look' and also remind them that this kind of physique is obtainable.The first winner of the UK Cover Model search was Graeme Peacock, who secured a sponsorship contract with supplement manufacturer Maximuscle. There was no contest in 2003, but in 2004 the contest went annual, with the second winner being Neil Laverty, now represented by Compton Model Agency. Winners of the UK Cover Model competitions for 2005 were Ollie Foster (United Kingdom) and Manuel Mera (Spain). In 2006, 21 year old Mike Fawkes won the 2006 UK Cover Model competition.Fact|date=February 2007

Cycling team

In 1999, "Men's Health" sponsored a British UCI Division 3 professional cycle racing team, the team's Director Sportif was Sid Barras, himself a former professional cyclist. Although the team achieved numerous successes during the year, sponsorship was not renewed in 2000.

Team members included Welshmen Matt Beckett and Huw Pritchard, a medal winning Commonwealth Games competitor.

Criticism

The magazine received strong criticism from Psychologist Dr David Giles from the University of Winchester because of its promotion of a muscular physique as a sign of health.

"The message in typical lads' magazines is that you need to develop a muscular physique in order to attract a quality mate.

"Readers internalise this message, which creates anxieties about their actual bodies and leads to increasingly desperate attempts to modify them." [Magazines 'harm male body image']

This magazine, among others has also been linked as a leading cause of a type of Body Dysmorphic Disorder called "athletica nervosa".

References

* [http://jmm.sagepub.com/content/vol7/issue1/ Stibbe, Arran. (2004). "Health and the Social Construction of Masculinity in Men's Health Magazine." "Men and Masculinities"; 7 (1) July, pp. 31-51] full text