Women's magazines and smoking

Abstract

WOMEN'S magazines are read by over half the women in Britain. Although potentially these magazines represent a major source of health education and information for women, relatively little attention has been paid to assess ing this role. This study focuses on the coverage given by five of the most popular women's magazines to a major cause of mortality and morbidity among women — smoking. From a content analysis of their 1982 issues, and interviews with several editorial staff and journalists, two main conclusions are drawn. First, the coverage of smoking in several of these magazines is surprisingly low and there fore needs to be increased. Second, cigarette advertise ments should be banned in these magazines. It is suggested that health professionals could play an important role in implementing these recommendations.