Well...
I am a young woman and like thousands of others in the country, I am drawn to magazines. It’s just a fact. I know not many males share our love for these glossy mags, full of useless information, trends we can never afford and rumours and lies about people we have never even met. I know that this is mainly what magazines on the newsagents stand mainly consist of, so why do I, and millions of others, continue to buy them on a regular basis? Maybe its the glossy pages, after all, you don’t get your own personal copy of an article you read on the internet, do you? You can’t physically hold it in your hand while you read it (and doodle moustaches on Angelina Jolie), sit and relax with it (well, you can, but then you are staring at a computer screen – something I do far too often anyway with all this Ciao-ing! – and it’s just not the same) and you can’t take it with you in the bath tub and read all the latest juicy gossip whilst surrounded by suds (you could try, but you might end up getting electrocuted!). The clothes give us something to lust over, after all, one of our hobbies is moaning and we can go on for hours about all the things we want and can’t get, and the celebrity stories give us a sense of self importance and naughtiness – it is like we are getting a look into their private life. It also gives us a little glow, after all, if you hear some of their dramatic stories it can put your life into perspective for you and you think, actually, my life isn’t too bad! Anyway, that is my theory why women buy magazines. It gives us an unexplainable little buzz, and I find them addictive!
But, back to my main point about most magazines being filled with unaffordable fashion and pathetic ‘gossip’ on celebrities – I find Heat differs in many respects. It is more personal and informal, and it is so “friendly”. It reminds me of that loud, outspoken, funny friend we all have (apart from the fact it is made out of paper and around 30cm tall!).
I buy a wide range of magazines – everything from the fashion mad, thick, glossy Elle magazine to the cheap, thin Star weekly - but I always come back to Heat. It is my favourite magazine of them all, and I think most of it comes down to the fact that it seems to be written by real people, and it is like that witty, sarcastic voice in the back of your mind. I know this may be confusing you a little, but please read on and I will do my best to explain!
A Whole Lotta’ History...
Heat was first launced in 1999 published by a German company, Bauer. It is a British entertainment magazine and it was not an immediate success. So, the people in Bauer thought, ‘these people obviously don’t want another serious, celebrity and entertainment magazine, they want something different’ and so they messed around with it and turned it into a “less serious, more gossip orientated celebrity chat mag”. It was a great success and is now a very popular weekly magazine.
The editor at the moment is Sam Delaney.
Basic Information
• Heat magazine is stocked at many supermarkets and newsagents, as well as places such as WHSmith.
Basically, anywhere that normally stocks magazines, you will most probably find Heat there.
• Heat costs £1.65 and a new issue is brought out every week.
• Heat is a celebrity magazine aimed at women. I would say particularly quite young women, but I think it is appropriate for all!
• The one thing I would point out, though, is that they are quite “gobby”, as in, don’t expect any asterix’s where swear words are printed (to be honest, I find them quite pointless anyway, I mean isn’t it obvious what it means when OK! print that during an interview someone says “and then I just wanted to f****ing smack him...etcetera etcetera...” I suppose it is a mark of respect really though, isn’t it?) and they also frequently include topics about sex and some nudity (eurgh...I still haven’t forgotten the issue in which they were ridiculing the Cheeky Girls in their mag, and kindly inflicted a repulsive picture of them completely starkers and twisted round each other – they posed for the picture for a shoot in some other magazine – I think that image will be scarred in my mind forever, I may need therapy for it in later life, thank you Heat...) in their magazine, so whilst I’m sure many teenagers are no stranger to these things, if you would not like your daughter to be introduced to these sort of topics in an ‘explicit’ way, I wouldn’t recommend you let them read Heat magazine at a young age.
• Ooh, and you may also be interested to know that Heat have a website heatworld.com, that covers celebrity news (updated daily, apart from weekends where they don’t work) and fashion and TV and polls and the likes...It’s very interesting, but like I mentioned earlier, it’s not the same as an actual magazine!
In The Magazine...
The Front Cover
Heat’s front cover is very similar each week – it will have straplines at the top with a couple of smaller stories or features that are in the magazine, and below that will be the banner with ‘Heat’ printed in bold, red letters. Above the title will normally be some funny quote or short sentence to do with something that has happened recently. Recent examples of this include: “Love me or hate me, I’m Alex Reid” (apparently he said that on CBB!), “We’re bursting with Glee!” (meaning Glee the programme on E4, which me and Heat share an obsession with) and ‘No likey, no lighty!’ (off that so-bad-it’s-good Saturday night programme, Take Me Out). And yes, I did just reel them off off the top of my head – sad, I know...
Below the title there will be the main story with “exclusive” photos or photos to do with the event they are featuring, as opposed to magazines like Look, where they just show a headshot of the celebrity and save the photos for inside the magazine.
The text is normally bold, the colours bright, and it looks very inviting. It doesn’t look as classy as Look, or as garishly neon – tacky! – as New, but it looks good, sort of warm and casual. In my opinion, it entices potential buyers in.
Inside Cover... And The First Page
On the inside cover there is normally a big double spread of an advert, and after that there is the contents page.
This doesn’t go through every article in the magazine, it just goes the main features, divided into “On the Cover”, “News & Stuff”, “Features”, “Star Style” and “TV & Review”. There is normally some funny text explaining what the articles are about (in a Heat style way, of course...!) such as ‘p20 – R-Pants...Rob gets new undies. Then goes to Nando’s’ and ‘p62 – Stacey Solomon...talks to Heat. Very, very quickly’. See what I mean about it being casual, sarky and witty? Taking up most of this page though, is the ‘Everybody’s Talking About...’ article. It is instead of an ed’s letter, and it briefly goes on about this weeks biggest news, such as ‘Sexting’ – you know the whole Vernon Kay/Ashley Cole thing – and ‘Katie Weds Alex in Vegas’ – you know, that awful woman who obviously doesn’t give two figs about her kids and got married to that guy she’s barely been dating for six months – etcetera etcetera.
Celeb Articles
Heat normally runs one or two main articles, where they include sneaky pics and such reliable (sarcasm!) information from sources. I am always very sceptical of these articles, and always take them with a pinch of salt. However I don’t find the claims to be as wild as in some other magazines, and the stories do seem well researched, but you just never know, do you? The funniest bit for me is the captions by the photos they include – they are witty and funny remarks, which are nothing to do with the story itself. There are often other celebrity stories too – the smaller ones are around a double spread or one page long. The more important stories, for example Vernon’s ‘sexting’ and Alexander McQueen’s suicide, are written in a serious manner, with good journalism and information, however the more trivial stories, a prime example being ‘R-Pattz Buys M&S Pants (and goes to Nando’s!)’ are written with humour and flair. It is almost like Heat is taking the mick out of our unhealthy obsession with celebrity lives, even though they are the ones that cause the fanatic obsession! It may also be worth pointing out that Heat and Jordan aka Katie Price do NOT get on. So all the stories featuring her are going to be biased against her. As I don’t like Jordan either, I don’t mind this at all, although it does prove my point on journalism being biased, exaggerated and unreliable, and I find it quite entertaining to read Heat slagging her off, in the most professional way possible, of course!
The Week In Gossip!
Small articles displayed over three pages. The articles are about anything and everything to do with celebrities.
Recently, in this section they have updated us on which celebrities have joined their (very worthwhile) Dazzle Don’t Frazzle campaign, a campaign working with Nicola Roberts (Girls Aloud) to highlight the risk of using sunbeds and hopefully enforce a law that you have to be over 18 to use them. This is a great campaign that you can join on Twitter and Facebook, and it is nice to see Heat doing something good with their popularity.
They also at the moment have a competition for ‘Britain’s Nicest Celeb’ where you can nominate a celebrity for their kindness!
And every week in this section they have ‘Tales from the Twittersphere’ were they report celebrities crazy Twittering’s this week – I must admit this really amuses me, the stuff these people come out with is hilarious!
This Weeks Best Dressed/Look Of The Week
A selecition of photographs of beautiful celebrities swanning around in beautiful outfits we could only dream of owning. Tuh. No, it is quite good actually, I take inspiration from outfits I see printed in here, and if I think they might suit me I look out for something similar on the high street.
This Week In Pictures
A picture led article which spreads over many, many pages and consists of celebrities doing things (whether it be interesting or not – believe me, it could be anything from Peter & kids simply walking in the park to Kate Moss getting drunk in a club and pole dancing. Again.) and some text making fun of them. The text makes me giggle, some of the stuff Heat say is really funny – it’s the sort of stuff you think in your head but never say out loud, if you get my meaning. Anyway, this isn’t one of the stand out features in the magazine, but it does let you have a little giggle!
Love & Stuff!
Lets you know the gossip on celebrity couples (“Eee! I am sooooo utterly excited that Dane Bowers and Dogface off Big Brother have got together. Oh wow wow wow wow WOW...no.) Sometimes it is trivial and the celebrities are really not celebrities, but it is a good, concise way of letting us know what’s going on with these crazy celebs in the land of love.
Man Watch
“Because leering at hot men is a basic human right” – you’re on the money there, Heat!
This is basically a page of fit men topless, with a little text about them. I tell you, whoever is in charge of this page in Heat is amazingly lucky! Can you imagine it...
Boss: Why are you ogling at topless men on your laptop?
You: Err...it’s my job! I just have to compare all these men and print the fittest for Man Watch as soon as possible.
Boss: Oh, okay then, carry on.
You: *staring at extremely fit man* Huuuuuuhhhhhh...this is the life!
Sorry about that, anyway, yes, good page, good page haha!
Torso Of The Week
A photo that fills the whole page of a topless celebrity (bloke!!) wandering about on the beach. It’s even got the scissor sign and dots so all us sad women can cut them out and keep them and stick ‘em all over our walls and drool over them. No, really. Not that I do that!!
Hoop Of Horror
A very funny page with pictures of celebrities that I’m sure they wouldn’t want printing! They put a red hoop around the funny part of the picture, just to highlight the embarrassing moment a bit more, with a funny caption next to it. This page provides a lot of cheap laughs, for me, anyway!
Spotted
To me, this seems a rather pointless part of the magazine. Maybe it is because I am not so mad on celebrities, but to me a double page of people writing in to say they saw ‘Hugh Grant walking past the Mini garage on Horseferry Road, central London, wearing a dapper blue suit and blue tie’ just seems pointless and well...
pathetic, really. It is so obsessive and stalker-ish, and I rarely pay any attention to this page.
Your Jibber-Jabber!
“Your ramblings. In all their demented glory.” - that made me laugh!
I find this page hilarious! Heat decided to tell us all that it is edited by a little dog by the name of ‘Miss Yap-Yap’ and there people write in and ramble on about stuff – to do with anything. Heat print the most random ones and always add their own comments on. Sometimes their comments are quite derogatory and bitchy, but it’s all in the name of fun! They offer a place for ‘Letter Of The Week’ and that person wins a great prize (currently an iPod nano and CD). They also have a corner for people to send in photos of two celebrities where they look very similar. These are very accurate and funny at times and it is scary how similar they look! I love this page in the magazine, I find it really entertaining!
Features
Heat has random features in it’s magazine every week. This particular week they have a very entertaining one about celebrities freaky body parts. Some of the pictures are shockingly funny, I’m telling you! I know this is really weird and you probably think I, like, work for the company or something (I don’t!) the amount I know about it, but I remember one feature in their summer issue, which was called ‘Look At Me’ and it was photos of celebrities that were supposed to look natural but it was obviously them posing for the camera. It had me in stitches and it was so bloomin’ funny! I love the random features they have in the magazines, the photos are always accompanied with sarky text that is guaranteed to make you giggle!
Interviews
Heat always find a good celebrity to interview. The questions can range from random and informal to serious. For example, Nicola Robert’s recent interview about tanning was very serious and thought-provoking, but Stacey Solomon’s (X Factor) was funny and light hearted. Heat interviews like no other magazine, and it is great!
Fashion
Heat does include a fair share of fashion. They have ‘Star Style’ where they take a celebrities look and find similar products on the high street, they have a ‘Get It Or Regret It’ page, a ‘Who Wore It Best’ where two celebs are in the same outfit and you can vote on Heatworld.com to decide (being a fashion geek as well as a journalism geek, I am always interested as to see why people prefer the outfit on a certain person – is it the accessories, the celebs shape, the colour etc...) ‘Red Carpet Style Stalker’, which is really similar to ‘Star Style’, an interview with a celebrity about what beauty products they use, a ‘Stars Do High Street Too’ (most magazines tend to have this now, I think it is meant to make us feel good about ourselves, and realise that celebrities are normal people too!) a Hairdo of the Week, where they pick a celebrity and show how to achieve their hairdo by asking professional hairdressers. This is also accompanied by a ‘Hair Don’t of the Week’, and small cut out and keep photos of celebrities for you to ‘take to the salon’.
They also have other features such as ‘Let’s Go Shopping For...’ and ‘Trend Alert’ where they choose a certain trend and show a load of clothes that go with it. I love the fact that not only do they choose affordable outfits, but that they are the kind of thing real women would wear, kitsch and cute and pretty! They don’t go over the top (like the Look fashion shoots, in my opinion) and the clothes they feature are normally lovely. They have a ‘Find It’ page, where you can write in and ask for Heat to find where a celebrity got a certain piece of clothing from, and they have ‘Shoe-Biz’. I think that that speaks for itself really, it is a page full of beautiful shoes! They have celebrities prep-list, where celebrities show what’s in their make up bag. There is also ‘Steal Her Style’, again, the same as ‘Star Style’ and then they have the hilarious ‘What Were You Thinking?’ page, where they show celebrities in ridiculous outfits. These are so funny, and with Heats witty remarks, I can spend ages laughing at them! This just shows that money doesn’t by style. Or sense.
TV & Review
Basically what it says in the title. I love the fact that Heat has a seven day TV guide – I never have to buy the TV Quick again! It also features film, books, DVDs and music reviews before the TV guide. It has a TV column written by Boyd Hilton, where he ridicules all things television. The TV guide itself is like no other – it is so funny! They have ‘Picks Of The Day’ where they write mini reviews on their favourite TV programmes (bear in mind these are no ordinary reviews, these are Heat reviews, which makes them way more interesting and funny!) and they have a ‘Random Or What?’ text box at the bottom of the page for each day, with things such as:
From Kitchen Sink To Catwalk, Sky 1/HD 9pm
How Fairy Liquid and some wet bits of pasta became this year’s must-have fashion accessories.
And...
The World Wild Vet, Sky 1/HD 8pm
Well, whoever he is, we don’t think much of his grammar. What does “world wild” even mean?
The Second To Last Page
On this page they have Horoscopes (I gotta’ say, some of mine have been scarily accurate!) which I find a laugh reading, and a mini competition crossword.
The Actual Last Page
On this page they have ‘(Stupid) Question Time With...’ where they have a short interview with a celebrity about absolute rubbish. It’s great, seriously. I mean, in what other magazine would you find Duncan James being asked ‘Why do dogs tilt their head when we talk to them’ and ‘If you crash landed amid a Stone Aged tribe in the jungle, how would you convince them you were a god?’. Fabulous!
So Why Do I Like It So Much?
I think I just ‘get’ it, if you know what I mean. I have the same sort of sarcastic sense of humour as it, and I think it is a quality magazine, even though it’s full of rubbish. It’s really hard to explain it. It’s a ‘good’ kind of rubbish, it’s the kind of light hearted magazine you can sit with on an evening and not concentrate on it too hard. It relates to the everyday, working class women in Britain.
It’s ‘you’.
I don’t know if you will understand that, but that’s the best I can do putting it into words.
To Round Up...
The Good• Good, chatty journalism style, well written
• Interesting feautures
• Affordable fashion
• Great TV guide!!
• Tongue in cheek humour
The Bad
• No Real Life stories (though I don’t think it would be appropriate in this magazine)
• Not big enough! (it’s addictive...I want more!!)
• Controversial at times
The End (Finally!)
This is the end of this long review. I could have made it even longer, because I love magazines and I quite like analysing them. I’m not sure, but I think journalism is something I might like to go into when I’m older (just an idea) and if I did, I think I’d suit Heat’s to the point, sarcastic, quirky style of writing. Heat is crazy, kitsch, controversial and cute, and I love it. I would really recommend it as a light hearted read.
Thanks for taking the time to read!
© xhoneybee 2010
My Favourite Magazine ! 
congrats on your diamond!