Tactical Weapons is a bi monthly magazine that is published by Harris Outdoor Group, part of Harris Publications Inc. The magazine sells for $7.95 a copy.
The magazine cover has the dark colors of red, black and grey incorporated into it with the image of a military man shooting a gun. There was also barbed wire running through the title of the magazine. Headlines such as "CQB Tactics: Raiding a Felon's Fortress", "Frontline Report: Death Valley" and "Bushmaster's BA50 USAF Sniper Faceoff" could be found on the front cover. This immediately signaled that the magazine was geared towards military members, specifically men, who have an interest in weapons used in combat.
The issue had articles describing how to accurately shoot each weapon as well as the best weapons that are available on the market. Along with the how to articles, the magazine also offered a few stories on admirable military members who had served their time in the front lines.
Along with weapon based articles, the ads were almost solely about guns. Along with the guns, there were ads for tactical knives, camo paint, uniform gear and bullets. Included in the ads for weaponry there were ads for military support websites. Only one ad in the magazine offered a female in lingerie holding a gun for an ad. This shows that the audience who reads this magazine is mature and very serious in gaining information on weapons and interested in military weapons and gear.
Based off of the articles and ads found in Tactical Weapons, the magazine signaled an audience that would be predominantly males that are either active in the military, are interested in the military or are military/war veterans. The colors of the entire magazine as well as content signal a male audience.
The magazine is featured on the website tactical-life.com which offers many different military style magazines on one central website. Tactical-life.com features the magazines: Tactical Weapons, Combat Handguns, Guns & Weapons, Special Weapons, and Tactical Knives. There are also more magazines listed by distribution frequency.
As stated by the subscription page located on the website, for six issues, or a yearly subscription, the cost is $28.97. The annual circulation of the magazine is 294,000 with six issues being printed a year.
The demographic information was not located on the tactical-life website or the tactical weapons magazine website, but information was available via Echo Media. Echo Media stated that the demographic was geared towards military men with the average age of 39 who earn around $70,250 annually. 98% of the magazine's readers are men.
Based off of the website's demographic information, the initial signaling of the magazine was spot on. Everything from the colors to the articles and ads featured throughout the magazine gave the impression that Tactical Weapons was predominantly focused on the audience of military men. The higher income is understandable due to the expensive nature of weapons and the age is relevant due to the experience and skills mentioned throughout the magazine.
Kelli -- when you look at the average income for the magazine's readership -- what does that tell you? The price of the magazine is high, too. Using everything you've discovered, can you describe the "typical" reader of Tactical Weapons? Do you suppose this is more of a consumer magazine or a trade magazine? Remember to write a conclusion that summarizes your argument and connects back to the thesis.
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