Popular Culture Review 30.2
by arguments based on emotional appeal able to spread its message by word-of-mouth and other organizations to main stream newspapers . Walmart accounts for 23 % of the sales of the Enquirer and Kroger , the largest supermarket chain in the United States , for 10 % ( Toobin 45 ). The Enquirer appeals to buyers with stories of celebrity extramarital affairs , surgeries , sudden weight losses and gains , and , increasingly , Donald Trump .
The Enquirer and its fellow AMI tabloids emit a constant cultural background noise to American life . There are 37,000 supermarkets in America , with an average of 10 checkout stands . Each one has a wire rack displaying the Enquirer and other AMI magazines . According to an industry study , American households make an average of 1.5 trips to the supermarket each week . Every customer passes by the checkout stand , which means even people who never purchase a tabloid absorb the ambient headlines , and those headlines can shape their view of the world .
Enquirer writers are well paid and consider themselves some of the best in the business . Their writing is easily understood with the patois of the streets . Some say the best way to read it is to leave your logic at the door . Note the headlines and read the stories twice ; first to observe the emotional impact on the target audience and second how well the story is written . A typical headline reads “ FBI Coup to Take Down Trump ,” a “ Double-dealing ” FBI agent secretly orchestrated a sinister plot causing “ incalculable havoc .” The story itself describes Hillary Clinton as “ rubbing her hands with glee ” ( January 6 , 2018 ). For the writers of the Enquirer , “ Romps ” are always wild . “ Perps ” are usually busted ( June 18 , 2018 , 15 ).
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