Gay President, Rainbow White House and Breastfeeding Mom Buoy Media Coverage of Magazines
All it took was a front cover headline about a gay president of the United States, the White House painted in rainbow colors and a bare-breasted mom with her suckling 3-year-old son to pump up the volume in the magazine industry.
It worked.
Coverage on TV and radio of Time, The New Yorker and Newsweek during the first two weeks of May was five times higher than the whole month of April, reflecting intense interest by broadcasters to comment on the sensationalist magazine covers. Milking the buzz for all it was worth, Newsweek yesterday also published the “gay president” cover concepts its editorial brain trust has rejected. You can see those here.
Samir Husni, director of the Magazine Innovation Center at the University of Mississippi, says the buzz has built to a crescendo, and for different reasons. TIME initiated a story while The New Yorker and Newsweek simply engaged in a little newsjacking, says Husni, known in the industry as Mr. Magazine™.
Try out Critical Mention’s easy-to-use “Mention Meter” to see which magazine got more coverage.
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Oh great. Now magazines will become like reality shows… each cover more daring than the last, until we’re eventually sinking into a tar pit.
Straight-laced Bloomberg Businessweek got this trending in January with two jetliners mating. With the cover headline, “Let’s Get It On,” the artist’s composite aimed to shock even though the article was a pretty routine follow to the United-Continental merger story. Not sure it’s a tar pit, Donna, but we’re certainly seeing more of a tabloid mentality among the new breed of magazine editors.
(Dave Armon, President, Critical Mention)
I hate to disagree that the magazines are getting more of a tabloid mentality. In fact editors are getting smarter and better in getting and grabbing the attention of readers and customers. Only a fool will fall for a gimmicky cover, but the smart readers are those who are grabbed by the cover and kept by the content. There is too much noise out there, magazines have to do something to break away from all that noise. Short and simple, everyone is talking about those magazines now, and there is nothing wrong about that.
Samir “Mr. Magazine™” Husni
Thought the Newsweek cover line (Gay Pres) was pretty silly but it made me immediately read the great article. But I’m already a subscriber, so would have likely read the story in any case.
The line may have worked best for news stand buyers seeing and thinking WTH?