A girl of the SEC, a classic in rationalization: “It’s not like it’s Hustler.”
Archive for the ‘Secrets of Men's Magazines’ Category
Why She Posed in Playboy
September 26, 2007Kevin Bacon: Too Old for Playboy
June 12, 2007Sorry BabyBoomers, you’re too old for Playboy. It’s not an indignity limted just to women born in ‘64 and before; the tyranny of youth applies to guys as well.
Actor Kevin Bacon was summarily dumped from a scheduled Playboy interview because an editor decided he was “too old.” Miffed that he couldn’t join his acting idols Lee Majors and Telly Savalas in its hallowed pages, (he apparently read Playboy for the articles), Bacon wrote this song.
Oh, Playboy will gladly take your money, even if you’re out of its desired demographic. But then you’ll end up writing letters like this:
Having passed midcentury a few years ago, I believe my tastes may not reflect the average reader’s. I find WWE diva Ashley Massaro’s lip rings extremely unappealing. She looks like a vampire.
Ronald Solomon, State College, Pennsylvania
Good thing Playboy’s editorial policies don’t apply to the frolics of its founder.
Amanda Beard Swims Nude in Sea of Hypocrisy
May 10, 2007Welcome USA Today readers!
Amanda Beard will be appearing nude in a Playboy near you.
Who is Amanda Beard? She is an 7-time medal winning swimmer and Olympic athlete.
Obviously, Ms. Beard feels the exposure (insert your own joke here) will help her career and bank account. But the nay-sayers are out; posing sexily is seen as bad for women’s sports. Does Amanda have an obligation to promote women’s sports, or is it OK just to promote her (naked) self?
Sports Illustrated writer Aditi Kinkhabwala takes up the issue here. Money quote “Sexy pictures don’t make people more likely to read about women’s sports, they don’t make anyone more likely to attend a women’s sporting event, and they sure don’t drive any season-ticket sales.”
But Kinkhabwala’s point is compromised by her platform; when I read her story online the ad next to it was for one of Sport Illustrated’s many Swimsuit edition products. Also unaddressed was why Beard needs to put her obligations to some amorphous larger group (women, women’s swimming, women’s sports) ahead of her own personal interest.
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The Dirty Little Secret of Men’s Magazines
February 2, 2007An editor at Playboy told me that despite 100-year old Hugh Hefner, everything in the magazine (especially the ads) is pitched at guys 30 and under.
This ignores the millions of middle-aged (and dirty old) readers, the unmentionables of the guy mags, whether faux-literary like Esquire, metrosexual like GQ or flesh peddlers like Playboy and the now-decimated ‘laddie books’ like FHM, Maxim and Stuff.
I’ve written for a lot of top publications but I always wanted to write for Playboy, after swiping my dad’s magazines as an impressionable teen. In 2006 I started subscribing, and occasionally pitching my editor friend (no luck so far).
But I can truly say I read it for the articles.