O Ms. Cosmopolitan

I oscillate about magazines in general, especially women-themed ones. Now don't get me wrong, in the doctor's office, standing on line at the grocery, or even at a friend's house I'll pick up the juiciest one; I'm a celeb gossip sucker (which is a whole other problem). I flip through, but it's been quite some time since I actually read the articles [think Seventeen]. Even Real Simple, which I'm not sure falls into the category (but probably) doesn't hold my attention for all that long. The content is light, but ultimately the advertising pisses me off.

I'd say I usually pick up a mag if it claimed to have a solution to something I wanted to know about: how to dress for less, apply eyeshadow correctly, do a breast self examination, buy organic, negotiate a raise.... etc. In most cases the information is helpful it's all the other stuff in there that I can't deal with anymore. Women's magazines tend to be almost like wikipedia, except carefully concocted in order to market and not as much information. Though some might argue there are good Women's magazines out there, even Yoga Journal makes me chafe a bit with all of the clothing advertisements, natural supplements for weight loss and probiotic yogurt promos.

Jezebel.com recently had a post about "5 Possible Reasons Why Women's Magazine Sales Are Plummeting" and they listed poor covers, excessive photo shopping, expensive products, irrelevant trivial information, and the internet as major factors they thing the reason women's magazine sales are down. How about the fact that they lie about the very things women look for in these magazines? Or that even people on the inside of the industry admit to extreme hypocrisies and manipulation. Jezebel.com cited this portfolio.com article by Jeff Bercovici, who translated the percentage points to real numbers for example, 124,000 less subscriptions of Cosmo. That's a lot.

Just quickly thinking about it, I think the last point is the best one, and not just because the internet is free but also it's much more specific and in-depth. Ann Marlowe made two good points back in 2000 that

"The problem is that women's magazines depend on the notion that the major signifier of identity is gender, and this is less and less true...What Web browsing suggests is that narrow-casting is the best way to reach most people. "

I guess it's just I don't notice the advertisements as much on the internet; maybe it's because at the rate I surf I don't have time to.