Posted on: Friday, November 26, 2004
Men's mags are changing
By Will Higgins
Gannett News Service
Women long have had their own gender-specific magazines: Cosmopolitan, Glamour and Redbook, to name a few, dispensing handy tips on relationships, shopping, skin care and other lifestyle matters.
The genre started a decade ago, when Britain's Dennis Publishing launched a U.S. version of its beer-'n'-babes Maxim. The magazine's success proved that American males between the ages of 18 and 34 — a demographic advertisers drool over — would pick up a lifestyle magazine.
Although its newsstand sales have tapered slightly in recent months, Maxim's 2.5 million circulation is three times that of long-established Esquire and GQ, and just 700,000 shy of Playboy.
Dennis followed Maxim with the similar Stuff (November's cover girl: Nicky Hilton), which battles the similar FHM (stands for For Him Magazine), each with a circulation of roughly 1.2 million.
Sales figures for some men's magazines (numbers are averages for the six months ending June 30, 2004):
Playboy: 3.2 million Maxim: 2.5 million Men's Health: 1.7 million Stuff: 1.2 million FHM: 1.2 million GQ: 815,000 Esquire: 717,000 Men's Journal: 671,000 Men's Fitness: 650,000 Blender: 543,000 Details: 413,000 Out: 118,000 Source: Audit Bureau of Circulations Although a boys-will-be-boys sensibility pervades the genre — Blender could not resist asking actress-rock star Juliette Lewis recently: "You've said you'd like to play shirtless like Iggy. Really?" — the magazines reflect wide-ranging interests, including skin care.
Electronics are important to young men. Sync, which debuted this summer, devotes itself to exploring the latest in technology.
Advice is a big part of men's magazines, advice on specifics, such as DVD players, but also on broader issues: How to shake hands, how often to replace a leather watchband. Vitals this month lists "10 heavyweight books you should have on your shelf, even if you never read them".
When it comes to being cool, more important even than great books are clothes.
Most men's magazines contain at least an element of fashion, but it isn't the GQ-Esquire fashion, but rather a dressed-down version.
The fashion magazine Cargo, has in its current issue a four-page spread on winter hats (like ski hats) young guys wear even when it's not cold out.
Giant CEO Jamie Hooper (formerly of Maxim), says Giant is "not a slave to the new hot thing all the time." He points to a feature that catalogs the works of writer Kurt Vonnegut, "Beginner's Guide to ... Kurt Vonnegut."
The writing leans toward sarcasm. "The captions are always fun to read; they're always really funny," says Matt Nations, an 18-year-old freshman at Indiana University.
Men's magazines now are taking the same lead. The term used to mean either Playboy and Penthouse or Esquire and GQ, but today the definition has broadened, and is broadening still. Giant and Vitals were introduced in October. Giant hopes to be its readers' destination for all things entertainment, Vitals as "the new men's magazine about life's great necessities" (necessities such as "Buy the Perfect Suit" and "Milk your ex dry — Live at a Hotel").
Lately, however, publishers are appealing to young men's interests in things other than women. "I pick up a Blender now and then," says Amory Abbott, a 24-year-old artist and woodworker from Indianapolis, referring to the music magazine. "But I'm not into the whole 'Let's get a mag with hot girls on it.' If I wanted that, I'd go buy porn."
Not just Playboy
