Naked Ambition

I think it’s safe to assume that print magazines are in a bit of trouble.  Nearly 650 magazines closed shop in 2007, 613 folded in 2008 and close to 400 died through the third quarter of 2009.  Famous publications such as Gourmet, Cookie, Modern Bride and Elegant Bride have also fallen to the wayside.  As the industry collapses, magazine companies need revise their modus operandi, their way of operations.  Boosting appeal and recharging a faltering readership base is not only helpful, but vital to the survival of magazines as we know them today.

And it’s here that ESPN The Magazine enters scene.  When the magazine’s “Body Issue” hit newsstands October 9, its printing stirred the typical revenues and controversies associated with nude photographs in print publications.   For instance, although newsstand numbers haven’t been fully calculated, ESPN Publishing’s general manager and editorial director Gary Hoenig said ESPN Insider – the paid content branch of ESPN The Magazine’s website – took in 400 new subscribers within hours of the “Body Issue” being posted online.  Since Insider subsciptions cost $39.95 per year, the company generated close to $16,000 in that same time frame.  Not too shabby, huh?

Then again, it’ll only be a matter of time – if not already – when someone from some holier-than-thou rightwing group complains of the issue’s distasteful nature and lewd content.  Please! With the industry gasping for air, the least people can do is let business be business.  It’s not as if the photos are pornographic – in fact, I think they’re both classy and emblematic of the human condition – and Sports Illustrated has a similar, if not more provactive, swimsuit issue anyway. 

So for the sake of saving a popular sports magazine, and more importantly, its contributors’ jobs, lets not worry about how much skin Serena Williams flaunts or how sexual Gina Carano looks with her hands over her chest.  Because when all is said and done, job security in a recession outweighs even the most conservative of critics.