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Today on The Daily Beast, Jacob Bernstein covers the familiar topic of why models are regaining magazine cover supremacy over actresses. We’ve expressed our model preference here on TheGloss, but lots of stories have been devoted to the models vs actresses debate. However, Bernstein cuts right to the chase about exactly what bugs me about actress magazine covers, first with a quote from Glamour editor Cindy Leive:
I think what you’re seeing in the magazine world is a certain amount of fatigue with the same old, same old faces. One reason we had a nice sale with Taylor Swift was that you hadn’t seen her on a million magazine covers before and there was actually the hope that ‘Oh my God! I might actually learn something new.’ I think taking risks is serving people well right now.”
While I majorly disagree with Leive’s assertion that Taylor Swift wasn’t completely oversaturated at that point, she is correct that celebrity profiles need to reveal something new or interesting in order to be compelling. Otherwise, it’s just a generic, fluffy profile that isn’t worth reading – or paying for.
Next, Bernstein quotes Samir Husni, a “magazine industry pundit” (what, Daily Beast, you couldn’t link to the dude’s blog?):
What else do you really want to know about Angelina Jolie? With a lot of these celebrities, there’s nothing left to show unless they actually take their clothes off. We’ve covered them from every shape, every corner. We’ve shown them with their kids, and with their boyfriends and with their girlfriends, so that’s why you’re starting to see semi-naked soccer players and a semi-naked Tiger Woods. That’s what it takes to survive in a digital age.
As the number of magazines, blogs, and other publications covering the celebrity beat continues to grow, it becomes harder for celebrities to stay relevant. The ones who get good publicists somehow manage to appear on magazine covers despite not having a current project to promote or an interesting story to tell. As a result, magazines tend to circulate the same few women – the skinny blondes Gwyneth Paltrow, Jennifer Aniston, Charlize Theron, Blake Lively, and Scarlett Johansson are some of the regulars – without having any new material to share. As a result, it’s hard to differentiate one cover from the next or one story from the other. When these actresses have long lists of demands about what sorts of questions they refuse to answer or what topics they don’t want to discuss, it’s no wonder most of the profiles come across as vague and toothless. Husni is exactly correct in his assessment of why celebrity covers aren’t selling as well. I want to frame his quote and hang it up.