Spring Break
The Daily OrangeMaxim magazine finds its niche as a men's publication
By Payal Teli
Posted: 3/27/02, 2:00 AM EST Section: Feature
If beautiful women, sports and alcohol are the secret to unlocking the male mind, then “lad” magazines have found the golden key.
Maxim, FHM and Stuff have foregone the journalistic tendencies found in GQ and Esquire in favor of dick jokes and frozen food ratings — and with tremendous success.
Maxim’s monthly circulation is 2.2 million copies, FHM’s is 821,834 and Stuff’s is 812,079. Meanwhile, the more established and arguably classier GQ and Esquire level out at about 856,000 and 676,000 copies per month, respectively.
“[Publisher Felix] Dennis clearly has tapped a nerve,” said William Glavin, chairperson of the magazine department and professor of communications at Syracuse University. “He found a niche to be filled, and an enormous one at that.”
This niche, which celebrated all the beer, guts and glory of being a guy, was the foundation of the British concept of a lad magazine. The first of its kind, Loaded, was launched in London in 1994; Maxim followed soon after. Reading material was short, smooth and witty, littered with the occasional profanity and sandwiched between miles of cleavage.
It was crass and crude – just like its audience – and it worked.
Meanwhile, across the Atlantic lurked the potential to tap into an even bigger market. Sensing the start of a new trend, Dennis, of Dennis Publishing, Inc., decided to create an American version of Maxim.
“The conventional wisdom was that men wouldn't read a general interest magazine,” said Maxim Editor in Chief Keith Blanchard. But the style and presentation of the magazine – sexy women, high-tech toys, sports, alcohol – wrapped in one bitingly sarcastic publication, proved to be a winning formula.
Lad magazines cater to a markedly different readership from GQ and Esquire. Scantily clad starlets strike pin-up poses. Words like “sex” and “booze” grace most every page. Skimming the contents reveals a preoccupation with all things lingerie. Many of the brief pieces are injected with unabashedly macho humor and even the few serious articles have comedic undertones. However, therein lies the appeal for many of the male, and female, readers.
Maxim, FHM and Stuff have foregone the journalistic tendencies found in GQ and Esquire in favor of dick jokes and frozen food ratings — and with tremendous success.
Maxim’s monthly circulation is 2.2 million copies, FHM’s is 821,834 and Stuff’s is 812,079. Meanwhile, the more established and arguably classier GQ and Esquire level out at about 856,000 and 676,000 copies per month, respectively.
“[Publisher Felix] Dennis clearly has tapped a nerve,” said William Glavin, chairperson of the magazine department and professor of communications at Syracuse University. “He found a niche to be filled, and an enormous one at that.”
This niche, which celebrated all the beer, guts and glory of being a guy, was the foundation of the British concept of a lad magazine. The first of its kind, Loaded, was launched in London in 1994; Maxim followed soon after. Reading material was short, smooth and witty, littered with the occasional profanity and sandwiched between miles of cleavage.
It was crass and crude – just like its audience – and it worked.
Meanwhile, across the Atlantic lurked the potential to tap into an even bigger market. Sensing the start of a new trend, Dennis, of Dennis Publishing, Inc., decided to create an American version of Maxim.
“The conventional wisdom was that men wouldn't read a general interest magazine,” said Maxim Editor in Chief Keith Blanchard. But the style and presentation of the magazine – sexy women, high-tech toys, sports, alcohol – wrapped in one bitingly sarcastic publication, proved to be a winning formula.
Lad magazines cater to a markedly different readership from GQ and Esquire. Scantily clad starlets strike pin-up poses. Words like “sex” and “booze” grace most every page. Skimming the contents reveals a preoccupation with all things lingerie. Many of the brief pieces are injected with unabashedly macho humor and even the few serious articles have comedic undertones. However, therein lies the appeal for many of the male, and female, readers.
