Sunday, February 23, 2020

The Era of the Free Magazine

My mom gets People Magazine every week. She doesn't pay for it, but it continues to arrive by mail nonetheless. In the past I may have thought they made a mistake, but I am quite sure it is deliberate. Having grown accustomed to enjoying their journalism for a year or so, they hope that my mother will happily fork over the subscription price. Let me tell you, that's never going to happen.

If you've never read People, and I assume you haven't because though it's in my house I haven't, it's basically a slightly more civilized celebrity gawking magazine. Lately it seems they're all about the intricacies and infighting of the royal family. Or I guess that's what people want to read about. It's kind of a chicken and the egg situation.

In the most recent edition dated March 2, 2020, (I never understood why they do this) we learn about Princess Kate: "Why she struggled during her pregnancies but loved giving birth." Now I'm no woman, but "loved giving birth"!! Is that a direct quote? Pardon me Kate, I'm sure you love your children (you can see how little I know about this as I'm not sure how many or what sort of children she has) but you didn't love giving birth. I'm sure I would love New Zealand, but I wouldn't love the preceding 23-hour flight. In the sense that it meant she was done being pregnant, maybe she did love giving birth.

I used to get a couple magazines at my house in Monkton; again, unsolicited. One of them was GQ. Gentlemen's Quarterly is a men's fashion and lifestyle magazine. It arrived sealed from the elements in a plastic pouch.  A friend correctly pointed out that there could be no more useless magazine to a resident of Monkton, Vermont. 

But I think these may be more than just attempts to drum up a new batch of loyal customers. The practice also effectively increases circulation, and not only that, (dear advertisers) it brings in a whole new audience. Now you can sell to an entire populous that never even knew they needed your products. That's got to be worth some extra bread. 

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