What We (and You) Could Learn from Men’s Magazines

It was announced on the 21st of May that M will soon relaunch a men’s fashion magazine aimed at guys in their 30s and 40s is currently in development. However, before we transition to M is likely to be a good opportunity as ever to find out how M compares to today’s mens style mag.

Today, Fairchild Fashion Media announced that they’re returning M publication, a title that in the 1980s was called M: The Civilized Man. “It will become a huge gorgeous magazine that has an average circulation of 100,000,” Fairchild Editorial Director Peter W. Kaplan told the New York Post’s Keith Kelly. “It is geared towards men who are in their 30s and 40s who are web-savvy, but prefer to be able to keep their the printed version.”

It’s an intriguing move. We can get the idea that it’s a fashion-oriented magazine specifically for men, targeted at older men who may remember M back in the glory days, or younger men who are looking to get magazines printed on paper. This is also logical since there’s a shortage of American high-end men’s magazines for men.

The move is also courageous. Magazines such as Details and GQ within the larger Conde Nast umbrella (which includes Fairchild) might be considered to be rivals. Perhaps more troubling to the announcement of an all-flash men’s magazine that is targeted towards men in their 40s could be that online readers of these two magazines are older than their paper readers. Based on the Media Kits the median ages of Details’ and GQ’s online readers is 40.8 or 38 in each case, in comparison to the average years of the print readers: 33.2 and 34 .

“The other magazines have large-scale circulation,” Kaplan said. “We’re looking for men whose primary focus is about fashion, who look at their world from the perspective of fashion.”

I’m about one year out of Kaplan’s target audience. However, before I transition into the new and exciting world of M is probably as the best time to reflect on the lessons we’ve learned, and what we didn’t and also how M stands up to the latest crop of male-focused magazines.
Maxim

Who they say reads it A woman of 32 years old earning around $72,000 annually (Household income).
When I read it I was a sluggish 14-year-old up to 19 years old.
What You Can Learn from reading it: You may be a hormone-driven heterosexual male who’s not old enough to get a Playboy or smart enough to shut down all of the junk in your Web browser. This magazine for dude brothers who love fart jokes and naked women has changed the minds of many young men by showing them how to rate the hotness of women through their “Hot 100” as well as the many variations in “scoring” and most notably, “How to Cure a Feminist.”

Esquire

Who Reads What They Say The average income for a 44-year-old is $60,000 a year ($87,000 HHI)
If I read it: 20 to present
What You Can Learn From This Book What you can do to prepare a cocktail, and “eat like the man” and who the most sexiest Woman in the World is, or how to dress to look like an alpha Male.

Men’s Health

Who they say reads it The 37-year-olds that earn $50,000 ($79,629 HHI)
When I read it I read it once or twice in my teens, and several times during my 20s, when I believed I was going to get the Six-Pack Abs!
What You Can Learn from This article: That you may be a hormone-positive homosexual male who’s too young to be able to purchase Playgirl skilled enough to unblock your web browser. Okay, okay, it was my friend, who told me about the first time he began buying Men’s Health.

There is also the possibility of being someone who is able to count his body fat percentage in his hand (or dream of achieving it) and someone who is looking to eat This, Not That, and one who is never bored of studying all about Six Pack Abs! or someone who wants to know what type of male underwear most suits their requirements.

Information

Who Says What They Read A 33-year-old earns $89,076 (HHI)
When I read it Then I Think: Adam Levine is the latest issue’s cover boy, which is odd given that he was on the cover of the publication a few months ago, telling me how to be ripped through …ummm. Oh.
What You’ll Learn from This article: You’re likely to be homosexual. In the 1990s, Details got into some problems due to it’s “Gay and/or …” back page feature” that implied that everyone was gay in general. It’s been GQ’s gayer brother with its articles that emphasized the most sexiest male muscles, which produced body dymosphia and altered the way men perceived themselves. Additionally “Ass is the new Abs” as well as “Anal sexuality has become the new Deal-breaker.”

GQ

Who Says What They Read A 34-year-old who earns $77,643 (HHI)
After I was Reading It do
What You Can Learn From The Book: Paul Newman is basically god. The fact that Roger Sterling knows how to wear an elegant gray suit and that dressing as James Dean will always be fashionable, but not necessarily more elegant as Paul Newman. Also, dressing for the occasion is expensive. And, of course, there are pieces on politics (and they’re fantastic especially if you’re interested in this kind of thing)