SELF MAGAZINE

The amount of service magazines in today’s market is quite impressive. Magazines that focus on women cover anything from fashion to cooking or parenting and child care. Some target only the “upper crust” (Vogue and W), while some focus on the working middle class, and some on stay-at-home moms. But all of them are fighting to acquire the most affluent advertisers. With the era of taking a healthy look at life and physical appearance being the number one priority, some customer magazines devote all their content to a healthy lifestyle and everything that comes with it.
Self is one of these consumer-service magazines targeting women in a wide range of classes. Its main focus is well-being, dieting, and anything that revolves around having a healthy strong body and mind.
Self debuted 27 years ago as the first magazine on total well-being. Its credo is to “inspire, inform, motivate and reward the individual who wants to challenge herself, grow, and achieve personal goals”. The editorial content proves it on a monthly basis. Fresh ideas and advice from expert trainers, doctors, dieticians, make-up artists, stylists, and therapists are a must for this magazine. This mix is not appealing only to its readers but to big advertisers as well. As with any other well-known and established magazine, Self makes money through advertising on its pages, which consist mostly of national ads, but there is a place for local advertising, classified ads, and occasionally freestanding inserts.
Now, this might sound like favoritism, but although the advertising-editorial ratio might be as much as 50-50 or less in favor of editorial content, it isn’t quite that disturbing as it would be in other magazines such as Vogue or Elle. Advertisements in Self aren’t those that feature chiseled models wearing a $50,000 clothing item or bag. I actually read and sometimes even consider buying what the advertisers promote, because they tend to be affordable, sense-making, and life-improving products. And for that reason, it doesn’t bother me.
The editorial part is always very interesting no matter what the reader’s preferences might be. My favorites are especially the crafted workouts and “health flash”, which writes in short about new medical research results. In the recent May issue, that features Ali Larter on the cover, there is a special article devoted to the best cosmetic products of 2007. It exalts everything that a woman would need or want to take care of her body from head to toe. All of these products were recommended and voted for by actual readers. But again, this might be a form of billboard, where the magazine doesn’t necessarily receive money for mentioning the products but is given products for free and then gives them away as a sweepstakes. And there are a lot of those in every issue.
On the covers of Self are TV personalities, movie stars, singers, and other famous women. They tend to be healthy looking and self-confident. That’s a point of view that is common for this magazine that battles against all those other magazines who promote unhealthy and skinny models and stars. On its pages, it often debates the issues of eating disorders and other problems that women have with the perceptions of their self-image. They try to feature athletic models in their editorials and fashion stories, although sometimes a skinnier one fits in.
Self’s website is organized and inviting and it’s worth checking on. In addition, for those who are interested in the subject of media and advertising, they include a reference to a Media Kit, which is well arranged and includes an ABC statement for potential advertisers.

http://www.self.com/

http://www.condenastmediakit.com/sel/circulation.cfm