The Pandemic: a Problem or a Solution for Print Fashion Magazines?
Last week, I saw at the newsstand near my place, to which I am so thankful for still being open, the new French Vogue and Elle. Elle had an illustration of health care professionals at its cover, while Vogue had the French actress Marion Cotillard. For a bit, I was indecisive about which one I would buy. On one hand, I admire Elle for taking an initiative in supporting the people that are risking their lives for us. On the other hand, I didn’t know if I wanted to read even more about the pandemic or just read something lighter. I ended up buying both and guess what: for me, Vogue was too out of touch with my reality right now and made me feel worse than Elle, which was respectfully addressing the whole mess we are currently living. But is my opinion representative? Maybe not, but in one thing I was representative, I bought more magazines than I would have bought before — and in that, I am far from alone.
Glossy Publications Was Already a Fragile Industry
Before we jump into how the print fashion magazine market is right now, let’s recapitulate how it was before the Covid-19. Fashion magazines had been struggling for years with the rise of Internet content. Even though they still have a large audience, print fashion publications were having difficulties to join the massive growth of digital advertising. This scenario resulted in the fall of many titans in the industry all around the world. Some, such as the Brazilian Elle, closed all operations, while others, such as the UK’s Marie Claire, Teen Vogue, and the American Glamour, cancelled print issues and moved to exclusively online presence. Meanwhile, some players of this industry have been investing in both online and print presence, such as the American Vogue.
But like every other industry, fashion print magazines were hit by the economic consequences of the pandemic. If almost all industries are struggling to stay healthy and alive during the pandemic, how is the already fragile print magazine sector dealing with it?
The Non-Profitable Comeback
Surprisingly, or not really, the magazine’s market had a comeback with the isolation in some countries such as the US, France, and Brazil. It is not clear yet if part of this growth came from panic buying and will continue throughout the isolation period, but the numbers are pleasing to anyone in the industry. The same cannot be said about their print advertising sales. According to the New York Post, most publishers had already sold the ads for the May and/or April issues before the pandemic. After that, there is great uncertainty as to how much these sales will fall, but a certainty that they will. With the economy slowing down and fashion brands, the main buyers of ads in print issues, having to cut on expenses; a page in a magazine may not be the priority anymore.
In this environment of obstacles and opportunities, magazines from different markets and sizes were affected in different ways. It’s natural that each one is coming with different strategies to deal with it too. The noisiest strategies so far are from the April issues of the Italian and the Portuguese Vogue. They decided to address the current situation we are all in creating historic covers. Vogue Portugal brought in its cover a way to make the magazine historically relevant. Called freedom on hold, the publication’s name says it all — isolation as an effort for a better future.
Vogue Portugal Cover (left) and Vogue Italia Cover (right).
Vogue Italia decided to send a similar message but with a different strategy. It released its first-ever blank cover. In their social media, they explained the choice by attributing many positive meanings to the colour white, demonstrating respect to health care professionals and offering, in their words, a “blank sheet waiting to be written”. The sensible decision of Vogue Italia carried a strong message due to the fact that its country is currently one of the most affected by the virus. Their April issue also counted with an editorial with Bella Hadid shoot by the photographer Brianna Capozzi via FaceTime.
Nothing as risky as that would come without any controversy. Yet, overall, the covers had a positive impact and if their intention was to bring attention to the print issues — it worked.
But not everyone at Condé Nast, the group that owns Vogue and other publications, is following the same strategy. The American Vogue, for example, kept the content they most likely finalized 2 to 3 months prior to the pandemic. The strategy would probably not be that controversial if the cover girl wasn’t Gal Gadot. Yes, the superwoman actress or, if you prefer, the mastermind behind the recently controversial Imagine video. To be fair, they are also supporting financially small designers with CFDA, which shows that their strategy is not with bad intentions, it is just unsuitable. Even though American Vogue was the most unfortunate with its cover person, it was not alone in this strategy. Magazines such as GQ, American Harper’s Bazaar and British Vogue also didn’t make major changes to their content. Some editors managed to make small insertions of Covid-19 related topics, but readers shouldn’t expect to see much of it in these magazines until around June. Even though they all addressed on their social media that these covers were decided before the pandemic got to the level it is now, the issues do look a bit out-dated and unrelatable.
Fashion magazines are usually a place of fantasy and glamour, backed up by celebrities’ participation. Now, with the pandemic making inequality more and more evident, people are losing patience with the privileges of some. Many celebrities and influencers have been receiving backlash due to out of touch statements lacking sensibility towards the reality of the majority of people. Nothing guarantees publications can’t be seen the same way.
As much as the idea of a magazine being a scape of what is happening now sounds good, most people are still reading from small apartments they can’t leave. They are still reading with the bills they may not be able to pay next week in mind. And, on top of all, they are still reading worried about a loved one that may be in the risk group. With all that in mind, influential fashion publications can still offer a scape without ignoring the inevitable problems that the virus and the isolation are causing to their readers, can you Imagine?
Laura Brown, the InStyle editor, can. The magazine is between the ones that decided to address the virus’s impact, but with an online issue covered by an infectious disease diagnostics specialist, Dr Jana Broadhurst. The editor stated to an interview for The New York Times that: “Offering some escapism and glamour is still important, but I’m less paranoid now about getting this celebrity for that cover (…) Readers are saying they want to see the everyday women currently doing extraordinary things being celebrated. We need to show that we are listening to them”. Dazed magazine, on the other hand, went as far as to cancel the print edition of their summer issue and made the April issue available online for free.
For smaller independent publishers the impact was more brutal. With fewer resources to keep publications running, they face a greater danger of actual shutdowns. The UK based publication The Wow had to postpone the upcoming issue indefinitely. Jdeed, a magazine based in Beirut and Dubai, had its last issue delayed due to the closing of their printers. Even when the magazine managed to finish production, the distribution restrictions allowed only 45 stores from the usual 340 to receive it.
OK, So is the Pandemic a Problem or a Solution?
Both? According to Digiday, 88% of publishing executives expect to miss their revenues targets this year. Groups such as Condé Nast already started to temporarily reduce salaries. Publishers in the UK reported to the Professional Publishers’ Association that the advertising revenues are down between 20 to 95% for the coming quarter. But, as someone that the Internet can’t agree if it was Albert Einstein or Sun-Tzu once said: “In the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity”. The rise in the audience of print magazines due to isolation can be an opportunity for them to regain old readers and conquer new ones. People are creating new habits to go through the isolation period and some of these will perhaps outlive the no-touch era. Reading print magazines is apparently one of these new habits.
The crisis will hit hard, but eventually, it will pass and whenever advertising buyers have resources again, they will choose those that are closer than ever to their target audience. Unfortunately, not everyone will be able to outlive this moment. Some magazines don’t have the resources to invest in it, but maybe the right approach can compensate once the pandemic is over. No one knows what is right or wrong now. What I can say is that this can be either the perfect opportunity for print magazines to come back stronger or the harshest challenge ever that will reinforce the fragility that the industry had been going throw already. Time will say and, until then, I will be reading the French Elle, because they got a client back.
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