The Magazine Flip Conspiracy

[The Chairman]

So you're at the magazine rack. Something catches your attention on the cover of one of the magazines. The one article or picture you would buy the magazine for.

Do the magazine companies have some secret way of putting the article/picture in the exact place where, when you pick up the magazine and flip through it, it's the only article or picture that you can't find?

It happens to me all the time. I want to see the pictorial in Playboy of "The Women of the New England Small College Athletic Conference".... do "The Flip" ....see every ad, the boring filler articles, etc. but no naked Bowdoin chicks.

I pick up Spin Magazine to see how they ranked the "Best 20 Albums of 2003" and see all the heroin chic fashion spreads and ads for iPods, but can't find the list.

I pick up The Economist and want to read the cover story on oil pipelines to the seaports of Arzew and Beja‹a in Algeria and As Sukhayrah in Tunisia and I seem to land on every classified advertisement for a new Senior Consultant to the World Bank or seeking a new Vice President of The Nigerian Ministry of Agriculture and Trade, but not the juicy article on Arzewian oil pipelines.

Do they do this on purpose? If so, how?

It's really sucky suckerton if they do. :mad:

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2%

[Furtherman]

I have noticed this too Chairman. I find that most magazines will put that month's main article towards the back of the magazine, probably about 3/4 the way through. Playboy will do that, putting the cover woman as the second or third pictorial.

I find that flipping though the magazine from the back page comes across the cover article (or pictorial) faster.

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...with thanks to JustJon

[JustJon]

and that's why I use the table of contents if I just want to read one article.

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[A.J.]

Everytime I flip, I manage to land on that one page that has the three order cards that fall out.

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[FUNKMAN]

happens to me so i started looking for the article/page location in the front, which i tell you is not always easy to find either.

kind've reminds you of News programs that announce an interesting story but do not air that part of the program til the end...

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and when you're bad you die when you die

[zoom2457]

How lazy are you people??? Is it really that difficult to actually turn each page??? Or do what Jon does and read the table of contents...

Or.... Flip slower...


"Excuse me, excuse me I believe you have my stapler"

[fluffernutter]

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those who tell the truth shall die, those who tell the truth shall live forever

[high fly]

I'm pissed that the bastards don't put page numbers on the pages with the full page ads.
Often there will be a shitload of these ads in a row and it's hard to find the page.

Assholes.




" and they ask me why I drink"

[The Chairman]

First I'm talking flipping. If I'm buiying I just buy the magazine. But I'm not necessarily going to plunk down 3 bucks just to see if the picture of J-Lo's butt is one of the 2,000 other one's I've already seen. Bad example for me but representitive.

As far as the Table Of Contents, just try finding it quickly in some magazines like Vainty Fair or Vogue. I dare ya.


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[JustJon]

Sorry, as a hetero male, I don't read women's magazines.

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[The Chairman]

Sorry, as a hetero male, I don't read women's magazines.

No you read PS2 Monthly and comic books.

As a hetero ADULT male I'm not embarrased to admit that I will do the flip through Vogue. If I see some hottie on the cover I'll want to see her pictures inside more likely than quickly find out the latest cheat codes for Halo II.

And Vanity Fair is not a woman's magazine. It's the rich man's People.

;)


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[BoondockSaint]

The worst thing magazines do is when porno mags offer you the 3 pak for $9.99 and the middle one is some Fat Chicks mag.

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[JustJon]

No you read PS2 Monthly and comic books.

Hey now! I don't read PS2 Monthly. Video game magazines suck.


As a hetero ADULT male I'm not embarrased to admit that I will do the flip through Vogue. If I see some hottie on the cover I'll want to see her pictures inside more likely than quickly find out the latest cheat codes for Halo II.

And Vanity Fair is not a woman's magazine. It's the rich man's People.

No, Vanity Fair is a rich <B>woman's</B> People.

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[high fly]

Good article on Wesley Clark in GQ.

" and they ask me why I drink"

[ChrisTheCop]

GOOD TOPIC! And the table of contents is rarely any help. They dont use the same words they did on the cover. (example:on the cover: "Halle Berry takes us on a tour of her hometown!" t.o.c: "Cleveland hot spots, pg 31")
By the way, Vanity Fair is the rich man who paints his toenails' People.

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[high fly]

Vanity Fair is excellent!

" and they ask me why I drink"

[Furtherman]

The worst thing magazines do is when porno mags offer you the 3 pak for $9.99 and the middle one is some Fat Chicks mag.


That is f'n hilarious!!

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...with thanks to JustJon

[Hosp]

Having worked in publishing I can tell you, yes.

Most ads are placed on the right hand page because eyes are naturally drawn to that side first. (Advertisers are even offered discounted rates for the left hand page)

Depending on the binding of the magazine, they can control where you open. If it's a saddle binding, where the pages are just laid on top of each other and stapled, not really. But if it's the hard bound like Maxim is done, they can figure out the natural way the pages will fold. They're really not interested in you seeing the material, they want their advertisers to be happy.


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[Furtherman]

Thank you Hosp!

Ergo, The Magazine Flip Conspiracy!

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...with thanks to JustJon

[The Chairman]

Good article on Wesley Clark in GQ.

Yup, and if you want to read an exceptional article written by Wesley Clark, see "Iraq, What Went Wrong" in the The New York Review of Books, October, 23, 2003. I subscribe, and it's so good I'll be happy to figure out a way to get you a copy.

By the way, Vanity Fair is the rich man who paints his toenails' People.
;)
I actually don't subscribe, my mom gets it and I steal hers after she's read it. Mostly fluf pieces about celebrities, but sometimes they have some good stuff. But a real flip offender, and one of those mags where you go from an article on page 102, to 43 pages of ads to the next article.

Most ads are placed on the right hand page because eyes are naturally drawn to that side first. (Advertisers are even offered discounted rates for the left hand page)

Thanks Hosp! I imagine its kind of like the same principle they apply when they put the Surgeon General's Warning in the cigarette ad in the one place where your eye is least likely to notice it.

Now don't get me started on the whole subject of the subscription cards that fall out AND are attached to the magazine (my recent issue of the New Yorker came with 4 fall out cards and three attached cards plus a stapled half cover over the real cover) and the scented inserts (some magazines actually let you request a subscription with no scented inserts.)

Also, what I hate is when you subscribe and within three months they are already sending you renewal notices in the mail. I got a two-year subscription to Harper's and started getting renewal letters four months later. I collected them and saved them and had 18 before my subscription ran out. Not only did the rates change, they started saying "Last Chance to Renew" when I still had eight months left. I mailed them back to the magazine with a letter of complaint and they extended my subscription by a year for free. I do things like that.

Then there's Newsweek (another complaint letter.) I subscribed and started getting renewal letters almost immediately. They were for prices that were much higher than my subscription (not an intro offer or anything.) I called to inquire what was going on and was actually told that when someone subscribes, their name goes out to various renewal companies and it's a free for all to see who can get you to renew. Not all are granted the same subscription rate, so you can get bombarded with renewal notices and they aren't even coming from Newsweek. One company even sent me a renewal notice with a real stamp as an incentive to renew.

Now here's a hint. If you want to cut down on all the junk mail from your subscriptions, when you subscribe, request NOT to be on their mailing list or to have your name shared with what they call "carefully screened companies which we feel you might be interested in receiving information..." Then change your middle initial for each magazine to match the name of the magazine (Newsweek=N, Economist=E, etc.) Then when you get junk mail you can track if they are holding up their end of the offer and complain if they are not, cause you'll start getting different junk mail with different middle initials if they violate your request. Then complain, and you might, as I have, get a free subscription extension.

The most egregious example of subscription heinosity is when I subscribed to a magazine, sent a check, and included a note asking them not to put me on any mailing lists, including theirs (the letterhead of the note included a slightly changed first name (Brant instead of Grant) and incorrect middle initial). I started getting junk mail and renewal notices almost immediately, with my correct middle initial. They had taken my correct name and middle initial from the check I sent in.



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[Yerdaddy]

There's more substance in Grant's last post than in most of the magazines out there. That's why I find magazines in general an extremely cumbersome source of information. I will go into the news shop on the way to work about once a week and make a note of articles I want to read, (papering the floor with subscription cards), and pull them off the internet.

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TEAR THE BITCH APART!

[Johnny Fontane]

The worst thing magazines do is when porno mags offer you the 3 pak for $9.99 and the middle one is some Fat Chicks mag.


You should go to the FOX 5 Problem Solvers.

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[JustJon]

My biggest problem with magazines is that the info tends to be out of date. This is especailly a problem with monthly magazines that have "timely" info.

Case in point: The issue of Maxim released in November gave a video game 5 stars for the holiday season. That might be a good reveiew, had they actually played the finished game. The game in question is delayed into next year.

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[gypsy]

I've noticed some ads will use thicker paper, so when you thumb through it you autamatically get hung up at that ad.

"I Whupped Batman's Ass" Wesley Willis R.I.P

[The Chairman]

Re: last two posts:

Cases in point:

I just picked up the current issue of Esquire, with Jack Nicholson on the cover. It was closest to where my lazy ass was sitting.

First the "flip test."

end to beginning flip results:

flip one: a page with three subscription cards attached to the page (right side).


flip two: an advertisement insert for Columbia House DVD Club.

flip three: advertisement for mystery car.com with an insert sticking out.

flip four: advertisement for Maker's Mark whiskey with fall out card for subscription. Best part: this offer is for $7.97 for one year while the other cards were for $10 for one year.

gypsy is totally correct, almost every flip went to a page or insert that was made of different paper.

JustJon's point is well taken as well. When I finally got to an actual article, it was:

"34 Reasons to be Optimistic About 2004."

Reason #2.
"Jason Kidd and Alonzo Mourning, together at last."




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[Zipgun]

Don't you ever just chill out and buy a copy of High Times or something?

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