Anyone read Cleo here?
If so did you read it in the mid nineties when the likes of Lisa Wilkinson (now on Channel 9’s Today show co-host) , Paula Joye, and perhaps even Mia Freedman may have been on the mast head?
Well this ad takes us back to a rather different Cleo. Don’t fall off your chair when you see this ad, especially when you see how chic Cleo once appeared to be.
I love magazine flashbacks.
4 Inch Heels Only 
OH.
MY.
GOD.
Jeez and I thought it was bad now. I don’t mind Cleo, but this is too much!
A news reader at the masthead??
Oh.
My.
God.
That is all.
Romany
xx
For sale: one apostrophe.
Former owner: Mag Hag
Status: Barely used
Condition: excellent (see above, “barely used”)
Location: Cubicle One
OMG that ad is as old as the hills. It’s been on youtube for yonks. News? Blogworthy? hardly.
Now let’s talk about where Ned aka Little Miss Ex Cleo, has gone to. That’s much more interesting. New York? An ad agency? Woolworths?
-laughs-
My question is…. what’s changed?
Is that Simone Jade Mackinnon from Mcleods Daughters as the blonde? She looks so much like her!!
I’m confused about all the references to ‘cubicle one’. Can someone please explain?
What’s with the new editor of Cleo? She certainly doesn’t seem to fit into the Joye/Freedman/Wilkinson mold…. Maybe she’ll have some new, off-the-cuff commentary to bring to the mag? Here’s hoping.
I couldn’t remember seeing this ad. back in the 90’s. Good finding. It made me laugh. I think Mia Freedman used to work for Dolly mag back in the 90’s and Lisa W worked as an editor for Cosmo. Memory oh sweet memory : )
Oh no! I actually remember, unfortunately still quite vividly, the ‘penis’ issue of Cleo. One still sticks out (!) there was this weird shiny one that looked as if it was wrapped in cling wrap. I’m still ambivalent about whether I should sue Cleo for psychological injury or thank them for the warning.
Kudos to you. An amazing blog and I really enjoy it.
Kudos to you, an amazing blog and I really enjoy it.
Oooh maghag – more drama!
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23567071-2,00.html
I can’t believe Leigh Campbell wrote you a letter and called you pathetic – Leigh Darling, go back to your desk and test drive the latest lipgloss, I’m sure you’re very passionate about it. And weren’t you doing homewares/living just a few months ago at STYD? Now you’re an expert in Beauty… pffft. You’re not a journalist.
We’re behind you maghag. You’re doing nothing wrong by exposing sad truths. I would do the same blog for my corporate world but your worl is so much ritzier!
N – that was my first thought too! It sure looks like Simmone.
romany you are a moron…did you know that lisa wilkinson started off by being the dolly editor and then moved on, not the other way…
get back to your gloria jeans latte in penrif with your guess bag
Just found your blog from news.com.au – love it! I remember perfectly when I stopped buying Australian ‘fashion’ magazines. Cleo or Cosmo had a line on the front cover that went something like “fellate him and HE’LL cook you dinner!” I never bought an Aus magazine again.
Classic!! Oh how the lives of people like Spanky is dissolving now that we have proof of just how horrible they are. I can’t believe you have had to endure working with people like that!
Congratulations on making it to the from of news.com.au
Expect your readership to increase. This is fantastic!
Found the link from news.com. LOVE IT. A mini Gawker …
My daughter, who thought she wanted to work in magazines, did her work experience some years ago at ACP. At the end of the week she came to two conclusions 1) magazines are too bitchy to work in, and 2) Mia is a rude cow.
Love your work – keep it up!
Just saw la Leigh’s comment just then and laughed when I read this:
“If we could offer our land lord mascara to cover our rent, most of us would. If we could trade in the lip loss for more time with our kids, or sick parents, hell – just to do our washing, most of us would. We enjoy and excel at our jobs because they bring us satisfaction, not freebies”
ARE YOU KIDDING ME, LEIGH?
You’re not saving the world honey, you’re writing about lipglosses and lipsticks. Yours is any regular jobs with so many more perks. I am a manager in the public sector (read here: actual hard intellectual work) who just happens to love reading fashion mags and be abreast of fashion news so don’t go around telling everyone that you gals don’t have time for sick parents and your kids, etc. Don’t go to your next free gig if that’s what’s worrying you. Pathetic!
I am in love with this site! Found it on news.com.au too.
I did some work experience with cosmo. I didn’t find it too bitchy but I only was there for a little while. I could see how it could be just like you say though. However it did surprise me that these girls had such a hang up on how they looked and what they wore when really – they don’t get paid much, they rip off work from American magazines and when they’re not doing that they’re re-writing press release from people who can actually afford to buy the clothes they are trying to sell. It was, however, no surprise at how the editor acted. Even news room editors are more polite.
I’ll be back to read more 🙂
Love it, love it, love it….thank you news.com – perhaps the best link ever…my playschool timeslot coffee in the morning is now set in stone! God help the children if they interrupt…..Here’s to you MagHag!
The news.com.au thing is great reading but some of their statements are attributed to mag hag when they are clearly by people commenting. Never mind checking facts!
Hah! I can’t believe the Mia banana story made it in the report…really that is sooo lame to compared to what really goes on. One ed I know would make you peel it, feed the child, do a monkey dance, and then wonder why you haven’t filed a feature by lunchtime.
Just read the brohaha over the site in the Sunday Telegraph. Thought I’d take a look. BRILLIANT!!!
Yo Leigh Campbell, you tell Australian women that they need $100 face creams to keep up with other vacuios bitches. Maghag might be bitchy but you are a disgrace to Womanhood. Go back to the slime laden rock you came out from.
Keep up the great work Maghag, and to all the “ever so perfect” editors and all, why don’t you do something decent with your life and stop wasting taxpayers money from HECS
^^ How old is your daughter??
Every industry is a bitchy industry. My mum is an accountant and I’ve been to her work and wow that was one memorable hour!
I see you have made the Sunday Telegraph today and there is a witch hunt on for you.
It just makes me wonder where is ACP’s PR team in all of this. Just like the HR policies that are carried out, the management teams are allowed to run riot. They would have been better off to ignore the website. Instead, by reacting in such a way, they have given your blog credibility and shown the public that there is truth behind your website. For people who credit themselves as professional communicators, they make great beauty writers.
Instead of reacting in such a public way, they should take a good look at themselves and the way they treat people and the way they were treated as they fought their way up the ladder ruthlessly treading on their colleagues as they did so. This is a chance for everyone to benefit and to expose the ugly side to this industry amidst the glamour and the glitz. I decided from an early age that I would not subject myself to such a bitchy environment.
The publishing industry in order to become a professional and well-respected industry need structured paid internships for people wanting to get into the industry and to also offer career paths to older staff members. There should be an end to this exploitation of young staff. Clearly even editors of their section are paid badly and are forced to work in other areas such as online which is more technically based and thus is paid at a higher wage. Freebies are not going to pay the mortgage and everyone has to grow up sooner or later.
There is life after working in publishing. In fact, you may even get the life you never knew you could have.
P.S. I’m sick of seeing Leah’s breasts in the magazine. Maybe she should follow her calling as a Ralph model?
I did Work Expereicne at ACP. Yes POA, you couldn’t have said it better. YES, Mia IS a rude cow, I have never struck anyone so rude in fact.
I absolutely hated it there but kept going as I thought i’d be in trouble from school for not going. The tasks I was given were absolutely appalling, it was a joke. Mia did nothing but swan about thinking she was great, hmmmmm no!
Cleo was good in the late Eighties/early Nineties, it was for women back then. These days it is like the Dolly of the Eighties.
this publicity is freaking brilliant maghag! you go girl! i hope all those bitchy editors are in a tizz. exposed!!!!!! and anyway – if anyone’s read mia’s mamamia blog it’s pretty obvious she was hiding behind her talented hard-working staff all along. i’v never read anything more boring. keep it up maghag! i hope you lose your job and get a freaking huge book deal 🙂
p.s. – i’m sure there are lots of us who will give you some stories for that first novel!
p.p.s. if anyone is still in doubt about leigh campbell’s credentials – go have a look at her profile pic on facebook. jesus christ, what a knob.
Whistleblowing is a noble cause and I admire anyone with the courage to do so. It is a highly dangerous activity and certainly comes with a high personal cost.
Just wanted you to know the admirable personal values and beliefs that led you to create this blog lead me to think your personal integrity will serve you well in life.
Good luck,
Karon
hear, hear karon – well said. keep it up mag hag…
Hi there. I found your site on news.com.au and I’m so glad that someone out there finally has done this. I don’t work in the magazine industry (you couldn’t pay me enough) but I find them destructive and very unhelpful.
I stopped reading all the mags around 1990 when my boyfriend broke up with me and then ended up in Cleo’s 50 Most Eligible Bachelor List! Where he said his ideal woman was someone who is physically, completely different from me!
A few months ago, I thumbed through an old copy of something at a cafe whilst waiting for my noodles to be cooked and one money saving tip said that if you’ve come to the end of your mascara, put a little baby oil in it to make it last until you can buy another. So I tried it and ended up with panda eyes! The oil didn’t dry and every time I blinked, I smeared mascara all over my face!
Keep up the good work MagHag, I’m taking great delight in these women being exposed for the wretched self absorbed liars they really are.
Is anon, a friend of maghag? Or closer still, maghag herself?
I don’t think I’ve ever come across someone so gungho about it all… 🙂
Jules, if you want to know about the Dirty Dealings that REALLY go on, go check out cubicle one first thing in the morning on level 7.
John’s been a busy, busy boy.
How about you all give Leigh a break! She was the only brave enough ACP employee to actually speak her mind, and for that we should give her credit! now why don’t all you Leigh – haters run along and find something useful in your life to rant about!!!!!
I’ve also done work experience at ACP when I was in late high school. What can I say, bunch of self important bitches. I only got totally ‘sucked up’ to by these trolls because they were impressed with who my mother and father were.
Sorry if this is an obvious question, what or who is Cubicle One?
And while i’m all about giving people a fair go, I do find it hard in my opinion ( not everyone will agree) that it is hard for Leigh to comment from a beauty editor perspective, when she used to do fashion for STYD, which I know for a fact included those long chardy lunches, watching movies on youtube, and leaving the poor work experience fashion girls from FBI to man the phones and run up and down in the dodgy lift to the mail room about 50 times a day. Fine to say that beauty eds get the brunt of things and dish things out, but be prepared that the comments you state may come back to bite you in the haute couture ass.
bismuth – i have no idea who mag hag is, unfortunately! and why are all these people standing up for leigh campbell, is she paying them off? maybe sneaking them chanel eyeshadow under her desk? how could anyone actually like her??
Cubicle One is, like, totally, like, a Level Seven institution.
Everyone who’s anyone knows about Cubicle One.
Yeah thanks swefjiepw jewpjeowip that was really helpful…
I think i have worked out what cubicle one is all about thanks to google and this blog 😉
Someone called John happens to be one of the power heads at ACP. In a male dominated magazine The Bulletin (on level 7) has been doing something naughty underneath the cubicle. drugs, blwojobs, sleeping, who knows.
I quite like reading what the beauty eds write about, but I wish Leigh would:
1. wear a bra
2. try an outfit where her plastic-fantastic boobs aren’t on display
Good on ya for refusing to keep your mouth shut like some passive little woman from yesteryear. You’re entitled to your opinion.
Watch your back though. Friends turn into enemies when pressured with $, glory or climbing the ladder.
Sleeping under the cubicle is not a bad thing… “Sleeping” on top of the cubicle, now that would be something… Well actually, not for some of the girls in this office at least… 😉
all the leigh- haters, you wouldnt have a clue how hard she works and the hrs she puts in. all those critisizing her sound like they are a little jealous …… Love ur work lil. Mag hag obviously you are a nobody at acp who has nothing better to do then attack people who are successful.
oh god, another one…
you’re right raz. we are all so “jealous” of ms campbell. you are so incredibly perceptive.
seriously though, is that the only thing that keeps these girls going regardless of the crappy salaries and ridiculous bitchiness… thinking that other people are actually “jealous” of them??
and would anyone on here actually regard ms campbell as “successful”? that’s really pretty sad, no?
But is John a man? Or does he just look like one?
but the cubicle could be a work station or toilet.
http://freedmanblogissues.blogspot.com/
You made some decent points there. I looked on the web for the difficulty and found most people will associate with with your website.
You made some decent factors there. I seemed on the internet for the difficulty and found most individuals will go together with along with your website.
I have never met Mia Freedman, nor Lisa Wilkinson… I have however met many beauty and fashion editors, writers, bloggers in my work (which ill decline to detail) and I have to say, majority, like a VAST majority were super lovely to me (even though I could be considered, due to my role, as being somehow ‘lesser than them’ in the fash-food-chain). But Paula Joye is the rudest I’ve come across. She has an overly heightened sense of self importance and she just drips fakeness. After viewing her blog, and seeing how pathetically posed all her images are, I feel even more certain in my view that she’s lost touch with reality and seems to forget that people she will never remember will ALWAYS remember how false and arrogant she was to them…