Love overhearing gossip. Sometimes you can’t help hearing when people manage to talk at the top of their lungs, broadcasting their news to the whole office. Do we care if you’re date was horrible last night, or your boyfriend would rather spend your only free night playing basketball with the boys?
Anyway, I heard something intriguing in the last few days. Please take note of the following international magazine covers to take note of:
- US Harper’s Bazaar with Julianne Moore and Demi Moore
- US Vogue with Gwyneth Paltrow
- UK Vogue with Victoria Beckham
- US Glamour with Fergie
- UK Glamour with Gwyneth Paltrow
- W with Cameron Diaz
You may be seeing those cover images on newsstands near you with some cover line changes or in the pages of the magazines with the same interview word for word. So don’t go reading those articles in Borders on your lunch break if you don’t want to see it again in an Australian magazine.
As for other gossip, this was sent in:
Overhearing two mag gals discussing the art of climbing the career ladder, was enough to prick my ears up. One gal was discussing how to get ahead in this business and the best way to do it was to suck up to the advertising director (yes not all the fun is on the editorial side), be nice to your national advertising director, whilst undermining them and let your underlings think you are a goddess – they act as your personal free advertising/pr machine.
An example was offered on how knocking out her competition had been done (through tears, stories of not being accepted and grovelling to a certain intelligent and academic advertising director that fell hook, line and sinker and is still none the wiser that she had had one put over her – even though they no longer work together, but wants her back on her team) and to top it all off get into the social pages (she wasn’t very happy with her recent shots). Wish I had seen who they were – what an interesting conversation.
Juicy… was that YOU gossiping?
P.S. What do people think of the PRIMPED.com.au holding page? Did you read more about it in yesterday’s Australian?
4 Inch Heels Only 
I’m just so sick and tired of magazines, or anything form of media regurgitating the same stuff from overseas. It’s just sheer laziness really…
That’s one of the reasons why Cleo’s circulation has been going down the drain as of late.
Better yet is hearing gossip about mag hag around the office! Priceless darling! Level 5 (or 4) anyone 😉
In regards to Primped, I cannot be the only one that thinks it looks surprisingly like 30daysoffashionandbeauty.com.au.
Some people really should move on.
I hear them too Kylix. Could it be me gossiping about myself?? Should we share with your fellow comment readers?
True about Primped. I’m a little underwhelmed by the name too.
Could those 6 covers be any more boring and irrelevant? Yawn. They’ll all such old news. Gwyneth who? Is it 2004?
Why can’t we have some fresh faced and / or fresh talent Aussies on the covers of our magazines already? There are 21 million of us for god sake.
Amazing with all the ‘so called talent’ we have in the way of writers and photographers at magazines, that we can’t come up with anything original. A shame that we only see Australian talent in mass when one of our own dies.
Re: Primped, very 90’s and very tween.
Being nice to your top ad manager doesn’t hurt, but it also means you are more willing to put advertiser products in your editorial pages. And that is not journalism… so why do these mag girls claim to be journalists when they do this kind of thing every day?
I’m a bit over beauty websites, do we really need more ??
Love Zoe Foster, but why is she doing Primped when she has Fruity Beauty? ‘Cause I gotta admit, it left me feeling a little underwhelmed too..
P.S. What’s that bad smell? Oh, it’s Leigh Campbell.
Well I think Primped looks fun. I’ve been laughing at the statistics. At least it’s not boring white/blue/pink all beauty sites use.
And the point is Rachel – they’re not all that diff from any of the other million beauty websites out there too. Even if it is written by Zoe Foster.
Recycling of covers and articles has been going on for years. If the Australain magazines didn’t do it, there would be nothing to sell, based on local content and celebrities
great post mag hag!!
x
How is it people can title themselves beauty journalists without any experience in the beauty industry or as a journalist?
well journo,
that is common these days. if you’re a writer/journalist, you can expert in any field. or appear as one, at least.
like they say when you take here and there, do you research and put it all together, it belongs to you. although that’s a very fine line to plagiarising. 😡
If you are all so righteous, why hide behind alias’s??
At least have the guts to show your real face, so other people have the chance to pick at your flaws….however few you may think you have!
Well said journo. I have worked in the cosmetic industry for 20years , 10 of those with a well known international family company. I probably could do better a job asa beauty editor than some of those doing the job now
Primped looks good, but then again, maybe it has all been done before…
I managed to get an article into Cosmopolitan in 1998, which I considered something of a minor miracle because local content (according to the Australian Writer’s Guide) was only 5%!
I assume the situation isn’t any better than that, which is a shame for the local journalists. No wonder people start up their own blogs.
Larek, I think good writing can make all the difference to a magazine or a website or blog. I think Zoe’s style will see that primped isn’t like all the other beauty websites, if fruity is anything to go by? Or do you mean that beauty is a boring topic full stop? But then that’s the job of a writer or actor or any artist I believe, to make something that is so-so into something great. (Beauty writers are especially under scrutiny it seems and as some of the nastier comments have pointed out. I’d almost feel sorry for them if it wasn’t for all that free makeup they’re getting!)
Hey journo….
Let me say this:
I B/S ‘ed my CV. It was chock full of communcation qualifications and freelance stints as well as international assignments which were hard to reference.
Guess what!!!! I got a job as a junior in a mag (not saying which one) and have been in the industry for over 10 years in what you would call a juicy position. My partner cracks up as he is the only person that knows the truth but know one would guess this at my work place.
You don’t need peices of paper or prior exp to get into this world. Its so superficial its not funny.
So yes, I am a fraud and you know what Mag Hag – you will never know who I am as much as I hope to never know who you are.
Keep up the good work and keep those bastards honest!!!
Cheers
Natalie aka you will never know
Larek – but how many GOOD beauty websites with decent writing do you know of? Please tell. We struggle to find more than a small handful. And how do you know its not different until you see it?
Being nice to ad departments? Well, it seems that management already is… I remember one title where the ad department was taken to a day of manicures, pedicures and facials on the company plastic while the ed side of things was left to slave on their lower-salaried way.
(While the ed dipped out to Bambini Trust for another dose of chardy and ciggies with the only person in the office who didn’t want to place a shiv between the ribs…)
It’s par for the course; though nobody [really] buys magazines for the ads, employers pretty much act as if they do. Content comes a distant second, it seems.
Hi Jackie – BeautyEditor is one, I’m a subscriber and I check the site regularly. I’ve seen Zoe’s writing in HB and in FruityBeauty and it’s not very impressive (more like I’ll try to make you laugh so you won’t really know that I don’t really know what I’m talking about). I guess we’ll see what Primped will look like when it launches – fingers crossed.
Natalie,
You are not alone. I’d say 70% of the girls that work in publishing houses are either well connected from way back (families in PR, publishing, media *cough Mia, Bronwyn*), have some amazing connections from school, or BS in their resumes.
But you know what? It really doesnt matter, this industry and their mag titles rely on these connections, so as much as it is great to have someone tied to their desk all day to get to the top, you wont meet the next big designer that therefore will give an exclusive to one mag, or strike up a friendship with that PR girl or Media personality that will shout praises about your magazine…
the truth sometimes hurts… this is not an industry where putting in the hard yards gets you somewhere. But really – are we all surprised? Look at the content of the magazines and what they are selling!
xxx
Give ’em heaps Mag Hag!
YUCK. Beauty Editor doesn’t write well, she waffles on about some pop culture reference with not much said about the trend/product she was suppose to be writing about in the first place!
Global Warming Alarmists Beware… http://www.EvilCarbon.com
Mag Hag,
what have you done? No more Leigh Campbell on Facebook!! No more blow out hair! No more photos of her with friends at various “dos” and nightclubs! No more photos of her breasts falling out of the same style dresses she seems to favour! No more photos of her clone gfs!
Boo Hoo!
Natalie,
i’m surprised you haven’t been outed yet — your spelling and grammar is atrocious.
Oh, but that’s right – if it weren’t for the sub-editors, your magazines would probably read worse than a fourth-grader’s essay.
on a side note, imagine if political journalists, technology editors or police reporters had as little experience in their field as beauty editors do in theirs.
Mag hag, you are bringing back a lot of wonderful memories of working in the magazine world. It may be bitchy but it isnt dull…I was a PR for a ‘foodie’ mag in London for a number of years, and it was snobby, elitist and definitely superficial at times, but the fahionistas outdid us undoubtedly every time on the self importance stakes. I hear what you are saying (rightly) about the ‘workie’s’ but I was mentored, by amongst others, Tim Brooks, in my first job and he was truly generous in teaching me aspects of the profession, as was the publisher of Harper’s in later years. It isnt all doom and gloom, there are some great people out there amongst the nightmares. I am now freelance and moving into photojournalism these days, but I must admit, it has been fun seeing that things have changed little in the last 20 years, and good on you for exposing it. But did we ever really believe it could be anything different in an industry which is entirely based upon the way we look? Let’s hope you inspire some fresh thinking and pave the way for better behaviour, that would be a score!
oh darrrrling, why is everyone fretting?? Leigh Campbell is alive and well on facebook…
re: Primped? Well, if the online whiz-bangery of ACP’s Marguerite Kramer-launched sites is anything to go by, I’m sure the fashion world is just trembling now…
Ahem. *Really?*
Interesting that Hannan have pinned so much to this. And interesting that Kramer’s start-up history isn’t exactly teased out in that article.
She reckons online brands can be built? Well, that’s true – but bear in mind how long it took for Amazon to start turning a buck… and as well all know, if it’s not turning a buck – unless it’s a higher-ups pet project – then something will come crashing to earth rather suddenly.
@Anonymous: I’m all for buying stuff from OS – that’s just how syndication works, and it’s how most mags would land their big-ticket stories. But the argument of syndication versus regurgitation – now *that’s* something to sink yer teeth into.
Hello Helen Lee.
Enjoy your interview on Nova tomorrow morning.
savour your time in the spotlight.
Leigh Campbell is still on facebook, she has just changed her profile pic, which is just as lame btw.
Did no one else see the irony or humour in Mr. Blonde’s post. Unless he really is named Mr. Blonde. Imagine that, writing Mr. Mr. Blonde on every letter addressed to him.
Quick get the subs onto it!!!
@ To Disgruntled Mag Man
I don’t mind if magazines just take inspiration from OS articles, I just wish they didn’t have to rewrite it word for word that’s all.
test
pre or post moderated that is the question.
Some of you comments get caught up as spam Anonymous. So silly comments which just say “test” should just not be made at all.
” Anonymous // April 29, 2008 at 9:51 am
pre or post moderated that is the question.”
This is the best thing I have read on this site. Keep it coming Anonymous! Love your stuff!
Testing causes syphilis
Did you know that smoking causes more deaths than murder?
Marguerite doesn’t have a clue when it comes to online. She knows the buzzwords and can pull a mean Anna Wintour face, but wouldn’t know a successful website strategy if she fell over it.
Anonymous: well, yeah. There should be more to making stories appeal to local readers than changing z to s… unfortunately it doesn’t appear that way to some.