Men’s Health puts clothing credit on cover
On the latest cover of Men’s Health, they feature Kellan Lutz, an actor in the Twilight series movies. He is also a Calvin Klein model.
You may notice the headline in the upper left-hand corner that says “Beach Muscle Now!” What you may not notice right away is that in small type in the opposite corner it reads: Kellan wears Calvin Klein Jeans”.
News flash: Magazines do this. But usually on the inside cover. Was this a shout out to Calvin Klein? A free plug on the COVER of Men’s Health??
The mags response:
But David Zinczenko, the editor in chief of Men’s Health, said in an e-mail message that the magazine had moved the credits line to the cover — “an innovation,” he said — as a service to readers.
“Rather than make readers hunt and peck for information on the clothes featured on the cover, it’s there for easy access,” he said. The magazine has been including the credits on its cover for more than a year, including mentions of Adidas and Patagonia.
Check out the article here.
This may not have been a big or clear shout out to Calvin Klein but it’s definitely free advertisement at the least. Even though the statement is small, it’s on the cover of the magazine, one of the most important places for a magazine. The statement also does not have an editorial stand point and as a result, it’s clearly a form of free advertisement, despite the text size.
The inclusion of the Calvin Klein jeans information on the front cover is not solely for the reader’s benefit. The fact that the magazine has never really singled out brands on the cover before shows that the description is serving another purpose. It is a form of advertising for Calvin Klein and as the article says Calvin Klein fragrance is also featured in the magazine. Thus, it is apparent this was a strategic move on behalf of the magazine to attract attention to the brand.
I do not think this was necessary to put on the cover ESPECIALLY because…um, hello… you can’t even see his jeans!! He might as well be wearing nothing on the bottom and no one could be able to tell. I think this is just a form of product placement and obvious advertisement where there was definitely some sort of deal with CK involved. In the magazine where it states his hairstyler, make-up, clothing, accessories, etc. listed, that is the perfect place to put that his jeans are Calvin Klein. Everyone knows to look there for details and I think that’s where the product’s names should stay.
Calvin Klein, Men’s Health, shopping addicts, the economy…who didn’t win with one? Calvin Klein got a serious shout0ut with a hot man making their pants look fierce as fuck. Men’s Health didn’t necessarily post credit on the front cover to strategically attract attention to Calvin Klein…they “strategically” sought out more revenue from ad placement and reader buyership. Oblivious shoppers, most likely both females AND males will want anything Calvin Klein has ever designed. And hey, with everyone buying Men’s Health, everyone buying CK jeans, shoppers buying everything they see on mag covers… it’s the sorta stuff that makes the economy climax.
-p
also love how they just have the word SEX on the front cover in bold and in red while the entire front page is talking about muscle and getting fit. The caption under SEX says “so good the neighbors will complain”, how does that even tie into the theme of beach muscle now and Clavin Klein. The magazine is just using another tactic to grab peoples attention and make them buy their magazine. Sex has zero relevance to what the entire front page is trying to portray and seeing it so blatant has turned me off to even considering looking at the magazine in the first place.
It was completely unnecessary to list the brand of his jeans on the cover. Yes he is aCalvin Klein model….BUT, magazine covers are supposed to include quick headlines to entice the reader to pick up the magazine…the brand name of the jeans he is wearing is superfluous in my opinion. I don’t think it is appropriately placed.
However:
I also think that there could be some behind the scenes reason for adding “Calvin Klein” on the cover. Perhaps the editor struck some sort of deal with Calvin Klein for using the brand’s model, or perhaps the name was simply placed there to make the magazine appear more “high end”. Whatever the reason, “Calvin Klein” was not written there without purpose or intention.
I think the Calvin Klein Jeans footnote is pushing the advertising of magazines to the edge. This information is meant for the inside of magazines not to be posted directly on the cover. Regardless of viewers so called ‘interest’ on Kellan Lutz’s choice brand of jeans, this picture is an advertisement and a prime example of product placement. This information is useless for a front cover; if a reader really cared about the exact brand of jeans the actor was wearing, he would open up the magazine to the inside cover about photo credits and find out. This use of advertisement is cheap and tacky for the magazine to cover. Though most likely unnoticed by many of the readers of Men’s Health, the information is still present and still noticeable.
I don’t know about the rest of you, but I don’t do my shopping in Men’s Health magazine. (Or any other magazine) To call this a, “service to readers,” is a bit off. If a guy wants to purchase a nice pair of jeans, say Calvin Klein for example, he can go to the store and buy them. I’ve never heard a guy say that he bought his jeans because a model on a magazine was wearing them. I really think that this was a desperate advertising attempt. When looking at this cover, what guy is going to look at a quarter of his pants and be in love with them? Slim to none. What they will notice when looking at this model is how ripped his abs are and want to look just like him. I think it’s okay that they put the advertisement on the cover, just unnecessary.
When you first pick up a magazine, you quickly read the topics on the front cover to see if you’re interested in what’s inside. The words “Beach Muscle Now” and “Sex” are obviously going to attract readers. Despite the font of the Calvin Klein shout out, I definitely think that advertising Calvin Klein jeans was intentional. If it was unintentional, the editors would have not put it on the front page of their magazine. In our society, the latest clothes, shoes, and accessories of the hottest brands are a must have. Having Kellan Lutz, a rising celebrity with good looks and a fabulous body, modeling these jeans on the front cover of Men’s Health, why wouldn’t they use the opportunity of free advertisement? Many people, including myself, use magazines and other forms of media to follow up on new trends and what’s on the market. By putting brand names on the front cover, it attracts readers to see what they like and dislike.
I feel that it is not a big deal that Men’s Health advertises the fact that Kellan Lutz wears Calvin Klein jeans, and honestly who cares. It is a bit of information that some may find interesting and others may not, but it provides the reader with even more information about Kellan Lutz, which may be the reason they picked up the magazine in the first place! Magazines and society are filled with advertisements and they must constantly be innovative and on their toes in order to make their product a hit. I do not think that Men’s Health would have even put that statement on the cover, if Calvin Klein didn’t promote it in the first place, anyways, who cares if it is on the cover of the magazine or on the inside of the magazine, either way it is still in the magazine.
I don’t know if this was a shout out to Calvin Klein, but without a doubt this is definitely free advertisement. The readers of this magazine are most likely health conscious men who are probably trying to improve or maintain the way they look. I think its safe to say that any health conscious male would love to look like Kellan Lutz. At the least, the small Calvin Klein advertisement will affect people subliminally. I dont know if there is something more behind this, but an advertisement like this would normally cost a lot of money. If Calvin Klein did not have to pay compensation for this then they really made out well. Not to mention the jeans are hardly visible on the cover. Very unnecessary for Men’s Health, but a very valuable advertisement for Calvin Klein.
Even though it is in tiny print, it is obvious that this was for advertisement. The fact that Kellan is already a Calvin Klein model to begin with, on top of the magazine mentioning that he is a Calvin model ON THE FRONT COVER, they are ADVERTISING. See how much debate this has created already? It is obvious that Calvin Klein is receiving EVEN MORE recognition just because of a few little words placed on a front cover. The magazine is called MEN’S HEALTH, what does mentioning Calvin Klein on the cover have to do with Men’s Health???
With the way society is today, Calvin Klein’s name drop on the front of the cover doesn’t suprise me at all. Reguradless of it’s size it’s still there. Calvin Klein either paid for it or because Lutz is a model for Calvin Klein normally, a deal was worked out. Nothing in this world is free. I feel if it were any other actor that the name drop wouldn’t of happened.
However, I don’t feel that Calvin Klein is pushing any boundries by being on the outside cover. Yes most of these advertisements are on the inside cover, but that doesn’t mean they don’t want to be on the front cover. Good for Calvin Klein.
For a company’s name to be featured in the cover of a popular magazine is a form of advertising. No matter how small the print was Calvin Klein had to pay to be featured on the cover. Kellan Lutz is a Calvin Klein model so it only makes sense for the company to pay to have him on the cover wearing their jeans. I do not feel that this is an issue however, as the editor of Men’s Health mentioned; it can be a form of reference for readers to know what the model is wearing. Instead of looking inside the magazine, they can find it on the cover.
I totally think this is shout out to Calvin Klein because they made it big print on the front cover, it was kind of a form of product placement because they wanted to make sure everyone knew he was a model for Calvin Klein jeans. So it was totally a form of advertisement and it was for everyone to see and go out and buy the jeans because he is such a actor and everyone now a days are very into twilight so Calvin Klein jeans used that to their advantage as a big time advertisement.
I agree that the purpose of the inclusion was solely for advertising. The font size shouldn’t be criteria for what is and is not deemed advertising. The cover of the magazine should market the magazine itself, not another product. There is plenty of space inside the magazine dedicated to advertising, and even the back cover is reserved for this purpose. There is no journalistic value in the shout out, therefore Calvin Klein should have bought ad space inside the magazine or have been left out completely.
If the shift of the credits line to the cover is an “innovation”, who does it benefit? Certainly not the reader, who may or may not care about the jeans that Kellan Lutz wears. The profit goes to Men’s Health, who undoubtedly charged more for Calvin Klein to get on the front cover in minute print. This new “innovation” in advertising should not come as a surprise to anyone. Magazines must do what they have to keep their readers and continue printing issues, and if that includes putting advertisements on the front cover, then so be it. You can look at as a breach of journalism, but Men’s Health certainly won’t. Shout out or not, it is benefiting the magazine more than Calvin Klein.
The mention of Calvin Klein on the front cover is crossing the line a bit. Advertisement makes up a portion of the magazine and to put it on the front cover is just pushing it in my opinion. The cover clearly shows a man who is very ripped with huge muscles and a six pack. Clearly, that is what readers are going to focus on. But just in case they don’t, the editor put little type into it specifically mentioning that those pants are Calvin Klein. It is very unnecessary to post that on the front cover since chances are nobody was thinking, “wow, I wonder what brand of pants he’s wearing?” But just in case they weren’t, there is that mention of advertising to tell buyers, go buy Calvin Klein as you become ripped!
So what they put what kinda of jeans he is wearing on the front cover, its in small text in the bottom right corner. If its against guidelines from the American Society of Magazine Editors then the magazine needs to put what page you can find that information about the clothing where that was. The placement on the front is basically free advertisement for the clothing company, which benefits the clothing company not the magazine.
“An innovation”? As a service to the readers? I think it’s completely unnecessary to put the brand of his jeans on the front cover of the magazine. It’s not a service to us…it does not take a great amount of effort to open the cover of the magazine and read what type of jeans the model is wearing if we’re curious. The brands of the clothing should stay on the inside cover of the magazine. I think it even makes the magazine look slightly unprofessional if they’re like, “Hey by the way our model is wearing Calvin Klein jeans!” And I agree with Mikela Warman, especially when you can barely see his jeans. Just keep it on the inside cover; no reason to move it to the front cover…
I feel that the magazine’s decision to add “Kellan wears Calvin Klein Jeans” was just another classic case of product placement. Even though the cover had nothing to do with the jeans, they just wanted to get the name of the jean on there for advertising. The magazine probably made a lot of money by agreeing to that too. In a way it was smart move on their part. Why not make a few extra bucks by advertising the jeans? It’s a small distraction, since you can hardly see the jeans on the cover anyway. Whether it was Calvin Klein or any other company, it’s not shocking. Usually they do it on the inside cover, but with today’s media expanding, I am not even surprised that the magazine took it to this next step.
I was reading (for pleasure of course) the March issue of Men’s Fitness, and the advertising tactic of their cover I think merits note when related to this topic. The cover of the magazine when sent out is not the actual cover. The actual cover is on page two. The cover of this magazine, on the actual page where the cover should be, is a full page ad about how five hour energy can get you in shape. It’s complete with the Men’s Fitness heading, a picture of a strong looking guy in a cover-like pose. A leading article (Get Some Motivation: How to Turn Don’t-Want To Into Can’t-Stop-Me) and two 5-hour energy ads in places that make them seem like supporting articles. It even has the Address and name of the person in the left bottom corner to make it seem legitimate.
Not only did this make me think it was a heavily dirty and very effective advertising technique, but I’d also like to say I think its very unfair to the actual cover article (Chris Jericho for this issue) because it takes away from the fact that he is strong enough, or famous or hip or whatever enough, to be a cover man. Even the Calvin Klein mention takes a little away from Kellan Lutz. The Time covers can bring in readers solely on their covers, and it kind of is a slap in the face to these guys, cause, to me, it seems like they feel these strong men can’t bring in a reader, and they need to make money just from someone glancing at the cover and putting it back down. In Chris Jericho’s case he’s not even allowed on the cover for people glancing.
Here’s the link to the original cover, and I took a picture of the advertisement cover, you can e-mail if you want to check it out for yourself.
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After seeing this magazine I immediately went out and bought myself a pair of Calvin Kleins…NOT. The problem with Zinczenko’s decision to throw this little blurb on the cover was that it was poor, blatant advertising. The magazine was probably paid alot of money to do this, and thought why not? I dont blame them. The magazine didn’t lose its integrity; the cover’s primary message of getting washboard abs and in turn being hot is never lost. Its not like the reader is paying attention to the jeans anyway. Theyre barely visible, first of all, especially in contrast to this guy’s Herculean bod. Truthfully, the Men’s Health demographic is probably made up of mostly meatheads, but meathead or not, there not dumb enough to think its the jeans that make that guy good-looking. I think a very select few people may go buy Calvin Kelein’s, but its not an ad that will make a very big impact on readers. I think it made the magazine money without risking much, and it was an easy decision for Zinczenko, no matter what he says.
Its obvious that someone in Calven Klein has a plug. Free, well that we don’t know. But a good plug indeed its and obvious use for advertising and the comment the editor makes is and easy excuse out of having to deal with the issue. To me it seems like they were trying to be slick and blow up calven klein jeans while on the cover of a mens health magazine with one of there very own good looking models. I mean their underwears sell like crazy why not boosts the sales in the jeans department.
As a former employee of The Palm Beach Scene Magazine (one of those awful shiny sheets that cover social events of the wealthy), I am all too familiar with the “shout-outs” cleverly placed in notable locations by paying clients. One of the biggest rules of journalism is that the editorial and advertising departments should be completely separate entities. That rule is in place to keep businesses from paying for coverage, which quickly compromises the quality and legitimacy of the publication’s content. What appeared on the front of Men’s Health is tacky and should be saved for the inside sections.
I find no harm in doing this. Name dropping Calvin Klein on the cover of the magazine seems pretty fine to me. It isn’t hurting anybody, and it’s the smallest typed thing there so its not wasting space for other featured articles. With how celeb obsessed people are today, a quick glance of the celebrity on the front and then the clothing label below that helps potentially boost sales for them without having to even open the magazine.. it’s that simple. With how tough it is these days for advertisers to get products out to the public, it is a pretty genius and sure-fire way to get their brand noticed.
I feel that having Calvin Klein printed on the cover of Men Health Magazine is not that big of a deal. The font is nto even a large enough size to truly catch a readers attention. In fact, most readers would most likely overlook this text. In addition, I found getting Calvin Klein to be on the cover of this magazine as creative. Not many brand name companies can get on the cover of a magazine like this. This one incident might even start a trend between clothing companies, rather than paying extra to get on the inside of magazines, they will start paying more to get on the covers. This trend will then help magazines.
usually the ads and phrases are in the articles themselves, but NOW they’re on the covers. i cant say i didnt see this coming. but also, i kind of want to go buy some calvin klein jeans now. lol. the way these magazine poke at your self-esteem in order to sell is amazing. they will do anything to go you to buy a pair of jeans. they will put anything or anyone of thier covers.
Although the editor says it is an “innovation as a service to readers,” it is obvious this is just a plug for Calvin Klein jeans. I don’t see it as a big deal because it doesn’t dominate the cover; it’s just a little side note on the corner of the cover. Like I said in the product placement story, I don’t see it as a big deal if it is done subtly. Even though it seems trivial because you can barely see his jeans on the cover, I don’t think this is that big of an issue.
It’s obviously a plug, but to be brutally honest what “average male” looks at the cover of Men’s Health and mentions to his buddy,”Hey man did you see those CK jeans Kellan from Twilight was wearing on the cover of Men’s Health?? It says so right here!” Highly unlikely. The first thing that attracted my attention to the cover were the words: Beach, muscle, Sex, Summer, and the arrow that pointed to his six pack. Also the fact that there was a CK advertisement within the magazine should be no cause for alarm, every magazine i know has some ad for a cologne or underwear made by Calvin Klein.
In my opinion this magazine know how to operate, and if they did say want to make a special plug for CK, they would have done so in larger headline font, or would have featured Kellan wearing CK logo briefs. If CK did pay Men’s Health for the plug, but it was a very poor decision; Just because it is on the cover, doesn’t mean its visible or targeting the right market. If they paid Kellan to wear those jeans, go CK! That would be the best advertisement because that’s the first thing you notice. Some people out there might be stupid enough to buy those jeans in an attempt to look like Kellan.
On an end note, clothing advertising in these fitness mags can either be real lucrative, or real stupid. Most of the time the guys in these magazines have no clothes on so designers don’t really have much to show, but on occasion it’s a good place for fitness apparel such as Nike, Under Armour, Adidas etc. …and honestly i have no problem with CK, but what guy even has a pair of CK jeans these days?? Seven, True Religion, or Rock & Republics are the way to go.. just my 2 cents.
Andrew Avila
7041-8121
In all honesty I feel as though nothing is ever a free plug if its put on the front cover a magazine. The editor stated that they’ve moved the credits to cover for over year now and have given shout outs to companies like Addidas and Patagonia. my best guess is that the recession has hit the magazines subscription profits substantially and in an attempt to generate more revenue and attention simultaneously they relocated the credits. We’ve spoken about how magazines and newspapers number one source of income is from advertising and what better advertising is there than the cover. All in all I’m not bothered by their choice in fact I find it entertaining and innovative to put clothing credits on a cover with a half naked man.
I call BS on this being “innovative”, it was obviously a marketing ploy to attract more customers to buy Calvin Klein. Free advertising. Especially with the premise that he is from the Twilight movies, which as every guy knows, the girls are in love with. Guys will figure “Hey, if he’s wearing it and he’s associated with what the girls are after, then maybe if I wear what he does, they’ll be attracted to me.” Then BAM! Sales go off the charts. The only innovation I see here is that they’re not using main characters from Twilight, but rather one of the more side Cullens.
It is clear to me that this shout out to Calvin Klein, even though in small print, was still a form of free advertisement. As for the editor’s lame excuse to say that it they were doing a service to the readers, I find it to be complete bs. To begin with, this is a Men’s HEALTH magazine. I am sure most, if not all, guys would not pick up this magazine and automatically draw their attention to the jeans that are barely shown. The text on the cover is to give the reader a preview of what to expect inside. It would not be until the reader goes through reading the cover text that they would pay attention to the jeans this celebrity is wearing. If anything, a guy would envy Lutz’s body, not the jeans. Therefore, to state that he is wearing Calvin Klein jeans is completely unnecessary and obviously free advertising.
Kellan Lutz was on the cover of Men’s Health Magazine because of his fame from Twilight and of course, muscular body. Mentioning that he was wearing Calvin Klein jeans was absolutely just for advertising. Can anyone even see the jeans? This was certainly a marketing strategy for the company and honestly a smart one because if Kellan Lutz is wearing them than anyone would want to wear them.
A placement on the front cover is excellent advertisement for Calvin Klein, and they should definitely be paying Mens Health magazine for that placement; such exposure is definitely worth paying for and I think any business would be willing to invest in that. In regards to the reference of what the model is wearing being written on the front cover, I think it’s perfectly fine. Those kinds of references are made throughout the inside of all feature-type magazines, and for it to be on the cover page should not be an issue. It’s great exposure for Calvin Klein and it doesn’t hurt the magazine’s image.