…or, “Ladies Mags earn the right to be a little self-righteous”.
I’ve interviewed a lot of aspiring magazine professionals in my time and thanks to a legacy of This Magazine editors I’ve learned a very effective interview technique to end on a relaxed note: “What magazines do you like to read?” JulieC and I often probed further, and I now never trust an intern who doesn’t have a dirty little reading habit in their tickle trunk. (Mine? Maxim.) Many young Ladies of the Left (TM) will admit under the right circumstances that there’s a fashion mag in there along with the socially acceptable intellectual tomes, or thought-leaders as we in the biz are known to condescend…
According to WWD, the online daily of capital F-Fashion authority Women’s Wear Weekly reports that ELLE Magazine will publish a “Green” issue in May 2006. Underwritten by the magazine with the assistance of crunchy cosmetics co. AVEDA, the issue will publish on recycled paper and be guest edited by Laurie David, trustee of the US org National Resources Defence Council (and incidentally, Mrs. Larry David). Features will be written by celebrity greenies Cameron Diaz, Carolyn Murphy, and Alberta’s own Lost superstar Evangeline Lilly. (Inquiring minds want to know the effect of being marooned in Hawaii with 48 crash survivors on Ms. Lilly’s environmental awareness.)
In all seriousness, pulp/paper consumption and recycling burdens are a big issue and concern to magazine publishers. In Canada, there is a consortium of interest groups working to make recycled paper available and affordable to publishers, under the moniker Markets Initiative. Many magazines work on the “most recycled content we can afford” model and are hoping to improve their eco-audit in time (THIS and many others have pledged). Some bigger Canadian players, like Canadian Geographic, Adbusters and recently Cottage Life and Explore magazines are diving in headfirst, and embracing the full recycled monty as part of their overall mission. I applaud them, and I applaud small steps such as this one at ELLE. Recycled paper costs more (for now) and raising awareness with subscribers is a big step towards the goal of getting the entire industry on board.
Now where did I put that lip gloss?
Thanks to Media Post for this one.