Look VERY carefully at the cover. What association do you make strictly from the visual?
In the long run, is this a plus or minus for our John-boy?
If you haven't figured it out yet, here's the main clue:
What's the most likely thing to hit the eye on first glance when the reader sees the cover, before they have a chance to consider the main subject of the cover?
(hat tip: Fred Gregory)
Here's what a real publishing pro has to say.
The link is absolutely priceless, Bubba: the great manipulator manipulated.
ReplyDeleteThat, and the nose he's looking down looks rather big.
Here's the "money shot", excerpted:
ReplyDelete"Because of this, the smaller magazines like Esquire (even if they are still thought to be "highly influential") cannot count on getting good news stand position. Instead they assume they will have poor news stand position and plan for it by slapping their best come-on above the logo and at the top of the magazine. In a magazine that is ostensibly aimed at heterosexual males that come-on will always be "sex with girls." In this case it is "The Sexiest Woman Alive / Version 1.2." Bang, zoom, right to the groin. The line screams "Choose me, choose me, you hot little stud muffin on the way to St. Louis in economy!" And they do. They do. They reach up and pull the magazine out from behind "Men's Vogue**" and slap their money down.
It's a win for Esquire, but the Edwards camp cannot be happy about it. After all, they got cover approval, an iconic shot that portrayed their candidate in the best possible, even holy, light. They thought they had it covered, but they failed to consider what happens after the image is selected and news stand position.
After the image in selected is when the cover lines go on. And after the magazine is printed is when the copies are positioned in the news stand. In this case, what most of America will see when glancing at a news stand is this:"
Then look at the cut of the THIRD picture, which is actually the one I should have put in the original post........