Elle Quebec struck a blow by bringing together on the cover of its most recent issue the mythical couple formed by Christine Beaulieu and the dark as usually reserved Roy Dupuis. We can see the actors immersed in a swimming pool while Beaulieu embraces his lover. All dressed in Alexander McQueen, this one fixes the objective with his piercing blue eyes. Here is a photo that proves that the cover of a magazine can still make people talk. But all this impact does not necessarily translate into sales: the decline of paper is very real.
The Afghan with green eyes on the National GeographicTHE ” Yep, I’m gay by Ellen DeGeneres on the cover of Time or even Demi Moore who poses naked and pregnant for Vanity Fair… He is one of these first pages that marked the collective imagination. However, this era is over, believes photographer Stéphane Najman, who worked for several Quebec publications in the early 2000s, at the end of the heyday of glossy paper.
“What happened with magazine covers is a bit like what happened with record covers. In the days of the LP, when the photo was huge, it was important to have a good image to illustrate the album. Then, with the CD, it no longer had the same impact. And today, with the streaming, nobody looks at the cover. […] With the Web, a magazine cover, it does not have the same effect at all ”, advances the one who left the medium of the magazine in 2011.
And yet, elsewhere in the world, several magazines still compete in audacity with their coverage each week. The UK, The Economist has developed a recognizable visual identity among all with its minimalist illustrations, tinged with a little sarcastic humor, very ” British “. French weeklies are part of a long provocative tradition, with deliberately outrageous titles against a background of unfavorable photos of politicians.
“I dream of having a magazine like The Economist in Quebec, because, at the moment, I find it perhaps a little too polite, affirms Lise Ravary, who directed Chatelaine, among others, from 2001 to 2009. That said, if we don’t have a front-page culture, it’s also because most of our magazines are mainly sold by subscription, whereas in Europe there is still a lot of newsstands. It is therefore important for European magazines to have a catchy photo and headline to catch the reader’s eye. »
The context has changed
The number of points of sale in Quebec has decreased considerably in recent years. Magazines are no longer even offered at the front of checkouts in some grocery stores. Newsstand sales of the magazine News, which have always been well below subscriptions, have fallen by at least half in ten years. The editor-in-chief, Claudine St-Germain, even admits to taking little interest in it now.
“That newsstand sales are no longer our priority, it is sure that it is less restrictive for the front page. At the time, there was a whole science to attracting the reader. The words had to be placed in the top left corner, as that was the part that was visible at the grocery store. We also knew that certain colors worked better, such as yellow. Certain words also in the title, like “metamorphosis”,” recalls Claudine St-Germain, who has also worked for boost.
That being so, News still wants to offer a slightly neat cover to its readers for each of its issues. If only to illustrate the point in an original way, or to attract attention on the Web. However, there is no question of indulging in provocation in the hope of going viral.
News has always refused to follow the same direction as its former Anglophone counterpart, Maclean’s, which has made its incendiary headlines its trademark. The Toronto magazine had raised an uproar in 2010 by titling that Quebec was “the most corrupt province in Canada” with the image of a Bonhomme Carnaval holding a suitcase full of wads of money.
“A magazine is something you want people to leave lying around for others to read. If the image is too repulsive, too provocative, people won’t want to keep the magazine. Dentists won’t want to leave it in their waiting room,” emphasizes Claudine St-Germain.
When risk repels
Indeed, provocative coverage has never been synonymous with better newsstand sales. At the house of Chatelaine, Lise Ravary wanted to make a big splash by putting a plus size model on the cover. However, that month, several copies did not find takers on the shelves.
“You have to understand that a cover is a marketing tool. You have to succeed in getting noticed, without going too far out of the box. You can get out of it once in a while, but if you do it too often, you’ll end up pushing your readership away. We must never lose sight of the fact that what the reader wants to see is her, only better. If it looks too much like her, or if it doesn’t look like her, we’re on the wrong track, ”said the former editor of women’s magazines, now a columnist for the Coops de l’info.
The risk-taking didn’t pay off for the magazine either Vero, when in August 2020, for the first time, Véronique Cloutier was absent from the front page. In the wake of the murder of George Floyd, 11 black women appear on the cover instead. A strong symbol, which has earned the magazine unprecedented media attention. And yet, it was one of the worst-selling numbers in its history.
“We knew that what people are looking for is Véro. But we really believed that for this number, it was the only thing to do. We had to send a strong message. We would do the same thing today, ”says Sophie Banford, general manager and publisher at KO Media.
Sophie Banford not only runs the magazine Verobut also Elle Quebec, who is talking about him this month for his front page with the couple formed by Roy Dupuis and Christine Beaulieu. Suffice to say that she is not one of those who predict the death of paper and who believe that it is anachronistic to take an interest in a magazine cover.
“In the digital age, I find that the cover of a magazine has almost become more important than before,” she adds. Yes, anyone can have their picture taken on social media these days, but the magazine cover takes it a step further artistically. We couldn’t have seen Roy Dupuis dressed as Alexander McQueen in a swimming pool anywhere else. The magazine, because of its resources, still allows innovation. »