GQ not trying to become Loaded

I must take issue with the reporting on GQ’s plans, as imagined by your correspondent (MW November 17).

GQ has never competed with Loaded magazine. Loaded is a great magazine, but it is aimed at a totally different readership to that of GQ. It would be crazy for GQ to lower its sights to compete with Loaded’s more laddish, less stylish offering.

I specifically told your reporter that no decisions have been made about possible changes – indeed, the editor is away this week thinking about this very subject. Instead your reporter chose to guess, and he guessed wrongly. December will not be “the last time” the magazine will contain strong sexual content, and it will not become a cross between Vanity Fair and The Spectator.

GQ does not need to move upmarket. It is upmarket, with an ABC1 readership profile of 79 per cent, and that is where it will stay.

Peter Stuart

Publishing director

GQ Magazine

London W1