Essentials ditches celebs on the cover
Essentials, IPC Media’s monthly women’s glossy, is launching a “no models or celebrities” cover policy with an entire issue that is free from models and celebrities.
All the content including the fashion and beauty pages and a naked body confidence photo shoot in the health section feature real women.
IPC says the model-free issue is a “media first” for women’s glossies. The monthly magazine will feature real women on its covers from now on, in place of celebrities or models.
The October issue, available tomorrow (2 September) features ten ”real women” on the cover, which usually features a celebrity or professional model.
Essentials launched a social media campaign asking women to tell the magazine why they should appear on the front cover. Entrants were then short listed and Essentials held a casting session with the editor and style director to pick the final 10.
Jules Barton-Breck editor of Essentials. says a recent reader survey revealed that 70% of women would rather see a real woman on the cover than a celebrity.
Essentials publisher Ilka Schmitt says: “Celebrating our readers by putting them on the cover is a brave move, but it just feels right for Essentials. Essentials is a woman’s magazine that offers something different and more and more women are discovering that.“
In the latest set of ABC figures Essentials reported a 12.9% circulation year-on-year increase, performing ahead of many of its rivals.
The model-free issue will be advertised in a number of IPC other women’s titles such as Marie Claire, Ideal Home and Woman, via social media and online.
