Ban glossy mags

Setun

I've been thinking about these recently after seeing them in various waiting rooms over the last few months (where's National Geographic gone???) and have been wondering what the point in them is. They isolate certain "celebrities", praising their demi-god status one week and the following week mocking them bitterly. What is the point in them? They're promoting bitchiness, the magazine itself is garish and the content is lazy. They're not doing anybody any good whatsoever, and they're a waste of paper and printer ink. Don't buy them.

PS and if I hear another person talk about a celebrity like they know them personally I'm going to shout. Loudly. /rant

smackbunnybaby

crap as they are they are generally the only magazines which arent stolen from waiting rooms. they take 5 minutes to read, no need to!
i know id swipe a national geographic or world soccer if i saw one in the doctors....

Xavi6

Well if you're a celebrity people want to read about you. There's a huge market for it and I don't think many women are gonna call for it to be banned (stereotype I know but they keep them in business).

I say keep them. I like to see how the other half live.

Setun

Xavi6 wrote: »

Well if you're a celebrity people want to read about you. There's a huge market for it and I don't think many women are gonna call for it to be banned (stereotype I know but they keep them in business).

I say keep them. I like to see how the other half live.

Why do people want to read about them? What do they get from images of Cameron Diaz walking her dog? Or sweat patches on Angelina Jolie's back? Does that make their reader's day, or at leastdoes it leave them feeling more content than previous? If it does, I find it worrying.

phasers

I like to read Heat when I'm feeling low and mock celebrities
you'll never take that away from me

18AD

Yeah! National Geographic ftw!

The people in the magazines don't actually exist. They're just nobodys photoshopped like mad. What you read about is a manufactured dream world, a la Truman Show.

In future times there'll be stories like the fairytales you hear nowadays. She had lushous locks that flowed like a golden shower etc...
And people will equally not give a f*ck as hopefully they'll have their own standards.

[/conspiracy]
AD.

Wacker

OP, your thread title is very misleading. I buy Empire every month - it is a glossy magazine. Would you want that banned? It doesn't sound like you would, as your ire seems to be directed towards celebrity magazines, whether they have a glossy finish or not. I'm guessing you'd want Heat magazine banned, and it isn't glossy.

Anyway, I dislike celebrity idolatory (sp?) too. Rather than worshipping celebs most of the time but kicking them when they're down, it would be better jus to ignore their personal lives. If they're musicians, buy their records and go to the gigs if you like them, and ignore them otherwise. Similair with sports-stars, actors, etc.

Nuttzz

ok,hello, closer etc are all a load of c*ck....but they keep Mrs N quiet for hours

Xavi6

Daddio wrote: »

Why do people want to read about them? What do they get from images of Cameron Diaz walking her dog? Or sweat patches on Angelina Jolie's back? Does that make their reader's day, or at leastdoes it leave them feeling more content than previous? If it does, I find it worrying.

It's just a trashier form of news. It sells so clearly there are a lot of people who feel the opposite to you and as long as that is the way they'll continue to sell big.

Archeron

18AD wrote: »

She had lushous locks that flowed like a golden shower etc...

Ewwwww.....

Maximilian

I'm with the OP on this one. The mere fact that magazines like Heat exist intensely annoys me. Fodder for idiots really. They probably make your brain fart too.

And he didn't mean magazines like Empire, which have a purpose in this world.

6th

Nuttzz wrote: »

they keep Mrs N quiet for hours

Slow reader?

togster

`Reading for dimwits. I love the way these saps believe everything written in them too.

skywalker

While I dont disagree with you about the content being empty drivel, why would you want to take away peoples free will to read them? Why not nat geo next?

_blank_

Maximilian wrote: »

Fodder for idiots really.

Magazines for idiots made by idiots.

If you don't like them, I suggest you ignore them.

It's easy to do. Just don't pay any attention to them.

Dave!

I hate those magazines. The worst one is the one (cant remember which it is) with Brian McFadden's ex-wife in it every week. There's always some revelation about how she eats hamburgers all day and pops pills because of Brian...... she's so depressed.... bleh bleh bleh.... She is a waste of space. But the magazine is a disgrace for printing these stories in the first place, creating a printed record of the parents fighting over the kids. When the kids grow up (dunno what age they are) and read all this, you can imagine it would not be good for them.

But yeh, Kerry is the worst person in the world. Yes worse than Hitler.

_blank_

DaveMcG wrote: »

I hate those magazines.

Fair enough, but...

DaveMcG wrote: »

The worst one is the one (cant remember which it is) with Brian McFadden's ex-wife in it every week. There's always some revelation about how she eats hamburgers all day and pops pills because of Brian...... she's so depressed.... bleh bleh bleh....

How do you know this?

You must read it every week. Pretty strange behaviour for someone who claims to "hate those magazines", no?

Just. Don't. Read. Them.

It will make your life a little bit better.

DaveMcG wrote: »

She is a waste of space. But the magazine is a disgrace for printing these stories in the first place, creating a printed record of the parents fighting over the kids. When the kids grow up (dunno what age they are) and read all this, you can imagine it would not be good for them.

Well, stop reading them then, if you think they are so disgraceful. Stop buying them.

ScumLord

18AD wrote: »

Yeah! National Geographic The people in the magazines don't actually exist.

I can assure you the people in national geographic does exist.

Wacker wrote:

OP, your thread title is very misleading. I buy Empire every month - it is a glossy magazine. Would you want that banned?

Yes, ban them all, ban newspapers too and CNN while we're at it.

Popular culture in it's entirety should be banned.

Blisterman

They seem to be mainly read by girls who's self esteem is so low, they need to see celebrities looking bad to feel better about themselves.

It's pretty sad to be honest.

Dave!

DesF wrote: »

How do you know this?

You must read it every week. Pretty strange behaviour for someone who claims to "hate those magazines", no?

Just. Don't. Read. Them.

It will make your life a little bit better.

No I don't read them. My mother and sister buy them every week and Kerry is on the cover most weeks. There ya go, that's how I know.

DesF wrote: »

Well, stop reading them then, if you think they are so disgraceful. Stop buying them.

I've never bought one.

Cheers

Dinter

The worst thing is the “exclusives” they have when it’s pretty obvious that the celebrity’s agent has set it all up.

Actually that whole celebrity garbage really annoys me. Especially as the magazines are trying to set up the same gig in Ireland with its crop of talentless Z-listers. Anyone with even a bit of ability leaves on the first plane out of here. All that’s left is the unfunny, untalented chaff.

Setun

skywalker wrote: »

While I dont disagree with you about the content being empty drivel, why would you want to take away peoples free will to read them? Why not nat geo next?

Well I don't think they're doing anybody any good, and if they find the articles good topics for conversation with their colleagues/mates/whatever I think we'd be much better off without the bitchiness and people acting like they know these celebs personally. Half of them are only celebs because they are reported on in these magazines anyway.

BTW I mean "Glossy" in the typical way the term is often used re mass media - weekly, light, celeb/fad driven mags. Empire has glossy paper, but i not a glossy mag imo.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

By glossy I'd say he means anything with a title ending in an exclamation mark. And yes, they and all their readers should be sterilised.

Can we move this thread to the celebrity/showbiz forum just for the sheer hell of it...?

Spud83

Yes and we should also shut down the "Celebrity & Showbiz" forum as well.

In fairness though after hours shows about as much intelligence as those magazines most of the time.

Stargal

Ikky Poo2 wrote: »

Can we move this thread to the celebrity/showbiz forum just for the sheer hell of it...?

Please don't

The thread title is somewhat misleading (or at least, different to what the actual topic has become). Glossy mags typically refers to monthly magazines, which would include titles like Glamour, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Marie-Claire etc (obviously that's just in the women's market. As someone pointed out, Empire, Vanity Fair and about a gazillion other mags are glossy). The OP seems to be talking about celebrity magazines in general.

In some ways I see this as somewhat of a snobbery issue. Yes, the magazines are lowest-common-denominator. We all know that, and it's very easy to point out the inherent crapness. But the point is that magazines like Heat, OK! and Closer sell hundreds of thousands of copies each week in Ireland and the UK - as do their male equivalents, such as Nuts or Zoo. Despite everyone on this thread complaining, there is a huge demand for this kind of stuff.

I'm not going to defend the magazines themselves; I think they're intrusive, often badly-designed and poorly-written, and exploitative. However they're no more pointless than Nuts or Zoo, for example, which I would hold up as being as knuckle-draggingly stupid as any of the celebrity magazines that have been slagged off here. I would, and indeed, do, judge anyone that I see reading them, in the same way that many posters here judge people who read celebrity magazines.

This thread has become a circular argument very quickly ("They're all crap", "Yeah, especially that extra-crap one with Jordan", "Yeah, women are pretty thick for reading such crap") but it's a v interesting argument about why women buy these magazines in the first place.

Stargal

alanmurphy83 wrote: »

Yes and we should also shut down the "Celebrity & Showbiz" forum as well.

In fairness though after hours shows about as much intelligence as those magazines most of the time.

Yawn.

Setun

Stargal wrote: »

Please don't

I'm not going to defend the magazines themselves; I think they're intrusive, often badly-designed and poorly-written, and exploitative. However they're no more pointless than Nuts or Zoo, for example, which I would hold up as being as knuckle-draggingly stupid as any of the celebrity magazines that have been slagged off here. I would, and indeed, do, judge anyone that I see reading them, in the same way that many posters here judge people who read celebrity magazines.

Yep, I would completely agree, I find Nuts et al are similarly pointless.

Stargal wrote: »

This thread has become a circular argument very quickly ("They're all crap", "Yeah, especially that extra-crap one with Jordan", "Yeah, women are pretty thick for reading such crap") but it's a v interesting argument about why women buy these magazines in the first place.

Well I suppose that's the question, why buy them? I can't see how they can have a positive influence on anybody's life, apart from the chancers selling the rags getting some €s. Is it to cure an appetite for gossip, or something completely different?

Archeron

Daddio wrote: »

Yep, I would completely agree, I find Nuts et al are similarly pointless.



Well I suppose that's the question, why buy them? I can't see how they can have a positive influence on anybody's life, apart from the chancers selling the rags getting some €s. Is it to cure an appetite for gossip, or something completely different?

I feel the same way about all the TV Soaps, most television and numerous other things. Then again, the things I do like would bore the living breath out of most people.
Its the little differences between us all that makes it an interesting world so it really is a case of live and let live. And in fairness, the group of people I work with dont ever stop talking about this sh*te, but sure its their lives. If they want to spend their time reading up on the latest exploits of some trollop in LA, well that their loss really.
But of course, thats my opinion, and they look at me and think "what a twat, he likes architecture, how boring".
Meh, each one of us is an idiot in the eyes of someone somewhere, its just whether or not you listen to that person that counts, and the readers of these magazines dont really care what you or I think, they care what Jordan thinks instead.
Difference is that Jordans opinions are the ones that get printed....

Maximilian

DesF wrote: »

Magazines for idiots made by idiots.

If you don't like them, I suggest you ignore them.

It's easy to do. Just don't pay any attention to them.

Rubbish. I much prefer to get lots and lots of them, glue them to every part of the walls of an otherwise empty room and stare at them for hours, stopping only to flash strobe lights in my eyes and go to the toilet on myself. Victory shall be mine.

Sleepy

Whatever about the celebrity drivel what gets on my nerves is these magazines disseminating 'dietary' advice. Some of the things they promote are outright dangerous whilst the rest are merely useless.

Fighting Irish

Daddio wrote: »

I've been thinking about these recently after seeing them in various waiting rooms over the last few months (where's National Geographic gone???) and have been wondering what the point in them is. They isolate certain "celebrities", praising their demi-god status one week and the following week mocking them bitterly. What is the point in them? They're promoting bitchiness, the magazine itself is garish and the content is lazy. They're not doing anybody any good whatsoever, and they're a waste of paper and printer ink. Don't buy them.

PS and if I hear another person talk about a celebrity like they know them personally I'm going to shout. Loudly. /rant

I'm not into any sort of glossy mags, but i hate when people want to ban things just because they don't like them

Jazzy

im about to leave for work and i have a lot to say on this matter but have no time!!

to sum up, DesF is pretty much right there and is pretty much saying wat i would say

Maximilian

Fighting Irish wrote: »

I'm not into any sort of glossy mags, but i hate when people want to ban things just because they don't like them

I thought it was obvious the OP was simply having a light hearted rant as opposed to seriously calling for censorship and/or the immediate execution of all involved in the publication of them, including their friends, family and pets.

Jay P

I completely agree with this thread, by this thread i mean the first post and by the first post i mean the title. I was in a shop the other day at lunch and I saw at least 30 of these things on the shelf, and this shop was not latge by any streach of the imagination so that would lead me to believe there are many more out there, somewhere....

Maximilian

Not wishing to go off-topic or anything but what are people's thoughts on matte magazines?

GhostInTheRuins

I can't stand those bull-**** magazines. Like what was mentioned earlier every waiting room/reception area has them and I really don't know why anyone would want to look at them, for example:

A few weeks ago I was in a waiting room and it was just me and this one other guy left. He looked like an intellegent chap but then he picked up one of those mags and started filcking through it, finished it and went on to the next one. Then he turned to show me some pictures of a 'celebrity' and says "look at that, that's disgraceful, I can't stand these magazines". I asked him why the hell he was reading them if he hated them and he says "becuase the people in them annoy me"

Pascal14

The wimmin seem to love the old celebs. Cant get enough of them.

eoin5

I like where youre going with this, lets ban all unworthwhile news. There would be about 2 papers 3 pages long each in the country and the 6.01 would be over at 6.02.

Terry

DaveMcG wrote: »

I hate those magazines. The worst one is the one (cant remember which it is) with Brian McFadden's ex-wife in it every week. There's always some revelation about how she eats hamburgers all day and pops pills because of Brian...... she's so depressed.... bleh bleh bleh.... She is a waste of space. But the magazine is a disgrace for printing these stories in the first place, creating a printed record of the parents fighting over the kids. When the kids grow up (dunno what age they are) and read all this, you can imagine it would not be good for them.

But yeh, Kerry is the worst person in the world. Yes worse than Hitler.

You're worse than Hitler.

Regarding the comments about Jordan; Whatever you may think of her persona (and I personally do not think much of it), you have to hand it to her for her business mind. The woman is a multi-millionaire. Skanky sells, but who's buying?

Kernel

Stargal wrote: »

"Yeah, women are pretty thick for reading such crap") but it's a v interesting argument about why women buy these magazines in the first place.

Well, I've mentioned it before on this site; apparently the reason why women are so fascinated in celebrity gossip and soaps etc. is because their brains are geared more towards group social interaction. A throwback to our primitive tribal days (have we ever escaped those days?). It's discussed in Human Instinct by Robert Winston. A cracking read.

The profane are encouraged to engage in such distractions.