Rogue Vogue is made to back down
- March 09 2010, 17:29
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- Words: 354
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The publisher of Vogue, Stephen Quinn, was reprimanded by the Audit Bureau of Circulations after he released the monthly fashion glossy’s circulation figure a week early.
Mr Quinn wrote to advertisers in a press release on 1st February publicising their March issue, in which he not only said that Vogue was expecting to maintain its headline figure of 210,000, but also took a low blow at rival fashion monthly Harpers Bazaar, criticising their use of multi-packing the title with other magazines in the Natmags portfolio. Quinn pre-empted the likely ABC result, scorning his competitor’s figures; “This packaging of inappropriate titles such as She and Coast with Harper’s Bazaar, bundled in plastic bags, will allow Bazaar to boost their numbers … Without these inappropriate value packs to boost sales, the ABC posted by Bazaar would show a greatly reduced total.” (guardian.co.uk)
The early release of results, plus this criticism of their competitor saw the Conde Nast publisher get his wrist firmly slapped, as this was a clear breach of ABC rules. Quinn has therefore issued an apology , promising to adhere to the rules in future, releasing data in line with the concurrent release, as well as apologising for the “inaccurate and significantly overstated” rival-bashing.
Multi-packing has been a keenly debated subject, and one which we feel must be considered when looking into audiences and readership. Vogue took the issue as an opportunity to have a dig at their rival, keen to take the shine off Harper’s 1.1% year on year increase compared to their own decline of 4.5% year on year. However, is it really such a bad thing? From a reader’s point of view they get value for money, getting two or even three magazines for the price of one. Whilst we are not necessarily sure which magazine the purchase should be attributed to in this situation, if someone reads Harper’s because they got it with their copy of She then this opens up a new opportunity for both reader and publisher. If they go on to become a Harper’s fan then this can only be a positive thing. As for Vogue, their ploy seems to have back-fired on this occasion, which should force them to be a little bit more careful around ABC time this summer!
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