Hilary Fine Lifestyle
It’s been a long time coming, but the Cosmo girl finally has a playmate. For Him Magazine (FHM) will launch in South Africa in December with Neil Bierbaum, formerly of Directions magazine, as its editor.
The young, affluent South African man- about-town will soon have a general lifestyle publication to call his own, with fashion at his fingertips. God knows, someone needs to tell South African men how to dress.
The publication is hugely successful in Britain, France, Australia and Singapore, where it has redefined publishing for men as Cosmopolitan magazine once did for women. The publisher – National Magazines – is confident that the South African market, which may seem already saturated, is ready for expansion in this area – and that the R17,95 cover price will be favourable. As one market survey participant remarked: “It’s Cosmo for me!”
At a function for prospective advertisers held in Sandton, Bierbaum said FHM would be repackaged for local men, “to look at the world from South Africa”. He also stressed the international nature of the content, quoting the magazine’s United Kingdom editor, Anthony Noguera, saying: “After two beers men around the world are all the same. FHM is giving men exactly what they want.”
So what do men want?
Well, if FHM is to be believed, irreverent infotainment, humour, fashion and sensationalist news, all in bite-size chunks. Men want to celebrate the fact that they’d rather be boys. They like sport, cars, women, beer, burping, farting – and rating them all out of 10. They’ll make neither excuses nor change. And FHM is leading the new-lad revolution in Britain with “It’s a guy thing!” as its rallying cry.
The line between titillating jokes and soft porn, in the British edition of FHM, is a blurry one. Men like sex and they look for ways to improve technique. They like agony columns about penis sizes and need lesbians to give them advice on how to arrange a threesome.
South African FHM has, however, adopted a slightly subtler strategy, identifying its target market as the “new millennium man”. The magazine will be his thick buddy – with a glossy finish. Together they will sit on the couch, beer in hand, awaiting Baywatch and Mr Delivery, evaluating the latest busty lass – Catherine Zeta Jones, for example, being flavour of the month.
It’s innocent fun, or so we’re led to believe. The tone is wholly irreverent. One thinks of Viz magazine and Benny Hill comedy, a long British tradition of tits and toilet humour.
A seven-page health feature in the July UK edition is illustrated with a picture of a decapitated head, and comes to the conclusion that “you’ll be in a whole lot of shit if you get ill at the weekend”.
One can hardly image any man taking the advice the magazine offers too seriously. Do women take the advice dished out by their publications to heart? While women’s magazines sell aspiration, FHM is selling male self-affirmation: a style bible with Jeremy Mansfield as its patron saint.
In recent years, though, the UK has seen a decline in the readership of women’s lifestyle magazines. Women, who have had a wide choice when it comes to deciding who will tell them how to entertain, read, cleanse and dress, now seem to be buying special interest publications. Men used to be the ones buying magazines about cars, bikes and water sports. Women’s tastes are apparently diversifying, while men are regrouping.
The saving grace, we are told, is that men can now revel in gross, juvenile practices because they contain a sense of wit and irony.
“Men are complex too,” explains Bierbaum, attempting to excuse the things that women abhor. The new millennium man, therefore, seems to want to have his cake and eat it.
“We always feature a famous lady on the cover, but the ladies are always ones men both like and respect; ladies that men would have a crush on for more than simply reasons of appearance,” assures Bierbaum.
Which explains why they usually appear in underwear or swimsuits.
“FHM is different” assures Bierbaum. But is it? Only time will tell if the millennium man is alive and well and living in South Africa.