The February 2009 issue of Esquire magazine features yet another version of that Obama campaign poster we've seen sooo many times already, but they've got a twist: instead of a regular cover, instead of a cover with a fold-out ad on the other side, instead of the (thankfully short-lived trend of) covers that split in the middle, Esquire gives us a cover with a center window that opens to reveal a Discovery Channel ad.
Okay, to be fair, it also opens to reveal some quotes from the articles in this issue, but we all know the reason for it is to give an advertiser a new way to get their ad in front of readers' faces. No crime in that. That's why Hearst and most other periodicals publishers put out magazines.
It will likely only annoy those readers who like to save their magazines; the ad flap on the cover does have a bit of glue to sort of keep it closed again after it's been opened, but the flap will sooner or later fray on edges, become caught on the edges of other objects when the magazine is shelved, or tear off altogether.
For me, it fuels my notion that Esquire is a magazine whose editors are simply sick of putting out a magazine (and it's not a notion without real-world support).
By the way, Esquire is now offering one-year subscriptions for the price of six whole dollars. That's $6 dollars. That's less than the cover cost of two copies of the magazine (cover price $3.99 each). At that subscription rate, the magazine's publishing staff will have to get even more innovative selling ad space to make up the revenue.
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