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by MediaSlut (@MediaSlut) This week, it’s time for the #MagLoveTop10 Worst Covers of 2013, both local and international, that we stumbled across during the past 12 months…

This is the third in our #MagLoveTop10 magazine cover series, which includes:


Want to view all the covers at a glance? See our MagLove Pinboard!


The contenders

These five covers are all contenders for our Worst Magazine Covers 0f 2013 list. They may not have made the Top 5 but they sure make our #MagLoveTop10 list!

Dazed and Confused, October 2013
Just a hot mess of everything on one cover, almost as if the fashion stylist just puked all her items in her little suitcase onto it.
Essence, July 2013
“Do what works with your cover model”… and it looks as if Essence did something with Serena Williams she wasn’t comfortable doing. And it comes across…
Grazia, 9 October 2013
For photoshopping a designer handbag into Kim K’s hand, as she’s actually carrying paper…
Maxim, 1 October 2013
Bad photoshop job on its very first cover.
Vogue Japan, July 2013
Maybe a bold statement piece but completely unpractical (probably like most high-fashion items…). The whole ensemble and the look on her face just don’t work for me.

And now for the Top 5!

5. Lucky, December/January 2014

Lucky, December 2013/January 2014

Kerry Washington is probably one of Hollywood’s hottest current actresses, and she knows how to rock a magazine cover! The past year, she’s also appeared on several South African covers, looking absolutely stunning!

But, on the latest cover of Lucky, she looks unrecognisable and scary! The pose doesn’t help the battle…

4. FLAUNT, July/August 2013

Flaunt

I’ll be honest; I’m in two minds about this cover.

  1. It’s actually a piece of art, and definitely unique. And a lot of other people agree with this point, as it’s made their favourites list or received high regard.
  2. It’s just too strange and out-there for my mind to comprehend what is going on. ‘Weird’ is what jumps to mind, and it doesn’t look like Beyoncé.

No one can’t say that it’s a statement cover… But I say it deserves a no. 4 spot on this list because of point no. 2.

3. Glamour UK, July 2013

Glamour UK, July 2013

There’s regularly a debate going on about how women’s magazines crop the body of ‘bigger women’, compared to full or ¾ body shots of ‘thinner women’. Glamour UK ticked a few of the wrong boxes:

  1. It cropped hysterical actress Rebel Wilson very strangely.
  2. It put her in a bath to hide the obvious, something it doesn’t do with any other cover girl! (Correction: Glamour US did it with Victoria Beckham in 2012, but that’s it…)
  3. It glammed her up, which looks very fake and forced.
  4. The cover doesn’t symbolise the Rebel-brand at all…

2. YOU, 9 May 2013

YOU 9 May 2013

Adaption of Black Eyes Peas lyrics: “My bump, my bump, my lovely waif/whale bumps.”

YOU magazine got into all kinds of trouble for this cover from its readers and spectators… They said that it was all kinds of wrong to compare two pregnant women (as everyone carries differently) and, when someone is pregnant, they feel extra concious about about how big they are, so to call them a “whale” was just not on… And I agree.

This cover really went too far, and pushed YOU into the trailer-trash-market (which I don’t necessarily think it is).

1. Playboy South Africa, December 2013

Playboy South Africa, 12 December 2013

My no. 1 Worst Cover of 2013 goes to Playboy South Africa’s December 2013 issue, for its cheap and cheesy cover with April Eve.

I know it tried to go for the ‘Christmas-vibe’ but it’s failed (big time), as it could have done so much better. And what makes it worst is that recently it had some of the most stunning covers it’s ever produced in SA, and then it ends the year on a very low note…


Find a cover we should know about? Tweet us at @Marklives and @MediaSlut.
Want to view all the covers at a glance? See our MagLove Pinboard!


MediaSlutMagLove by @MediaSlut is a regular slot featuring the best local and international magazine covers every week, recognising well thought-out, powerful and interesting (and hopefully all three-in-one) covers and celebrating the mix of pragmatism, creativity and personal taste that created each of them. The (for now anonymous) blogger behind MediaSlut knows way too much for his own good about media in South Africa, magazines in particular. His mission is to show when SA magazines fail but, most importantly, also when they succeed. If you’re looking for a library about SA magazines and news, this is your one-stop pitstop.

— MarkLives’ round-up of top ad and media industry news and opinion in your mailbox every three work days. Sign up here!

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