Vibe Magazine's Cover: No Real Role Models

The Root contributing editor Demetria L. Lucas argues in a blog post at A Belle in Brooklyn that no one at Vibe magazine really thought that Kandi and Evelyn were "your new role models."

I laughed when I saw the VIBE cover featuring Tamar Braxton, Kandi [Burruss], Evelyn Lozada, and Chrissy Lampkin all sporting f***-me heels and boobs pushed to gravity defying heights. It wasn’t the image, it was the coverline. “Meet Your New Role Models” --  a declaration, not a inquiry -- is everything. It’s graphic genius. Shade at [its] best. The problem is, I think that went over most people’s heads.

Magazine coverlines are the bread and butter. You can put Pulitzer-winning content inside, but if the cover sucks no one will ever know but subscribers because no one will pick it up on a newsstand and say, “hmm ... what’s in here?” That’s the point of coverlines. Everyone judges books -- magazines are called such in-house -- by their covers. The right coverline with the right image is what compels newsstand buyers to make a Blink-like decision to pick up the mag and flip thru it (engagement) or to make a snap decision to buy it (cha-ching) ...

I assure you that someone(s) thought long and hard about this seemingly blasphemous cover line that’s got everyone so riled up, and in the end said, “f*** yeah! Let’s do it!” and laughed wildly about the sh**-show that was to come, one that was undoubtedly courted and welcomed.

Read Demetria L. Lucas' entire post at A Belle in Brooklyn.

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