By Israel Lagares on May 15th, 2008
Health Magazines Sorta Suck: Video Blog
It’s been a while since I posted a video blog. In this weeks version I go over the special “ad reports” that are found within health and fitness magazines. These fake articles trick you into thinking they are articles only to shove a product down your throat as you find yourself enjoying what you read. Don’t get me wrong, health magazines have value. You just need to know how to filter through and find it.
I must warn that the video quality is extremely grainy (something happened in the conversion). Enjoy!
While they can be aggravating (especially if you don’t notice the “this is an ad” fine print) they can also be useful. Like you said yourself, one of them was for a website that you went to and enjoyed.
Advertising is advertising. The folks that put the magazine deserve to make money, and the vast majority of a magazine’s budget comes from the ads and not from the subscriptions. (Except for Consumer Reports, which doesn’t accept advertising.) I look at the ads, read the ones that quickly provide interest to me, and ignore the rest.
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I hate reading an article and then as soon as you get to the bottom you realize it was an ad. Pisses me off, I’m supposed to be AD blind, I’m a webmaster.
LOL. Ad Blind. you are so funny.
I don’t really bother with magazines much any more, for the past few years they seem to be 90% product pushing and 10% useful information.
Yep! That’s what I’m saying.
You hit it spot-on man. The problem with most health and fitness magazines these days is that they are predominately ad showcases. I’d venture to say that nearly half of every health magazine is a supplement catalog. What’s worse is it seems that these magazines push you to follow bodybuilders and top fitness models’ exercises and routines, most of which lack any scientific basis and the fact that many of the physiques aren’t drug free.
I stopped reading health magazines partly because I find recycled tips that I’ve already read. Every once in a while I’ll stumble upon something new, but this is few and far between.
I’d like to see some research on the % of magazines and how much is ads versus real useful info…
Although I don’t remember exactly where I spotted it, I do recall a claim that the average fitness and bodybuilding magazine was composed of either advertisements or “advertorials” (those ads that appear to give a sort-of opinion, as would an editorial). Fitness-wise, I’d stay away from any magazine published by Weider; they are all about the ad-sales (Think Muscle & Fitness or FLEX Magazine). Men’s Health seems to have the lowest occurrence of ads that I’ve seen in a fitness/health magazine.
Advertorials, ad reports, all the same garbage!
And I love how you threw in the “Four-Page Ad Report” on Lipo 6. I can’t tell you how many of my friends came up and told me they thought it was the most “scientifcally-proven” product they have seen because it had a supposed doctor’s photo sitting in the article with his endorsement and a bunch of “scientific claims.” 🙂
Man, a few years ago I was one of those that fell for it. These companies know what they are doing!
I think many of us fell victim to supplement company hard-sell tactics. I’ve never used Lipo 6, but I’ve used some other fat burners; nothing works better for me than plain ol’ exercise/cardio and a sound nutrition plan!
Amen to that!
We ought to start our own magazine and offer a page full of 125×125 ads! 🙂
You been reading my mind. Let’s do it.
lol agreed.
Thanks for the heads up Israel.
I do all my reading on blogs and websites. At least there you can see the difference between an ad and an article.
No prob. Thanks for stopping by. You make a good point.
Well, ads help to create some brand awareness. The problem is, there’s so many ads going out at the same time the consumers get lost. Hard to identify which is the BEST of the BEST. Articles can be misleading as well. Are they paid to say what they said? Or is it for real? Health mags are among the many culprits out there
How many different ways can you show someone how to do a bicep curl, squat, lunge and “how to burn fat fast”?????
I haven’t read a muscle mag for years dude! They are 80% ads which gets annoying.
Mike
What really grinds my gears is how the ad shows some guy who is OBVIOUSLY juiced up on ‘roids saying, “I got all my muscles from taking supplement X calorie loader/protein shake.” Oh, really?! I doubt it.
Damn, I forgot to mention that. But you are right on point.
I think the most notorious are MuscleTech’s ads. They always have some quack doctor and the most “science-centric” diction in their so-called ad reports. Even worse, they are the most expensive supplements available and they claim that they are the product of university testing. So Johnny-boy goes out to the store and buys MuscleTech because it claims it was researched at [insert university here]. What the average consumer doesn’t know is, the research at that university was not for the product, but instead just generic research on a few compounds within their supplement. The studies have nothing to do with their MuscleTech brand whatsoever. Some marketing scheme…
Wowsers, I wonder who’s their marketing director…dudes a genius!
This video had me on the floor laughing when you tore out the pages of those mags. Keep up the good work and make more videos, they are awesome! They should put you on TV 😛
Reading mags is a total waste of time. They’re completely filled with ads and offer nothing new. Great post!
For the most part, yes.
I don’t really care for health magazines.A lot of the advice are pulled from funded studies.
yep!