There have been a lot of articles written about creating magazines for the “new” older people. They have been designed to appeal to “younger” seniors, but none of them seem to get off the ground. I’ve seen them come and go. If you find something that seems remotely interesting it is gone from the market place before you can buy a second edition.
Nobody wants to admit to growing older but it is happening to people all around us. Special editions in newspapers offer a wealth of information for people adjusting to retirement and figuring out what comes next in their lives, but the magazine world doesn’t seem to get it. There are a lot of books being written about retirement and successful aging but that isn’t quite the same as a glossy magazine publication. The pickings are pretty slim when you actually want to buy a magazine for a quick read. I am tired of magazine covers that cover topics like sexy buttocks and pouty lips. Very few talk about anything with any depth. A few fitness magazines address issues like nutrition and hydration but the main interest seems to be make-up and gym attire. They seldom seem to deal with topics that address “health” instead of body image, but what do I know? Oprah is probably the best for all around topics on health and self esteem; if you can get past the advertising (do people really dress like that?) AARP has some good articles but they are rather stuffy and just a little bit boring, like they are trying to hard to be hip. The only magazines that I buy that I read from cover to cover are specialty magazines. Weight Watchers, Arthritis Today and hard to find copies of Diabetes Living and Heart Healthy are good. You don’t have to have arthritis or heart disease and you don’t have to be young to enjoy/learn/ and benefit from the articles in these magazines.
Mass circulation magazines have given way to publications that market themselves to special interest groups. Magazines ignore the interests of the older reader. John Cutter (A Generations: Fall 2001) wrote that the media tends to focuses on one extreme to the other. You are either happy, healthy and wealthy or frail, poor, and demented. None of the specialty groups seem to deal with the rest of us. It would be nice if some of the mainstream articles would at least acknowledge that we are out there? Limiting coverage to travel, exercise and other leisure activities denies aging its place as an important topic. One that is not going to go away! I would love to hear opinions on this topic.
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