Celebrating service magazines

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, May 1, 1992 by Pamela Fiori

Often overlooked, service magazines influence more buyers of consumer goods than other titles. So why don't they get more respect?

Not much has been written about service magazines. There's no textbook that I am aware of (although there should be). You can look under "Journalism" in the Encyclopaedia Britannica - an 11-page entry in Volume 15 - but what you'll find is just about every possible subhead except service journalism. That's pathetically little when you consider how important service magazines are and how far they have come in the 250-year history of magazines.

Service magazines are held in rather low esteem - not by readers, but by a number of journalism schools and even some editors and writers. It's as if the word "service" and the word "journalism" should not be spoken in the same breath - as incompatible a coupling as "corporate culture." Possibly that is because service magazines so often deal with the realities of everyday life, and not matters of cataclysmic importance. Earthquakes, wars, terrorism, global warming, drugs, poverty, homelessness. These are more the stuff of Time and Harper's than Harper's Bazaar or HG. And it is assumed that, if service magazines cover subjects of global significance, it's often with a limited approach.

A positive influence

Service magazines, detractors say, are more apt to be micro than macro; local as opposed to global; practical and directional; a bit flat-footed at their minimum and bordering on gimmicky when they try too hard. But at their best, they can have tremendous impact: They can change the way readers think or act, alter the way they spend time or money, influence style, eating habits and travel plans, improve relationships, diminish biases.

One of service magazines' most constant crusaders, James A. Autry, formerly Meredith's group president, defines them as "the delivery of ideas, information (and in some cases, inspiration) through words, illustrations, design and various formats."

He is talking here of the graphic devices of service magazines: lists, boxes, sidebars, boldfacing, charts, graphs, maps, calendars, recipes, Q&As, polls, step-by-steps, diagrams - anything that highlights the information for the reader in an accessible way.

"And," he continues, "it is intended to produce, on the part of the reader, a positive response. In other words, it goes beyond the journalism of pure information to include the expectation that the reader will do something as a result of the reading."

Do what?

Take action. Change behavior. Build something (a bookcase, a bank account, his or her confidence or upper arms). Find a better way (to talk to a child, a spouse, a boss, a contractor). Devise a smarter way (to eat, dress, argue, lose weight, entertain 12 people in a tiny apartment, dispose of garbage in a politically correct manner).

Service magazines help the reader cope - with aging parents or one's aging self, an alcoholic co-worker, a serious illness, unemployment, change of address or change of life. They might even inspire the reader to contribute to society - by volunteering his or her services, by writing to Congress, by joining a local environmental group. Or, closer to home, by spending more time with the kids.

A little history: Women's magazines were our first service publications. And the first of any note, Ladies' HomeJournal, began life way back in 1883. Today, 108 years later, it is still with us, owned by Meredith. Two years later, in 1885, along came Good Housekeeping. In 1876, a magazine called The Queen made its debut and eventually became McCall's. In 1922, Better Homes and Gardens, another Meredith book, arrived on the scene (originally called Fruit, Garden and Home). Family Circle and Woman's Day followed.

Why so many women's books? Because - as if you didn't know - women were and still are the greatest buyers of consumer goods in America. Editors and publishers caught on to this. So did advertisers. Before television, women's magazines were about the best way to reach this powerful audience.

For women only?

But what about men? There are plenty of men's magazines - Esquire, GQ, Playboy, Details (originally a very trendy female-oriented fashion book), Sports Illustrated. And there are male-oriented books on automobiles, stereo equipment and furniture making, as well as magazines like Popular Science and Popular Mechanics, to name a few. But there aren't any men's service books to speak of.

In 1990, there was an attempt to launch a service book called Men's Life, but it didn't live past a first issue. Maybe Men's Health, which is now up to an encouraging 500,000 able-bodied readers, could be the first men's service book to make it. But, is it possible that men don't want advice about bow to conduct their personal lives? Or is it that they don't want the same prescription used in women's service books? Is there a "new man" or isn't there? And if there is, does he want a how-to book to call his own? Could it be that many men have problems with the very idea of service information, at least as it has been traditionally dispensed?