With coverlines such as: ‘Michael Parkinson talks about his vasectomy – the most beautiful thing a man can do for a woman,’it’s no wonder the first UK edition of Cosmopolitan sold out in a day in 1972.
This month, as Cosmopolitan UK celebrates its 40th birthday – life is a bit tougher for editor Louise Court (as the recent magazine ABC figures show).
But then again, nowadays Cosmo is much more than a just a monthly magazine. The website reaches a claimed readership of one million a month and there is a quarterly free edition for students: Cosmo on Campus, which launched in 2009.
There’s an interview with editor Louise Court in the March edition of Press Gazette magazine.
Here’s the TV ad which Cosmo used to announced its arrival on the UK magazine scene in 1972:
“Cosmopolitan, the sensational new magazine for women who are interested in men, love, passion, food, men, travel, films, beauty, themselves…and men.”
All that for 20p.
Also in this month’s edition of Press Gazette Lori Miles finds out whether Cosmo at 40 still does it all for the woman who wants it all.
While she concludes that ‘there’s life in the old dog yet’she does worry that the content reads “like feminism never happened.”
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