Stars on the Outside No Guarantee That a Magazine Will Rake In Added Sales

Lee Eisenberg, Esquire magazine’s editor-in-chief, thinks that there is a “celebrity glut” of magazine covers.

Even magazines that have traditionally shied away from celebrities, such as Ms. and Mother Jones, are using lots of stars. Although Esquire did well in 1988 with covers featuring Robert Redford and Blair Brown, Eisenberg said, “I’m not convinced that a celebrity is an automatic winner.”

He’s right. Life magazine’s September cover on actor Paul Newman’s children’s camp was its least successful in 1988. Ebony magazine’s poorest seller last year was the May cover hailing the return of Sidney Poitier to the big screen. “Men just don’t do well for us unless they are pictured with their wives and children,” an Ebony spokesman said.

Actors Dustin Hoffman and Warren Beatty failed to score for Life in 1987. The May issue featuring the two was Life’s worst selling for the year, according to the Washington Journalism Review. The review also cited US magazine’s cover featuring Harry Hamlin of “L.A. Law” and Esquire’s Peter Ueberroth cover as among the worst sellers of 1987.

Still, in 1988, magazine editors gambled most often on celebrities. Cher was the runaway favorite, appearing on more covers than anyone else, according to Advertising Age’s annual survey. Placing second was Britain’s Sarah Ferguson (the Duchess of York got pregnant and supposedly had a weight problem). She was followed by successful presidential candidate George Bush (not expected to make sales, but civic-minded editors kept him in the running). Public service notions weren’t enough to place presidential candidates Michael S. Dukakis (eighth) and the Rev. Jesse Jackson (ninth) high on the top 10 list.

Oprah Winfrey placed fourth, apparently because she lost 65 pounds. The “At Home With Oprah Winfrey” Ebony cover in October was not only the magazine’s best seller of 1988, but the best for the past four or five years, according to an Ebony spokesman.

She was followed by Britain’s Princess Diana (didn’t lose or gain weight, but the tabloids were convinced she had marital problems), Mike Tyson (definitely had marital problems) and Eddie Murphy (he made lots of money on “Coming to America.”) Tom Cruise, praised for holding his own with Hoffman in “Rain Man,” rounded out the top 10.

Self-Made Women a Theme

Some magazines won’t say how well individual issues did. People magazine’s Cher cover, however, was extraordinarily successful, a spokeswoman said, but the cover featuring Burt Reynolds’ and Loni Anderson’s wedding was the best seller of the year. Ms. magazine also did very well with Cher and Winfrey covers, but it appears that final figures will prove that the December cover featuring Meryl Streep was the year’s best, says Editor-in-Chief Anne Summers.

“The women our readers like and admire are women with some extraordinary skill, or really self-made women. Oprah and Cher are both self-made women who came up the hard way, and they did it without taking any prisoners,” Summers said.

Cher is always successful, according to People Managing Editor James R. Gaines, because people perceive that “there’s someone very real” beneath the glitz.