Sex, liptisck and shampoos (Cosmopolitan)

Member Name: REALTRAVELLER

Product:	Cosmopolitan
Date:	30/08/09 (42 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fun to read with the girls

Disadvantages: Always the same stuff

Cosmopolitan has been for a long time my favourite magazine. I still like it, but I have realized that over the course of the years it tends to repeat itself (I guess some articles are actually pretty much recycled and given a bit of a change from time to time)

But let's start from the beginning.

The magazine is actually quite glossy, around 300 pages (by the way, I buy and read Cosmopolitan in UK, France and Spain, and this review can apply pretty much to each of these countries) but nearly half of those are adverts.

Being directed primarily to a female audience (although men have been known for reading Cosmopolitan too, and my previous boyfriend is no exception) you have ads for all sort of shampoos, fashion and pretty much everything women like.

In between ads there are articles.

Sex sell and the articles are pretty much around sex, love, relationship, career, how to be a successfull woman and so on.

Although you should not judge a book from its cover, the cover of Cosmopolitan actually gives a very good insight into the magazine itself. The major articles are there, so you can have a pretty accurate idea of what to expect. There are also surveys (the kind of "find out if your man loves you" "find out if your man still finds you attractive" and so on)

Although there is a bit of random cover of celebrities life, there is very little if none coverage of international news and affairs. In the end, everything passes, and what really matters in life is to choose the correct lipstick and conditioneer for our hairs. Who cares about current affairs?

There have always been arguments pro and against Cosmopolitan. Those who are against will probably argue that only stupid women may need the advice (since there is plenty of this) of Cosmopolitan. If you are smart, you can figure it out yourself. There is also an argument that most of the items advertized are relatively expensive, and the magazine itself, costing more than 3 quids or the equivalent in euro, if you buy in Spain or France, is not necessarily the cheapest on the shelves.

In favour of it, there is the fun element, I had good fun with Cosmopolitan, I remember doing their surveys with friends on the beach in Spain, the kind of surveys you do to find out which kind of sexual animal you are, what kind of man you like, what kind of man you have. Between a good bunch of ladies, this is a nice way to spend a couple of hours on the beach while suntanning and relaxing. In the end, if I need to know about current affairs, I can still log on to BBC news or buy the Financial Times (I do both of them in fact)

I think the thing with Cosmpolitan is that after few months, may be, or surely years, it repeates itself. That survey to find out if your man likes you, is still there, the ads for the lipsticks are always the same, and by the time you pass your thirties, you have pretty much figured out what lipstick you should wear and what shampoo.

In my case, given the fact I like foreign languages, there is a bit of an extra incentive to read the foreign versions of Cosmopolitan, to practice my Spanish and French and pick up some "sexy" vocabulary, but I guess this will not apply to the majority of us.

The yearly subscription reduces a lot the montly price.

In conclusion, if you have never read Cosmopolitan, I do not think it would harm to read it once, but it is not a magazine I would suggest you buy every month.

Summary: Fun only some time