i got this letter in the mail last week, along with two issues of redbook.
my jaw dropped, actually, upon realizing that someone thinks i am in the redbook demographic. i mean, really... i'm still in my thirties, people!!! is it even possible that budget living subscribers also enjoy redbook? before receiving this letter i certainly would have never thought so. frankly, i couldn't believe i was holding redbook in my hands.
after the shock wore off i realized i was being judgmental, so i sat down to peruse the contents of redbook. maybe i was wrong. maybe the magazine had changed. maybe this wasn't my mother's redbook.
so, ok. deep breath. plunge in.
hmm. i don't know if my mother's redbook ever gave tips about this kind of thing. maybe not this type of advice, either.
reading further, it's clear that redbook is targeted to women my age, but not to me. redbook readers are married with children. redbook readers are stay at home moms.
even the advertisements make me feel like i'm spying into another world. a very foreign, very scary kind of world.
still, after only a few pages i'm developing an odd fascination with this magazine. it's a bit more modern than i expected, design-wise... cute sans serif fonts and punchy colors. it's trying to feel young, while simultaneously dishing out dated advice.
i then spot the beefcake. add to that the tame fashion spreads, some horoscopes and a section on readers' embarrassing moments and i begin to think that maybe redbook is really just "cosmo lite".
this is really not what i expected. i expected cooking tips and lists of things to do with doilies.
perhaps what surprised me most was the "red hot summer read" -- similar in concept to bust's "one handed read", but quite a bit more florid. what's more the whole section (3-4 pages) is printed on different stock than the rest of the magazine. these "special" pages are not on glossy paper. they're printed on something rougher... almost a card stock. why, i wonder? maybe to aid the reader in finding the sex more quickly?
after paging through both issues and trying to remain open-minded, i come to the conclusion that redbook is really not for me. there were a couple of product reviews and recipes that seem helpful, but it's certainly not a substitute for budget living (which, admittedly, wasn't perfect, but was MUCH closer to "me" than redbook). still, i don't think i'll write for a refund as the letter suggested. i found it kind of interesting to peek over the fence and spy on the lives of women my age who have chosen an entirely different path for their lives.
Posted by xta at June 26, 2006 11:14 AM | TrackBackI read a lot of Redbook and Family Circle at my grandma's house out of sheer boredom, and the same fascination that drove me to read several dozen romance novels one summer.
Weird stuff, though I found it somewhat comforting, too.
Posted by: lisa at June 26, 2006 05:33 PMI find them strangely timeless and comforting. I think Bust is the magazine closest to my own personal zeitgeist, though I am a little long in the tooth for it. There is definitely a niche for the forty-plus mother who is not a Redbook woman.
Posted by: Marianne at June 26, 2006 08:23 PMI don't think I could relate to the Redbook demo, even if the age is the same as my own. I will never stuff a gingham-checked balloon valence with newspaper, EVER.
(and if that makes me less of a woman, so be it)
Posted by: pinky at June 26, 2006 09:27 PMI'm glad and sorry that Budget Living has gone bust (so to speak) and not in the good way.
OMG I am tired.
Anyway, my subscription must have lapsed in enough time not to be bombarded with Redbook. (let's hope, at least).
Posted by: lastewie at June 27, 2006 12:00 AMAm I the only one that is totally cracking up over the idea of Budget Living shutting down?
I guess there is no hope for the middle class.
Posted by: Matt at June 27, 2006 02:22 PMI discovered yesterday afternoon that my Budget Living subscription was being replaced by House Beautiful. No fair, right? Particularly since I probably scream Redbook demographic.
I was actually excited to see the House Beautiful in my mailbox, what with all the potential home renovations in our future. And that would have been much more interesting to you as well, yes?
Maybe not. I'm pretty disappointed with the contents. It's fluffy puffy chick stuff - all whipped cream, no steak. I won't be asking for a refund, but I won't be renewing either.
Posted by: Lulu at June 27, 2006 03:12 PMI am 37 with a three year old and two 2 year olds.
Redbook sucks it.
Doesn't ROSIE own Redbook now, wasn't that the thing that made it try to make the jump to 1955 disguised as hip?
I don't know WHO The hell their demographic is, because I have two stay at home mom friends who think it's retarded as well.
Or maybe we're ALL JUST THAT HIP (doubt it).
Wow, am I glad to read your review of Redbook. I'm still in the middle of this months Woman's Day having just finished Family Circle, Southern Living, Parents, and Woman's World. I didn't think I'd have a chance to read my Redbook, but you've given me the highlights. Speaking of Highlights, that's next for the kids after Ladybug, and Big Back Yard.
Okay, so I'm kidding. Well, not about Big Back Yard.
Posted by: becky at July 5, 2006 04:59 PMMy Budget Living subscription was replaced by Marie-Claire. Which contained a quiz with a multiple choice question whose earliest birthdate was five years after mine.
Posted by: Marianne at July 6, 2006 07:27 AM