I get more comments about my blog entry on Explode magazine than any other. Every few days another comment lobs in my inbox. 80% are from teen males and positive and 20% from girls or parents and negative. regardless, Explode is a popular title. The impression I get is that teen males talk about Explode among themselves and this is where the slow but steady sales growth is coming from. The passion they express in their comments about the magazine surprises me. I was somewhat critical of the content and many went ballistic. I’ve been critical of many magazines over the last 16 months of blogging and Explode responses outstrip those for other titles by far.
The comments, over the last four months, range from this from a teen boy:
who ever wrote this is a moron explode is an excelent mag but u dont see it this is a short letter just saying ur a loser without brains this is however from a 13 year old i love the mag but for now good bye moronic ass
To this from a girl:
what makes the magazine so excellent? it it even educational? coming from a 13 year old i see you obviously haven’t developed brains just yet, who’s the moron now? how do you think 17-18 year old girls feel by being exploited for little boys like you to just stare at. it’s quite obvious that girls develop maturity alot quicker & could possibly be the reason that in most relationships the boy is older. find something else to read
To this from another teen boy:
While there’s no doubt that Explode is exploitative, I appreciate that it is pulling a demographic into my shop and therefore educating a new generation of newsagency shoppers. The challenge is to retain these people as magazine consumers versus Explode website visitors. The website is excellent and mirrors the tone of the magazine perfectly. Right now the more valuable content is in the magazine. All it takes is a financial model to make the website more valuable than the magazine itself.im a teenage male and i buy the teenage Explode magazine and i think that the explode magazine has made males read magazines more therefore more are reading not less
I think that Explode is a decent title and is definitely filling a ‘generational gap’ or whatever the term is. There is a pretty steep jump from D*Mag to FHM. Explode slots right in the middle of the 12 – 15yr old age group. It makes me feel warm on the inside to know my consumers are getting a nice easy transitional magazine period through puberty!
Althogh I will agree with the content of the magazine leaving a lot to be desired, there is definitely a demographic out there for this sort of rubbish. From what I’ve learnt in my small amount of time working in a small business: leave your ethics at the door unless you’re out to make friends.
It’s just as well all the hard decisions are out of my control, wink wink.