Flattery gets you…sued: David Carr of the NYT is reporting (registration required, etc.) that Rodale Inc., the owner of Men’s Health, has filed a notice of intent to sue American Media, owner of Men’s Fitness because its new design looks, surprise, exactly like Men’s Health.

Quote:

While the use of pictures of chiseled men with perfect abs is not exactly original, the architecture and the cadence of the cover and the front of the magazines are virtually identical, Inside, Men’s Health has a two-page table of contents, the first anchored by three horizontal photos and the second featuring one large horizontal photo.

If Rodale starts suing everyone who has ripped-off Men’s Health “architecture and cadence,” then, well, who won’t they sue? Also, will this set a precedent for Time and Newsweek to start suing one another?

As for American Media’s defense, I suggest they argue that as it is the April issue, readers should recognize it is an April Fools parody of Men’s Health and therefore should be protected.

Later:

Media Life: Rodale: Men’s Fitness redo apes Men’s Health

He thinks Cargo Magazine stinks: This column about Cargo Magazine written by Steve Johnson of the Chicago Tribune has a right to exist. Free-speech laws, the perpetual search for the next big column thing, and the vast resources of the Chicago Tribune publishing empire give it that right. But does it need to exist? I think it does.

Quote:

Cargo’s problem, in its 204-page inaugural issue, is that it, in a word, stinks. Literally. The issue is reeking on the desk beside me as I type, turning my normally coffee-scented office, sometimes seasoned with a hint of used gym clothes, into a debate captain’s neck on prom night.

The culprit, one of those self-defeating-by-dint-of-the-nausea-they-induce cologne inserts, symbolizes the trouble with the Cargo concept. For all its determined attempts to also read hetero, this is at heart, in the preponderance of its ad pages and “editorial” copy, a fashion magazine.

And most of the mainstream men the magazine will need to attract if it is to thrive do not like “fashion”–even the ones like me, who will admit to liking nice clothes.

(via BoSacks.com)

Custom publishing update: Pleased with its 3-year-old, 4 million-subscriber HomeMadeSimple, Procter & Gamble Co. is expanding its online customer-magazine efforts to health care with HealthExpressions.com, reports Advertising Age.

Quote:

P&G’s latest Web publishing effort has the look and feel of a health-related consumer magazine, with product information gently integrated throughout.
the concept

HealthExpressions, sponsored by nine P&G health-care brands, went live last month in what Debbie Slater, project manager for the program, terms a “soft launch,” initially targeting only registered users of the corporate PG.com and sites of sponsor brands, including Crest, Metamucil and Nyquil.