First Issue Review – B

Attic Futura and North South have launched B to attract teenage girls who have out grown Attic Futura’s younger publication Sugar.

The cover is as bare as the model appearing on it. There are no headlines and nothing to draw the reader in. The entire magazine is designed on these ‘less is more’ principles. B is similar to its established competitors 19 and J17 in many ways. Although it has a slightly more grown-up edge, there are travel, cooking and interior design features. It is also more blatantly raunchy. It is likely that a lot of parents will buy the title for their young teenage daughters without realising that tucked away in the middle is a 4 page spread on masturbation and a guide to vibrators.

Still, when it comes down to what’s in and what’s out, most girls buy magazines for the fashion pages; B has an excellent fashion and beauty section which brushes aside fancy photography to show styles in their true light.

B hasn’t fallen into the trap most launch issues drop into – there is no mega-star interview. In the star stakes, David Davenport is a tiny nova. He is also one of the guys from This Life and B decided it was time to give him a little bit more exposure. The interview is low-key which makes it a believable and interesting read.

B seems to relish making a story out of the seemingly unsensational; a girl who willingly entered into an arranged marriage would be shunned by many editors because they would much rather have a tragic ending. B proves that reality is not always boring and this could be their key to winning readers. Although, for those who still hanker for the out of the ordinary there are a couple of other articles on real-life scandals.

The introductory pages on what’s on and what to do are very superficial, but once readers get into B they’ll find it a convincing, entertaining read.

Approximately 22% of the magazine is made up of advertising.