Magazine Review : GQ Active (Summer 1996)
Launched on 22nd May, Conde Nast’s GQ Active is billed as an expansion of GQs Body & Soul section. Priced at £2.50, it covers “health, fitness & sport for men” and concentrates on “doing it” (sport) as opposed to offering an “armchair pundits” insight. Following a common trend, the magazine is presented in a nineties man format giving it a modern look.
The front cover has a striking black and white picture of Paolo Maldini, captain of the Italian football squad and with features on Michael Johnson and Andre Agassi, the impression given is that it is up-to-date and tackling major sporting issues. Main Sections include The Pitch, Travel, Food, Man Alive and Outback together with other miscellaneous articles.
The design of the magazine is very confusing as there are too many colours and logos without any consistent design style. GQ Active fails to cover any top sporting events of the 1996 summer period such as Euro ’96, Wimbledon or the Olympics and the article on Maldini, Agassi and Johnson only give a 6 page insight into the careers of these athletes. Instead we get information regarding scuba diving, the Nike Mountain Challenge, Simon Lessing (?) , Skysurfing and UK Sumo. The ad:ed ratio is 27:118 but this disguises the huge amount of promo articles, most of which are expensive products and though interesting will only appeal to the fanatic .
On the whole, the sections on health and fitness are very important but the magazine lacks glamour and will probably appeal to the more upmarket.
Conde Nast: 0171 499 9080