Rolling Stone's True Blood cover vs. Playboy's Madame Bovary
Sex sells, baby, so you can expect Rolling Stone's "True Blood" cover to spark a big jump in newsstand sales. Or at least a big jump in visits to the Rolling Stone website. Stars of the HBO show, which is adapted from Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse vampire series, are pictured naked and dripping with blood. (The magazine assures me that no humans were sacrificed in the shoot.) Anna Paquin, Stephen Moyer and Alexander Skarsgard make for a hot trio.
And even as Rolling Stone unveils (literally) a cover worth of Playboy, that venerable sex mag's September edition is excerpting a new translation of Gustave Flaubert’s "Madame Bovary" by Lydia Davis. In announcing the literary feature, Playboy noted that in recent years, it has featured works from Vladimir Nabokov, Chuck Palahniuk, Stephen King, Dennis Lehane and others.
I doubt that the excrpt will move any copies of Playboy, but it's nice to see the magazine's support for writers continue.
Comments
You hit the nail right on the head. There is lots of chatter both on and offline about that cover, but it did exactly what RS Mag was going for, creating buzz. Sales will go up for sure this month.
Posted by: dana | August 19, 2010 3:13 PM
so anything to make a buck is a good thing? how about organized crime, and this coming from someone who IS A FAN OF TB. Unfortunately the show is more than just sex and blood. but hell, if thats what TB & Company want their show to represent, go for it. I sure as hell hope they dont get pissed when people make comments that the show is "only about blood & sex." Its amazing that TB, Alan Ball, & Company bitch if someone complains that its about sex yadda yadda and yet here we go with this cover. you know whats even funnier is noone has even complianed about TB that much over the past 3 yrs. But again, here we go with TB stars doing this lame ass cover.
cheers,the cover does absolutely nothing for me and doesnt represent what TB is all about. its interesting but NOT interesting enough to buy.
Posted by: luee | August 20, 2010 5:04 PM