I don't know when I noticed but at some point it struck me that these covers all have one thing in common - they juxtapose a weight loss plan with pictures of baked goods or incredibly high calorie comfort foods. I'm not sure what to do with this. It goes beyond the impossible body types of most magazine cover models - they're beautiful and posed and dressed and coiffed and ultimately airbrushed. As much as people talk about the message these images send, we all know, somewhere deep down, that these pictures aren't really real. They're staged and altered. That's why magazines also have the "caught on camera" features with celebrities looking, well, still better than most people, but way, way more normal than they do on the covers of magazines.
The women's magazines in the grocery store line (I never see them anywhere else, so that's what they are) carry a very different connotation. These magazines aren't about celebrities, they're not even supposed to be Martha Stewart-type shelter magazines. These are the magazines that are supposed to be by mainstream women, for mainstream women. They're not about celebrity lifestyles, they're supposed to be about mainstream lifestyles - for women who are interested in tips on slashing grocery bills, easy weeknight meals, and miraculous cures for every disease and disorder under the sun. So what's the message? You should be able to eat anything and stay thin? Make these things for other people, but watch your own weight? Is it the 1950s Mom who makes steak for her husband and eats salad herself? I don't know. I haven't worked it out yet. But it's percolating in there.
So, for your consideration, a selection of grocery store magazine covers:
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