If the goal was to get people talking, it worked. The problem is, some of the chatter about last week’s Magazine Publishers of America panel hosted by The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart suggests the event backfired. The problem: During Stewart’s conversation with the top editors at Cosmopolitan, Men’s Health, Vanity Fair, and Time (more than adequately recapped by the media blog FishbowlNY), he frequently made fun of their magazines, and pointedly questioned the relevancy of the magazine industry—all at an event meant to promote magazines as advertising vehicles. Four days later, Women’s Wear Daily reports, “many industry voices were still grumbling that MPA had shelled out a quarter of a million dollars ($150,000 for Stewart, another $100,000 for the event, according to a source) only to have [the host] question the relevance of print in front of a roomful of advertisers.” According to WWD, sources say the comic’s arrangement explicitly stated he would not disparage the industry, and his comments could be grounds for withholding part of his fee. Still, throughout all the discussion within an industry that takes itself pretty seriously, no one seems to be arguing that Stewart wasn’t funny. (A related story: our roundtable on hiring a speaker.)
Posted 10.05.05
Posted 10.05.05
