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new magazine for boys.
11. Jan 2004 at 05:32
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does it expect a wholly heterosexual readership or will it be more daring in covering range of sexual possibilities?
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...The launch of Sorted, with fashion tips, grooming hints and sex advice for boys as young as 11, has attracted even more controversy.

The first issue, published by an independent company based in Brighton, promises "foxy females", advice on "lumps, divorce, drugs and masturbation", and an interview in which the singer Beyoncé "gets down and dirty", while the column "Bird's eye view" explains "what makes girls work".

The magazine, edited by former Loaded journalist Martin Klipp, has attracted heavy criticism from a number of family and parenting groups.

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josephk
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Re: new magazine for boys.
Reply #1 - 11. Jan 2004 at 09:31
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wow! that's very courageous. they are going to get lynched. Smiley
  
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Re: new magazine for boys.
Reply #2 - 11. Jan 2004 at 10:25
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I'd like to see an on-line version.
  
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Re: new magazine for boys.
Reply #3 - 15. Jan 2004 at 10:37
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Sorted is the first magazine for boys aged 11 to 16. As well as covering the usual bases such as women and sport, the magazine features advice on emotional and sexual issues.

A teen mag for boys - but will they buy it?

Stephen McGinty

Teenage boys’ reading material has always been rather eclectic. Commando comics initiated them in the art of hand-to-hand combat and cultural differences with phrases such as "Die, Fritz, die!", while Roy of the Rovers taught sportsmanship, etiquette and why a fractured ankle, a broken rib and an early case of Polio should never stand between a determined team captain and victory in the FA Cup. "The Melchester Rovers captain has climbed out of the iron lung and he’s back on the pitch. Incredible." Advice on girls, romance or the "mushy stuff" was close at hand with copies of Razzle or Men Only harvested from the woods in the local park.

Their counterparts in the sex war, however, have always been armed to the teeth for modern life by a library of scented magazines that dissect life, fashion and the intricacies of romance. Today there are no less than 14 publications on the newsstands aimed at teenage girls, while teenage boys have none. But boys aged between 11 and 16 need fumble in the dark no longer. A new monthly magazine, Sorted, is published today and its cover, features and problem page form a Play School round window into the teenage soul.

The cover features Beyoncé in a bizarre clinch with a video image of a giant chicken. Inside, an article on the Shaolin monks of China is tagged: "There are no books, no exams and you learn how to punch through brick - is this the coolest school in the world?", while the problem page gently leads the befuddled reader through such hot button topics as testicular cancer, teenage pregnancy and the effects of E. It also strikes down that perennial teenage male concern: why excessive masturbation will not lead to blindness.
   
‘Teenage boys are just as interested in how they look and how they act as teenage girls and it’s wrong to think otherwise’

Also jammed into Sorted’s 96 glossy pages are articles on football, stock car racing, computer games and a poster of Halle Berry in a catsuit. "Grrr!", as the contents page comments.

The editor, Martin Klipp, who at 25 is one of the magazine world’s youngest editors, began his career as a schoolboy when he went on work experience to Loaded. He agrees that Sorted could be described as Loaded’s "mini-me". "The comparisons I would make are the irreverence and humour. It’s about taking the piss and having a laugh. When Loaded first came out that was what was great about it."

Klipp and his team at Russell Church publishers, a new company that has invested £2 million in their debut title, are aware of the boundaries. Words such as "shit", "fart" and "arse" are permitted but more rude words, if they crop up in interviews, will be asterisked out. "People forget how clued up and aware teenagers are today, you can’t sugar-coat words for them or try and hide things away. But we are also aware that, since this is the first publication aimed at the three million teenage boys aged between 11 and 16, we have a great opportunity to shape and influence the next generation.

"As Spider-Man used to say: ‘With great power comes great responsibility’." It was for this reason the magazine secured the services of Radio One’s Dr Mark Hamilton to deliver, as they explain, "no bullshit, just the facts".

The idea of the magazine has been supported by those who work with teenagers and who recognise that there has long been a gap in the market. Linda Blair, a clinical psychologist at Bath University, believes a publication such as Sorted could work as an effective educational tool about issues such as health and relationships. "They could do a really good service. Teenage boys are just as interested in how they look and how they act as teenage girls and it’s wrong to think otherwise. The magazine’s success will depend on if, and how quickly, it catches on. If boys notice their friends reading it then they will more than likely pick it up too. I would hope that the articles would in the future become longer. I don’t think teenagers have a short attention span, I think we assume they have and pander to it."

• Sorted is available at newsagents priced £2.50.   

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Re: new magazine for boys.
Reply #4 - 15. Jan 2004 at 18:24
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that cover is awful! but the magazine sounds cool. thanks for the article.
  
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Re: new magazine for boys.
Reply #5 - 17. Jan 2004 at 08:26
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This is only one example of how boys have been  discriminated against in the last couple of decades...  their needs are rarely recognized because women have their claws on the gear sticks of virtually all the social and educational elements that pertain to today's children....  and those needs are usually perceived through the eyes of women who don't have a clue what boy's actually need.

I wish the magazine success.
  
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Re: new magazine for boys.
Reply #6 - 10. Jul 2004 at 04:12
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another new magazine.

they got a full-page complimentary article in the daily express - july 8  (not online : too long to type out).

here's earlier online article about the teen entrepeneurs :

Monday, 1st March 2004
Boys launch own magazine
Deborah Haile
 
MEDIA MOGULS: Chris (l) and Ollie

SCHOOLBOY entrepreneurs Chris Tunnicliffe and Ollie Coulombeau are taking their first steps towards becoming media moguls.

The teenagers, from independent Manchester Grammar School, are counting down to the launch of their new magazine, Ignite, in September.

They have already found a team of businessmen who have said they will invest up to £20,000 in the launch of the first issue of Ignite which, according to the business plan, could bring in profits of more than £500,000 in its first year.

They are starting to recruit the team of teenage writers and volunteer managers they will need to run the magazine, which they plan to circulate to 500,000 teenage readers across the north west.

Chris, who edits the school magazine the New Mancunian, came up with the idea for Ignite while getting work experience at the Daily Telegraph in London last summer. Because the new magazine will be written by young people for young people, he believes it will be on their wavelength.

Chris, 16, who already has experience with his own disco business, said: "It's definitely going to be fun and can be as good as any national product."

He and Ollie, 15, have found financial backing for the project from a group of MGS old boys, who have set up the "MGS Angels" with the aim of giving support to pupils or former pupils who have an interesting business proposition.

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Re: new magazine for boys.
Reply #7 - 12. Jul 2004 at 11:08
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I hope the young writers for the magazine have the freedom to write from the heart rather than write in a manner that is designed to win approval from adults.

Good luck to them, but only if they make it a point to be true to themselves.
  
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Re: new magazine for boys.
Reply #8 - 18. Jul 2004 at 10:29
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Seems like a cool magazine. I think it's kind of over do. It's weird I never heard of it, then again maybe if I was a teen I would have Tongue. There's been alot of controversial magazines published that the majority thought would never make it, but they did. Hopeful this mag is one of those.
  
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Re: new magazine for boys.
Reply #9 - 09. Sep 2004 at 15:57
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<i>You've got male

General interest magazines for teenage boys have always failed to catch on, but can a new online version called Monkeyslum get them excited? Sean Hargrave reports

Monday September 6, 2004

The Guardian

They are renowned for not talking or showering as much as their parents would like, but now teenage boys are in the vanguard of an internet publishing revolution.

While their sisters have always had an abundance of print, and now web, magazines, teenage boys have never had a title or portal to call their own. That is until the middle of this month when the creators of the teenage girl portal Mykindaplace.com are due to launch Monkeyslum.com.

Claiming it will be funny and irreverent, the team insist the site will achieve at least 125,000 unique users in its first month and will provide the best solution for any advertiser wishing to reach school age boys.

"Teenage boys are notoriously difficult to reach," admits Charlie Redmayne, managing director of Mykindaplace and Monkeyslum. "They get into a particular hobby and devour magazines on the subject but don't find a commonality of interests like girls do. A girl might be into horses, say, but will still be into fashion, music, gossip, makeup and boys.

"There has been a change, though, which we think makes it the right time for a general site for boys. They're now far more interested in lifestyle than they used to be because they get involved in the lives of their football or film heroes and want to know what clothes they're wearing, who they're dating, which clubs they use and what they drink, and so on."

Hence the Mykindaplace team, mainly comprised of former advertising executives, decided they could do for boys what they have already done for girls and give them all the football, cars, computer games and general interest content they could ever want under one roof. At the same time, they will be creating a captive audience for advertisers that, in Redmayne's opinion, are fed up with advertising through hobby magazines that are read by a wide age group.

"We know that the only way you can reach teenage boys is through the men's magazines like FHM, because they aspire to be older, or special interest titles," Redmayne says. "The obvious problem with that is you reach a lot of men from all age groups at the same time so you're not getting value for money from your budget."

As the first launch of a portal specifically aimed at teenage boys, Monkeyslum is attracting a lot of attention from the publishing and advertising industry.

Whether they believe the launch will be successful or not, all are agreed that while the team behind it are obviously keen to win over advertisers, making sure the content on the site is "engaging" will be key, as William Makower, founder of digital marketing agency Panlogic, explains.

"We've done a lot of work on how the brands we represent can reach teenage boys because it's such a huge untapped market. The problem is that, because they're so focused, a site like Monkeyslum will have to provide great depth to the content it puts on the site, while at the same time it will have to provide a lot of breadth to cover the relevant areas. So, that's going to be a difficult one - breadth and depth at the same time."

As Monkeyslum is part-owned by Sky, the team are hinting that they have a useful resource for sports information and news, and have signed a deal with publisher Highbury House for gaming content.

Central to the Monkeyslum team's argument that they can bridge a demographic divide nobody has spanned before is the idea that they will buy in top content and then complement it with stories from a dedicated editorial team based at their offices. It has been tried, competitors say, and the closure this year of Sorted magazine is testimony to how difficult a market Monkeyslum is aiming at.

James Carter, publishing director of FHM (print and online), warns that teenage boys will be very difficult to win over with "repurposed content". FHM has not considered tapping in to the market with a junior version of its magazine, he insists, because its average 25-year-old male reader is far more of an attractive option for advertisers to reach.

"Until you can pay for goods online through your mobile, Monkeyslum won't be able to offer any e-commerce, like we do, because teenagers don't have credit cards," he says.

"Their main problem is going to be that the web doesn't really operate like they're trying to make it work. People would love there to be a single site people get their information from - but what will always happen is if somebody wants to read a match report they'll go to a football site, if they want to read about a computer game, they'll go to the relevant service.

"People come to FHM.com to be entertained because they know our brand and the voice we write stories in. If you take content that's already available in other places I can't see how you can then present it as quirky and zany when it's already appeared in a place where it was presented as mainstream. I can't see how they're going to build a brand."

It is a concern shared by Jon Holt, director of PR firm Golin Harris. While any publicist would welcome a new site that makes it easier to target teenage boys, Holt believes that monkeyslum will face big problems.

"The main thing is they need to remember that a brand is a promise and if you fail to deliver that promise, you're in trouble. I can't see how they're going to build that brand of zany irreverence if it's based on content boys can get elsewhere. It sounds like they could end up putting a brand at the top and then have content underneath it that doesn't fit."

The other area where Holt believes the site will have to tread carefully is sex. As kids are well known for buying magazines that are meant for older readers, he predicts the site will face a difficult question soon after launch.

"All the girls' magazines know they have to be salacious to get readers," he says. "They're clever enough to partner a story about blow jobs with some other article that's serious and educational. As there hasn't been a magazine for teenage boys, I wonder how soon Monkeyslum is going to find out their readers are into the smutty stuff. Then they're going to have to decide if that's what they want to provide. It will be tempting for them as they're obviously working on getting as many teenage boys as possible, so they appeal to advertisers."

Monkeyslum's Redmayne promises that the site will never feature soft porn and has been in active discussions with the government to double check that its content is responsible rather than salacious. He also believes that the chat side of the site will allow teenage boys to ask questions anonymously that they would never dare raise with peers.

It is this side of the launch that Damian Burns, head of digital at advertising agency Zed Media, believes will ensure it is a success: "We find when we're researching teenage boys for our clients that they love to use chatrooms and bulletin boards. So, I would say Monkeyslum is a very welcome move for advertisers because I can assure you we all know that at the moment whenever we want to target teenage boys as much of 80% of the budget can be wasted reaching older men.

"It's good timing because teenage boys have come on a long way in the last couple of decades. They are becoming far more savvy about brands, just like girls have always been, and want to make sure they've got the right gear. The days of being happy with a bottle of Old Spice at Christmas are long gone."</i>

old spice : a mass-market after-shave - now diversified into other personal hygeine products.

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Re: new magazine for boys.
Reply #10 - 09. Sep 2004 at 22:40
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I wonder what caused them to name it Monkeyslum?  That's definitely a unique name, but I don't know how "bad" teenagers will think that name is.  (Don't forget, "bad" is good in today's teenaged language.)  Wink

Love,
Sir J
  
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Re: new magazine for boys.
Reply #11 - 11. Sep 2004 at 00:35
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It's an interesting dilemma that they face in 'how to reach boys'.... 'no smutty stuff', is not a good start... if they had an 'anything goes' policy it might work.

Pity about 'Sorted' magazine... at least they tried.

SJ,

You are right on about 'bad' being good... even better than bad are:  mad, wicked and evil, ... and of course the ultimate in praise... 'totally sick'.  Grin

Groovy eh!
  
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Re: new magazine for boys.
Reply #12 - 11. Sep 2004 at 22:06
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<i>Groovy eh!</i>

Yeah. hehe   Grin

My lastest little friend keeps saying things like, "Dad, that's tight!  I like it!"   Wink

I hadn't heard that one before, but at least in the 9-year-old world, it must be really nice if something is "tight".   Grin

(Oh, he wasn't talking about something he was wearing, either.  It was something good in a video game.)

Love,
Sir J
  
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