Psychologies magazine celebrates its one-year anniversary with the September issue.
Launched with a July/August double issue last year, the magazine has featured a well-known star on every cover. Last year, Danwei noted that Psychologies tries to “communicate with readers through the cover model’s eyes.”
Those eyes have belonged almost exclusively to Hollywood actresses. Gong Li, September’s cover model, is the first Chinese national to be featured. By putting Gong alongside previous cover models like Sharon Stone, Joan Chen, and Meg Ryan, Psychologies acknowledges her international stature. Inside, there’s an interview with Gong in which the magazine tries to suss out the roots of her independent spirit.
The September issue comes with a supplement that contains a couple of self-scored personality tests and a few personal confessions, all translated from French, liberally illustrated with stock photos of couples at various relationship stages.
Ads for the issue have been put up on billboards across Beijing, but the supplement that is show in the ads is slightly different from the one you receive when you purchase the magazine.
On the left is the cover of the actual supplement, “Handbook for Sexual Communication” (性·沟通手册). Subtitled “work together for better passion,” it has a number of eye-catching teasers: “sex test for two people,” “discover your ‘sexual’ temperament,” and “sexual confidence increases during school.”
On the right is the version that appears on billboards. All references to “sex” have been removed, from the background photo to every occurence of the character 性. The supplement is now a “Handbook for Love Communication” (情爱·沟通手册), and is subtitled “work together for better love.” The teaser line only promises a “test for two people,” but none of the other risque stuff. The title of the supplement has even been changed on the billboard version of the main magazine as well (sorry, no photo available).
The last red line on the cover advertises “Those questions that we don’t really want to ask”; for Psychologies, there are some questions that they don’t really want to advertise.
- Psychologies (Chinese): Interview with Gong Li
- Psychologies front cover image from Tom