Surge in Images of Black and Hispanic Women on US Magazine Covers

By Jeffrey Blyth - Press Gazette / American Pie, December 6. 2002.




American women's magazines still rarely feature black models or actresses on their covers because conservative publishers fear they may hurt their news-stand sales. But a change may be coming. A survey of over 400 covers of more than 30 magazines showed that last year one in five featured black or Hispanic people, nearly double what it was five years ago But it's not the same for men. Black males are seen rarely except on the covers of sports or music magazines. Only teenage magazines seem to be blind to the colour barrier. They use many more black celebrities - as many as 25 per cent - on their covers.