With lacy bras, glowing golden skin and pouty, sultry stares, Stuff magazine covers are hardly known for their headlines.

But beyond the makeup and underwear of the publication’s pin-up photos rests the many criteria – and headaches – of selecting and scheduling the scantily clad celebrities who will grace the magazine’s cover.

Mike Hammer, the magazine’s editor in chief, spoke last night to students of the course Celebrity Journalism: Beyond the Red Carpet, or TRF 500. He discussed the qualifications and dilemmas of selecting cover models and offered insight into the inner workings of the magazine.

The selection of the cover model is especially important, Hammer said, because the cover is what attracts people to buy the magazine off the newsstand, and unlike most magazines, Stuff’s survival depends on newsstand sales, as opposed to subscription sales. If an issue flies off newsstand shelves, advertisers pay attention, Hammer said, and will continue to purchase ads – but a person will only buy the magazine if he or she sees a cover model that attracts attention.

‘We follow the three second rule,’ Hammer said. ‘We have three seconds to capture their attention. The cover model is the biggest sell of all.’

In his simple PowerPoint presentation of the top 10 qualifications for selecting cover talent at Stuff magazine, Hammer explained that the featured women must not only be attractive, but somehow relevant to the target audience of 1.3 million readers of mostly men between the ages of 18 to 26. The cover models must also be women who are easily recognizable.

‘But make sure they’re not overexposed,’ Hammer said, as a recent FHM cover of a tight-abed Anna Nicole Smith appeared on the projector screen.

Hammer then clicked to a cover shot of Jennifer Lopez, clad only in ruffled pink boy-short underwear, her back to the reader.

‘Make sure that they – or their caboose – is huge,’ Hammer said, adding that the J-Lo cover issue remains Stuff’s best-selling issue.

Unlike Maxim or rival magazine FHM, Stuff also looks for celebrities who are a bit on the fringe of the culture, or about to break through, like Kelly Carlson from ‘Nip/Tuck.’ Celebrities such as Kirsten Dunst or Mischa Barton of ‘The O.C.’ would never agree to do a Stuff or Maxim cover, Hammer said, because they’re trying to promote a sophisticated image of being the next Audrey Hepburn. The women who pose for Stuff, or any magazine, have some sort of career interest in mind in making the decision. Sheryl Crow, who normally would not pose for a publication like Stuff, agreed to the cover shoot to attract younger listeners.

For women like Crow, who are not ‘super hot,’ Hammer said, photographers need to make them appear far more sexually attractive, Hammer said.

‘The strategy here is: make guys go up to the magazine and go, ‘Shit, is that really Sheryl Crow?” Hammer said.

Often, Hammer said, celebrities will create major headaches for the magazine. Jennifer Lopez once postponed her interview many times after the reporter flew out to meet with her. Then she secretly flew to Miami without letting him know. The magazine was forced to send the reporter to Miami, who waited a few more days before finally getting the interview.

‘She’s a sweet person,’ Hammer said, raising his eyebrows.

Women like Pamela Anderson and Carmen Electra are always popular with the magazine’s audiences, and, when other cover shoots fall through, they are the perennial backup, Hammer said.

‘They’re like smart bombs in Fallujah,’ Hammer said. ‘They’re not going to fail.’

Melissa Peterson, a junior public relations major, said she was impressed with Hammer’s explanations and enjoyed hearing from an actual editor in the field.

‘It was interesting to hear an editor in chief offer his point of view,’ Peterson said.

In response to one student question, Hammer said that slightly altering cover photos of the women is an accepted process in the magazine industry. After doing so, editors check with the celebrity’s publicist and the celebrity, and if they like it, the photo runs. Stuff will not enlarge breasts because that is often far too obvious a change, but it does tend to shave in the hips.

But Stuff is not misogynistic and does not objectify women, Hammer said. The entire culture features images of women in the same way, even in women’s magazines like Cosmopolitan and Glamour, Hammer said, so Stuff is not acting unusually.

‘We try to feature women who have something more relevant than lingerie,’ Hammer said.

Published on November 30, 2004 at 12:00 pm