GQ Magazine advertising

I have been a subscriber to GQ Magazine for many years now. Actually, for more than half of my life to be more specific. Each month, I sift through everything - from the articles to the advertisements. The advertisements shed light into what trends are to come, which items and colours fashion designers and stores are promoting, and a sense of the economic abilities of the magazine's demographic. Usually, without fail, we see double page, glossy adverts from Prada, Gucci, Dior Homme, Ralph Lauren, Diesel, and many others. Sunglasses, eye glasses, shoes, cars, fragrances, and luxe travel.

But, in June 2009's US edition of the magazine, this is not the case. The adverts are boring, uninspiring, and old. My close fraternity brothers and I always joke about Dolce and Gabbana's "Light Blue" fragrance advertisement from the original campaign that includes the bronzed Italian man sunning himself on a yacht off the Italian Rivera, complete with speedo, unruly body hair, and sweat/grease. This ad is at least a year old, yet we're seeing the exact same campaign again. Same with Ralph Lauren's fragrance "Polo Blue".

It has been said that nothing in fashion is ever new. It's simply reinvented, reworked, or simply reproduced. Well one thing is for certain - either the marketing department accidentally mixed up the main advertisements for the magazine with that of an older issue, or the marketing gurus of many fashion houses took an extended vacation and simply reran old advertisements.

I'm disappointed. Don't get me wrong - I'm not expecting or even suggesting GQ to inundate the periodical with a multitude of advertisements. But, at least they can put something inspiring or something we can all aspire to have and incorporate into our own fashions.