Happy East, Err, Wait. Why "Esquire"?

It's no secret magazines are hurting. Sales are sluggish, attention spans are short and bloggers are a bitch (self-included).

In turn publications go to lengths to get you to buy. Some unnecessarily use headlines that scream, while others shell out millions so you can ogle famous infants. Most attempts are lackluster, transparent and dubiously effective in the long-run.

Come September, Esquire will jump on the bandwagon and join the WTF?-Were--You-Thinking Club.

To commemorate its 75th anniversary, 100,000 copies of Esquire will come equipped with an electronic cover; and a special battery, powering the blinking front that will flash the words "the 21st Century Begins Now.”

Forget that Esquire is going to have to provide something substantive to back up that claim, it just kinda seems like a stupid, pointless, gimmick. And an overly-ambitious one at that.

I picture garishly, defective covers, with half of the bulb things burned out, so the title reads "21 Cent gin Now" or something. (Mmm jelly donut gin & tonic.)

To its credit, the cover is not entirely an aim for financial gain. According to NYT, David Granger, Esquire editor-in-chief, "hopes" it will wind up "in the Smithsonian."

I guess we'll see. But the batteries supposedly stop working after about 90 days; which sounds about as fun as a dead goldfish floating in the heel of a giant platform shoe. Museum material?

Also, this idea would have been a lot cooler back in 2000, you know, when we were actually welcoming the 21st century.

I don't know. Maybe the peeps at Esquire didn't get the-Justin-Timberlake-Failed-to-Bring-the-Sexy-Back memo. Otherwise they would have known. It was already here, without him.

Info. via Jossip and NYT.
Images via Joanna's Space and Shoes 180.