Though I would go one stage further and say that 'using sex to sell' has been momentarily replaced by a new form of nudity and body focus - 'distortion sells' - as evidenced by the text on this Vogue, and by the Vanity Fair coverline stating why we should be interested about the concept of Jessica Simpson.
It's not about the simple and glorious sight of someone's boobs any more, it's a lot more neurotic than that. Because these are felt to be desperate times in the magazine industry, the tabloid tactics - and subject matter - these editors once considered themselves 'above' are now heavily incorporated into their own survival strategies, thinly clothed in a Vogue veneer.
It's difficult to precisely communicate what I'm trying to say because it veers into subject matter we aren't supposed to discuss outright, so my words are tied - but I don't find the coverline focus on the subject to be at all edifying, although it probably will spark some appeal on the newsstand. It's a commercial exploitation of the dark side of people's interest, whereas before, such magazines at least tried to stay on the right side of how to sell the subject to their readers.
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