U.K. Magazine Says No More Models or Celebrities

British magazine Essentials has announced that there will be no more models or celebrities featured in the magazine. Oh, and airbrushing (you know, the process of taking a perfectly beautiful woman and photoshopping her into oblivion) has been banned from its cover, too. Instead, the women's magazine is embracing the oh-so-radical philosophy that women would like to look at and read about people other than the rich and famous. It is the first magazine in the U.K. to adopt such a policy.

Instead of the likes of Jennifer Aniston and Kate Moss, Essentials will feature everyday women on its cover and in its fashion and beauty spreads. The October issue will be the first published under this new approach. The issue will feature ten "ordinary" women, raging in age from 34-70 and from U.K. sizes 8-16 (U.S. sizes 6-14). You can see an image of the cover here. Jules Barton-Breck, editor of the magazine, said, "So many of these women look, and are, amazing that we wanted to celebrate them. "

Essentials decided on the editorial overhaul after surveying 5,000 women. Seventy percent said that they'd prefer non-celebrities on the cover. Nearly 75% of respondents claimed that so-called real women are more inspirational than celebrities, and almost as many said that they feel pressure from celebrities to live up to an impossible ideal.

So far, so good. I certainly applaud Essentials' efforts to celebrate a broader range of women. And, who doesn't feel good about less airbrushing? That said, I am a tad skeptical. I wonder how diverse the women featured will be. Already in the first issue, all of the women of color on the cover are actually behind the fold. Further, I bristle at the terms "real" and "normal" being used to describe women. The implication being that some women aren't real, aren't normal.

Finally, and perhaps cynically, I wonder whether this bold choice will actually be a solid business decision. It is one thing to say that you'd like less celebrities on the cover of your magazines, but it is another thing to make the decision to buy those glossies. In other words, I am skeptical that consumers will put their money where their idealist mouths are. I hope they do. Tell me: Faced with a magazine with dozens of choices, would Essentials catch your eye?

Photo credit: FLA*PESSOA