Maxim (magazine)

Maxim

April 2014 Maxim cover
Editor-in-chief Sardar Biglari[1]
Categories Men's
Frequency Monthly
Publisher Biglari Holdings
Total circulation
(June 2013)		 2,001,935[2]
Country 16 Editions in 75 Countries
Language English, many others
Website maxim.com
ISSN 1092-9789

Maxim is an international men's magazine, devised and launched in the UK in 1995, but based in New York since 1997, and prominent for its photography of actresses, singers, and female models whose careers are at a current peak. Maxim has a circulation of about 9 million readers each month. Maxim Digital reaches more than 4 million unique viewers each month. Maxim magazine publishes 16 editions, sold in 75 countries worldwide.

History

Maxim has expanded into many other countries, including Australia.

In 1999, MaximOnline.com (now maxim.com) was created. It contains content not included in the print version and focuses on the same general topics, along with exclusive sections such as the "Girls of Maxim" galleries and the "Joke of the Day". "Maxim Video" contains video clips of interviews, music videos, photo shoots, and original content.

On February 5, 2005, Maxim Radio, featuring male-oriented talk programming, debuted on Sirius Satellite Radio. Following the Sirius-XM merger in late 2008, the Maxim brand was dropped, and the channel is now known as Sirius XM Stars Too.

On June 5, 2006, the magazine announced plans to build a casino on the Las Vegas Strip north of Circus Circus, but the casino plan failed after local condominium owners complained that the proposed casino would ruin their view. The land was sold to MGM Mirage.[3]

On June 15, 2007, private equity firm Quadrangle Group, along with long-time media executive Kent Brownridge, announced the acquisition of the parent company of Maxim, Blender, Stuff and MaximOnline.com in the United States, under the name Alpha Media Group. As of April 23, 2009 Dennis Publishing has announced that it will no longer continue producing a print edition of Maxim in the UK, though the website for the UK version will remain.

In July 2009, Maxim partnered with the UFC for the first-ever Maxim UFC Octagon Girl Search at the UFC Fan Expo.[4] 40 girls participated in the contest, and the winner was Natasha Wicks.[5]

Quadrangle Group gave up on its investment in Alpha Media Group in August 2009, making Cerberus Capital Management the majority partner. In 2013, Alpha announced the sale of Maxim to the newly created Darden Media Group, but Darden was unable to raise the money.[6][7] Calvin Darden, Jr. was later charged with fraud relating to the transaction.[8]

Between 2010 and 2012, Maxim eliminated two issues, going from 12 issues a year to just ten, and decreased its circulation numbers by 20 percent, from a reported 2.5 million to only 2 million.[9]

Maximum Warrior debuted in 2011, as an online reality competition that tests ten of America's most elite military operators in ten military-inspired challenges. The videos are available online and on the Maxim app on Xbox Live.[10] Several episodes feature Dakota Meyer, Maxim's Military Advisor.[11] Maximum Warrior is produced by Grand Street Media.[12]

On February 27, 2014, Maxim was bought by entrepreneur Sardar Biglari. He is the founder of Biglari Holdings and Biglari Capital. As the new owner he commented, "We plan to build the business on multiple dimensions, thereby energizing our readership and viewership." In January 2016, Biglari officially took over as Editor-in-Chief of Maxim, though a Maxim staffer said that the new masthead title just formalizes what has always been clear: Biglari exercises full editorial control over Maxim. At one point last year, the staffer said, he decided to throw out a nearly-complete version of the December issue in order to completely redesign the magazine.[13] On January 13, 2016 Gilles Bensimon joined Biglari as a special creative director. "What drew me to Maxim was Sardar's vision for the brand," said Bensimon.[14]

The September 2015 issue, featured actor Idris Elba on its cover, marking the first time that the magazine didn't use a woman.[15]

Events and controversies

The Black Crowes

In 2004 the Gender Issues Centre, an on-campus feminist organization at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ontario, protested an on-campus "Thunder Bay Boob Idol" event sponsored by Maxim and Coors Light. The Centre described Maxim as consisting of "sexist bravado and racist imagery".[16] In 2006, Alok Jha of The Guardian criticized Maxim for encouraging excessive alcohol consumption and sexual objectification of women.[17]

In June 2007, Israeli diplomat David Saranga invited Maxim to the country. In what came to be known as "beers and babes", the magazine did photo shoots of near-naked Israeli women who serve in the army. The campaign drew an angry reaction from lawmaker Colette Avital, a former diplomat who served as Israel's consul-general in New York City in the 1990s.[18] Prof. John H. Brown of Georgetown University described the spread as the first event in a new branch of public diplomacy.[19]

In February 2008, Maxim was criticized by the rock band The Black Crowes for rating their upcoming CD, Warpaint, without hearing the entire album.[20] Black Crowes manager Pete Angelus said, "Maxim's actions seem to completely lack journalistic integrity and intentionally mislead their readership." According to Crowes, the magazine stated in an email that "Of course, we always prefer to [sic] hearing music, but sometimes there are big albums that we don’t want to ignore that aren’t available to hear, which is what happened with the Crowes. It’s either an educated guess preview or no coverage at all, so in this case we chose the former." The magazine's editorial director James Kaminsky later apologized, stating "It is Maxim's editorial policy to assign star ratings only to those albums that have been heard in their entirety. Unfortunately, that policy was not followed in the March 2008 issue of our magazine and we apologize to our readers."[21] Facing more criticism over rating albums without listening to them, Maxim magazine maintains it was previewing CDs in its March 2008 issue, not reviewing them, and the mistake was to include star ratings.[22]

International editions

Further information: Maxim (India)

Maxim has launched international editions of its magazines since 1995. Most recently it has launched its 26th and 27th international[23] editions in Serbia and Greece where it is published by Attica Media. Notably, the magazine has been circulating editions in South Korea, Indonesia, India, Japan, the United States, France, Russia,[24][25] Turkey, Serbia, Greece,[26] Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Canada, Poland, Brazil, the Philippines (defunct), Germany, Mexico and Argentina.

Celebrity profiles

Hilary Duff
Mary Elizabeth Winstead
Hannah Davis

Many female celebrities (singers, actresses, models, etc.) have posed for Maxim over the years. Examples include:

Singers

Film actresses

Models

Maxim Hot 100

Each year since 2000 Maxim has released the Maxim Hot 100. The winners and their corresponding ages and the year in which the magazine was released are listed below.

Year Choice Age Notes
2000 Canada Estella Warren   21 [27]
2001 United States Jessica Alba   20 Youngest winner.[28]
2002 United States Jennifer Garner   30 First time anyone has debuted on the list at number one.[29]
2003 United States Christina Aguilera   22 [30]
2004 United States Jessica Simpson   24 [31]
2005 United States Eva Longoria   30 [32]
2006 United States Eva Longoria   31 First and only woman to win twice (in a row). / Oldest winner.[33]
2007 United States Lindsay Lohan   21 [34]
2008 United States Marisa Miller   29 Second time anyone has debuted on the list at number one.[35]
2009 United States Olivia Wilde   25 [36]
2010 United States Katy Perry   25 [37]
2011 United Kingdom Rosie Huntington-Whiteley   24 Third time anyone has debuted on the list at number one.[38]
2012 Israel Bar Refaeli   26 [39]
2013 United States Miley Cyrus   20 [40]
2014 South Africa Candice Swanepoel   25
2015 United States Taylor Swift   25
2016 United States Jennifer Lawrence   25

See also

References

  1. ↑ Steigrad, Alexandra (January 13, 2016). "Maxim Taps Gilles Bensimon as Special Creative Adviser".
  2. ↑ "eCirc for Consumer Magazines". Alliance for Audited Media. June 30, 2013. Retrieved November 15, 2013.
  3. ↑ Stutz, Howard (April 19, 2007). "MGM buys parcels for new center". Las Vegas Review-Journal. pp. A1+A8.
  4. ↑ "UFC and Maxim Partner Up For the First-Ever Octagon Girl Search at UFC Fan Expo". MMAWaves.com.
  5. ↑ "Maxim UFC Octagon Girl Search Highlight Video". MMAWaves.com.
  6. ↑ "Darden Media Group Buys Maxim from Alpha Media Group". Folio:.
  7. ↑ "Darden not Alpha enough to nail Maxim mag". New York Post. December 20, 2013.
  8. ↑ Adam Samson. "Man Charged in Scheme to Fraudulently Buy Maxim Magazine". Fox Business.
  9. ↑ "Maxim Cuts Circulation 20% | Media - Advertising Age". Adage.com. 2012-09-21. Retrieved 2014-02-21.
  10. ↑ "Premium Partners - News Releases". Premiumpartners.atk.com. 2013-10-03. Retrieved 2014-02-21.
  11. ↑ "Dakota Meyer Joins Maxim as Military Advisor". Maxim. Retrieved 2014-02-21.
  12. ↑ "Action! – Wheaton Quarterly". Wheatoncollege.edu. Retrieved 2014-02-21.
  13. ↑ "Maxim to name owner Sardar Biglari editor in chief".
  14. ↑ Alexandra Steigrad. "Maxim Taps Gilles Bensimon as Special Creative Adviser". WWD.
  15. ↑ Hyland, Véronique (2015-08-04). "Idris Elba Makes Men’s History, Covers Maxim". New York Magazine.
  16. ↑ Ende, Margi (December 7, 2004). "Discriminating tastes, discriminating 'boobs'". Retrieved November 25, 2015.
  17. ↑ Jha, Alok (March 30, 2006). "Lad Culture Corrupts Men as much as it Debases Women". The Guardian.
  18. ↑ Friedman, Matti (June 20, 2007). "Maxim Features Models From Israeli Army". Associated Press.
  19. ↑ Public Diplomacy Goes 'Pubic', John H. Brown, University of Southern California public diplomacy site, July 11, 2007.
  20. ↑ "Maxim Magazine reviews album without hearing it". blackcrowes.com. Archived from the original on February 25, 2008. Retrieved 2008-02-23.
  21. ↑ "Maxim Apologizes for Black Crowes Review". Archived from the original on March 2, 2008. Retrieved 2008-02-26.
  22. ↑ "Maxim: Whole reviewing mess a 'mistake'". Archived from the original on February 29, 2008. Retrieved 2008-02-28.
  23. ↑
  24. ↑ "Russia's "sexy spy" in provocative photoshoot". Reuters. October 19, 2010. Retrieved 2010-11-11.
  25. ↑ "Russian spy Anna Chapman blows her cover for men's magazine". News.com.au. October 19, 2010. Retrieved 2010-11-11.
  26. ↑ May, Kevin (May 13, 2005). "Maxim ready for Serbian, Turk and Greek launch". Media Week. Haymarket. Retrieved 2010-11-11.
  27. ↑ "The 2000 Hot 100 List". April 13, 2009. Retrieved 2011-05-06.
  28. ↑ "The 2014 Hot 100 List". April 16, 2014. Retrieved 2014-05-29.
  29. ↑ "The 2002 Hot 100 List". April 20, 2009. Retrieved 2011-05-06.
  30. ↑ "The 2003 Hot 100 List". April 22, 2009. Retrieved 2011-05-06.
  31. ↑ "The 2004 Hot 100 List". April 27, 2009. Retrieved 2011-05-06.
  32. ↑ "2005 Hot 100". May 1, 2009. Retrieved 2011-05-06.
  33. ↑ "The 2006 Hot 100 List". May 4, 2009. Retrieved 2011-05-06.
  34. ↑ "2007 Hot 100 List". May 6, 2009. Retrieved 2011-05-06.
  35. ↑ "2008 Hot 100 List". May 20, 2009. Retrieved 2011-05-11.
  36. ↑ "2009 Hot 100". June 5, 2009. Retrieved 2011-05-06.
  37. ↑ "2010 Hot 100". May 5, 2010. Retrieved 2011-05-06.
  38. ↑ "2011 Hot 100". May 3, 2011. Retrieved 2011-05-06.
  39. ↑ Hughes, Sarah Anne (May 22, 2012). "Bar Refaeli, Naya Rivera and Stephen Colbert make Maxim’s ‘Hot 100’ list". The Washington Post. Retrieved May 23, 2012.
  40. ↑ "Miley Cyrus Hot Pics & Sexy Photos | Girls of Maxim". Maxim.com. Retrieved 2014-02-21.

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