A Health Magazine, and Health Knowledge

Unfortunately I can't access the full article, but this abstract briefly describes a study to test whether a health promotion magazine would make people provided the magazine more health conscious.

Can I get a "duh" from the audience?

They got a company to allow them to provide the magazine to its employees.  An initial questionnaire measured pre-existing health knowledge.  Following the distribution of the mags, there was an increase in employee knowledge about sugars in "fat free" foods, the benefits of fish oil, and other health nutrition stuff. 

There's good news here.  Knowledge in the pre-test was already high, and it improved.  What's missing, of course, is a control group, but I think we can safely say that when the boss says here's a magazine we're gonna put in front of you, employees will learn something from it.

Eighty-seven percent said they read the mag and "showed enthusiasm for continued delivery."  Yup, but ask 'em if they'd actually pay for it and watch 87 become 7.

Fewer Dying Mags

Lots of people still rely on magazines.  You know mags -- those paper things that show up in the mail once a week or once a month, those paper things you see on the racks at bookstores (where they also sell paper things called books).  There's good news on the magazine front, according to this story from AdWeek:

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Magazines aren't closing like they used to, but new ones aren't coming along as quickly any more either. 

The math looks good.  Publishers shut down 279 mags in the first half of last year.  This year publishers axed only 87 magazines.  Now a skeptic might say there were fewer mags left, so of course the number is smaller, but there are literally tens of thousands of magazines, most of which we never see.

Even while print closures ebb, a more modest pace for new launches suggests that a thinner competitive set will persist for many magazine categories. Ninety new magazines arrived in the first half of this year, down from 187 launches in the first half of 2009, MediaFinder said.