Cons: Coverage not always in- depth, because so many topics are covered
The Bottom Line: Esquire is inexpensive and provides good entertainment for men. Many women will enjoy it, too, especially the fashion articles and male models.
Esquire is a men’s magazine that features a wide variety of subjects that are of interest to the male species. This magazine is published monthly and it has been with a circulation for more than 70 years, with a subscription base of about 670,000 people.
What Does This Magazine Offer:
Like most magazines, Esquire has its share of both regular monthly columns along with articles that change from issue to issue. Some of the featured monthly sections include:
The Sound and the Fury- This is Esquire’s “letters to the editor” section. It includes letters from readers that relate to the previous month’s issue.
Contributors- Esquire includes special writers/contributors in each month issue. On this page, they let you know who these guest contributors are, what they contributed to the issue, and they include a photograph of each.
Editor’s Letter- This is a monthly, one- page article written by Esquire’s chief editor, David Granger. It’s usually a summary of the magazine and its contents, with special notes about anything unusual or interesting.
Man at His Best- This is actually a series of short articles that include an occasional interview, advice on new books to read, new merchandise to buy, fashion to purchase, etc.
The Game- Here, you will find interviews on something related to sports. It could be an interview with an NHL player, an article about the corporate sponsorship of sports teams, or a general article about college sports and university athletics.
Sex- No men’s magazine would be complete if there wasn’t any mention of sex! In this area, you will find questions and answers to a variety of sexual questions, submitted by readers to the magazine’s sex expert, Stacey Grenrock Woods. The questions can cover almost any subject or issue. Sometimes, the answers given are practical and useful, other times they are hilarious and will tickle your funny bone.
Esquire tries to mix up its journalistic offerings by printing articles on a wide range of topics. Each issue usually includes at least one interview with a Hollywood celebrity, singer, political figure, or some other famous person. You are likely to see other interesting articles, too, some of which are political, some relating to sports, some to travel, and some to trendy products and fashion.
Esquire has other columns that pop up every now and then, but are not necessarily found in every issue. This would include columns on movies, music, travel, and other areas that are of interest to men.
Cost of This Magazine:
Esquire is one of America’s least expensive magazines. The cover price is $3.00, but a one- year subscription carries a standard fee of $10 or $16 for two years. However, this is a base rate. It’s very easy to go on- line and find deals that are even better. I have found this magazine selling for as little as $7.95 per year. That’s less than 67 cents per issue, making Esquire a steal!
Final Thoughts:
Esquire is a very good magazine with a talented staff of excellent writers and photographers. The magazine is designed to appeal to the more upscale, more highly educated man. Articles cover a wide range of topics, from fashion, to politics, to health, to food & drink, to sports, to travel, to sex. Most of the articles are short, but you can count on finding a few lengthy pieces of journalism, and typically at least one interview with a well- known public figure.
Fashion is one of the many components of Esquire and although the magazine prides itself in the fact that it covers a wide range of male topics, I think fashion is the one that is most emphasized. Each issue is loaded with advertisements for men’s fashion. The first 6 to 10 pages of each copy are dedicated to a specific men’s clothing operation. You see these ads before you even see the table of contents. More fashion ads are scattered throughout the magazine, and they usually consist of multiple pages of men modeling various articles of clothing. Much of it is quite expensive, too. It’s not uncommon to find ads here for clothing retailing in the thousands of dollars. Other advertisements in Esquire center around topics of interest to men who like to live the good life. You won’t find ads for things like Coca- Cola, Ford Escorts, Wal- Mart, or Bud Light. These products are not consistent with the “upscale” audience that Esquire targets. Instead, you will find ads for things like expensive liquor, French champagne, fancy cigars, sporty automobiles, and other indulgence/vice merchandise. Image is everything, and Esquire doesn’t believe in compromising this image with its choice of advertisements.
Esquire is printed on quality paper and with quality binding (no staples), and it has a very professional look to it. One thing that might bother some readers is the varying length of each issue. Some month’s issues are only 120 pages or so in length, while others are twice as long. I have noticed that, when an issue is longer, it’s usually because of additional space for advertising. In a shorter issue, about 25 percent of the pages are covered with ads. In the longer issues, the advertisements can easily make up 50 percent or more of the total pages. Most of the ads are in the front half of the magazine so if you get tired of looking at men dressed in $2,000 suits, you can flip to the back of the magazine where you won’t see quite so many ads.
I enjoy the articles in Esquire. The writers are very good, with several of them using humor as the main ingredient of their journalism. Others are more serious. The writers provide a good level of balance and with so many different topics (cars, food, drink, politics, etc.) available in each issue to read, you can skip over those that are less appealing and concentrate on the ones that suit your interests. Many short articles involve lists, with such titles as "10 things you shouldn’t say to a woman on a first date”, or "7 reasons to be optimistic about the economy”. Again, you don’t know whether there will be a humorous twist or a serious take on the issue at hand until you read the article.
Another thing that adds to the appeal of Esquire is (as mentioned above) its bargain price. A 12- month subscription sells for as low as $7.95, which is about the same price as a six- pack of good beer (Hmmm…a six- pack or a magazine subscription? I have to think about this one). How many magazines provide this much good reading for such a ridiculously low price? A price this low places Esquire in the same category as magazines like Car & Driver and a few others- quality magazines that are so inexpensive, you almost feel obligated to subscribe.
Esquire is a men’s magazine, but I can see how it would also have a certain degree of appeal to women. In fact, it would be safe to say that Esquire is a men’s magazine for women. It doesn’t include any nudity, even though there is some occasional profanity. There are lots of fashion articles and photos of male models, both of which would appeal to women. And many of the articles are written by women, providing a distinctly female perspective on everything from sex to food to clothing.
In summary, Esquire is a quality magazine that most everyone will enjoy, to one degree or another. And with a price of less than $8.00 for 12 issues, it’s almost stupid not to subscribe. Sign up today, and experience man at his best!
12 issues - Esquire is designed as a forum to deal with the changing role of the American male in today's society. This monthly magazine will appeal t...More at SubscriptionAddiction.com
12 issues - Esquire is designed as a forum to deal with the changing role of the American male in today's society. This monthly magazine will appeal t...More at SpeedyMags.com
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2008 Shopping.com, Inc.