I opened my newest issue of Cooking Light (March 2006) and, in
amongst some delicious sounding recipes for barbecue meatloaf and sour cream scones, I found a coupon section. Though
it is affixed to the spine of the magazine, the perforated coupon sheets are nearly identical to the type that I find
in my Sunday paper. I admit that coupons are useful - because I'm not going to turn down an extra $1 off my next
OceanSpray purchase - but I still don't like the idea of such overt
advertising in my magazine. The size of each issue seems to increase by several pages - aren't they selling enough full
page ads? I can't decide whether this speaks to the magazine's need to increase its revenue, a loss of newspaper readers
or simply the fact that advertisers now believe that a coupon sheet in Cooking Light is the best way to reach potential
consumers. Only time will tell if this will work for the magazine or the advertiser, I suppose, but I'd rather keep my
reading material free of punch-out coupons.
[Photo by Nicole Weston]
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