The Jolie Factor

Yesterday, Dana Goldstein observed that "Esquire's August 2007 cover featuring John Edwards was its worst seller of the year. Angelina Jolie, on the other hand, flew off the newsstands." According to Dana, "Esquire readers may not be all that interested in politics, but at least Esquire has attempted to cover the biggest election of our generation" in contrast to the major women's magazines. This whole line of thinking seems confused. For one thing, the August Esquire obviously sold poorly because Matt Yglesias was featured in GQ that month. For another thing, there's no doubt in my mind that Esquire readers were drawn to the Jolie cover primarily out of interest for her work with UNCHR, the ONE Campaign, and other such endeavors. Well, probably not. But still, her work on global poverty and refugee issues is noteworthy and admirable, there are worse people to be on the covers of our magazines.

This article available online at:

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2008/04/the-jolie-factor/44107/