Glamour‘s Cindi Leive Gambles on Big Model; Wins Bigger

In the realm of women’s magazine, readers have grown accustomed to page after page of faultless models airbrushed to oblivion — unblemished and rail thin, with nary an extra hair, crease or pound. So imagine the shock when ladies thumbing through the September issue of Glamour happened upon page 194 and saw model Lizzi Miller, in all of her size 12-14 glory.

One reader called the shot of the normal-sized girl, the “most amazing photograph I’ve ever seen in any women’s magazine,” and Editor in Chief Cindi Leive assured readers, “Trust me, Glamour‘s listening.” Women’s blog Jezebel was also listening, as were Newsweek and The Today Show, among countless other media outlets commenting on the 3-inch x 3-inch photo. The average American woman is, after all, a size 14 and to see this reality reflected in a glossy magazine — even if relegated to a story about body acceptance — is a small victory worth lauding.

But with the conversation successfully stoked, the real winner in all of this is Glamour and its editrix Leive. As expected, the mag and its chief have seen their buzz skyrocket as a result of the popular stunt, so much so that Leive jumped 13 spots on our Power Grid rankings, landing at #4 among magazine editors. Her sizable leap can be attributed to a surge in blog, Google and news presence, a welcome blast of attention for a title in the struggling Conde Nast universe. Still, no amount of topical relevance can equal the cultural cachet of general goodwill from your magazine’s readers.

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