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AIBU?

to think OK magazine has plumbed new depths of shitness?

36 replies

DirtyMartini · 14/02/2011 20:19

The cover fom this past week's issue caught my eye in the shops yesterday and it's been stewing in a corner of my mind. I think it's a new low. (Which is saying something, cos OK were the ones that published a black-edged "memorial" issue for Jade Goody the week before she died.)

SO what they have done is put a photo of Amanda Holden in one corner looking pale and serious, with a strapline saying that she is devastated at losing her baby.

Above that is same size pap photo of V Beckham with approximate headline "Victoria's joy: it's a girl!"

Above that is same size posed photo of K Katona plus random man, broad grins, saying "We're madly in love and I'm pregnant!" (NB this is not actually true , because what they have done is quote something out of context to pull in readers ... so, TOTALLY unnecessary "headline" by anyone's terms, as article inside is not about pregnancy in any way)

Beside all of them is massive main photo of Kym Marsh, smiling and radiantly pregnant, with several straplines mentioning eg "my baby girl would have died without doctor's help" and "I'll never have another baby".

I know it is a piece-of-shit rag, but this juxtaposition of not one but THREE other headlines about successful pregnancies seems actually quite cruel. Not just to Amanda Holden, who I'm sure is not in any state to even fucking take notice of what OK shitzine is saying, but also to anyone reading it who has lost a baby.

I know people will say "it's only OK, ignore" but I do think it is worth getting pissed off about (if only in passing, because I am lucky enough not to have any relevant personal experience). The gossip mag culture is so destructive and so everywhere. RRRRRAAAHHHHH

ok, vent over. Shake it out, shake it out. But AIBU to think it's piss poor?

OP posts:

Report

Nomorerain · 14/02/2011 20:24

Agree, but we all know these people don't give a shiny shite who they offend.

DirtyMartini · 14/02/2011 20:25

och I know, I know. I just hate that this is "fair game".

I thought they used to at least feign a sympathetic attitude to people who are struck by tragedy, no?

OP posts:

TotemPole · 14/02/2011 20:25

YANBU, it's very insensitive & cruel of the them.

unsurevalentine · 14/02/2011 20:26

YABU to read OK or care about it.

TotemPole · 14/02/2011 20:28

I just hate that this is "fair game".

I agree. I don't support that attitude that the press have. I don't think everyone in the public eye is fair game.

muggglewump · 14/02/2011 20:28

YANBU, but then sleb mags are shit.

I used to read them, I used to buy Heat every week and still like the sleb gossip, but I don't buy the mags anymore.

tralalala · 14/02/2011 20:28

they are fucking horrible

DastardlyandSmuttily · 14/02/2011 20:29

I have to say I stood like a guppy for about 5 minutes looking at this with sort of carcrash-fascination when I saw it in Smiths the other day, then dismissed it as 'maybe that's what they do these days'

YANBU at all. Hideous new lows.

DirtyMartini · 14/02/2011 20:29

I don't fucking read OK I saw it in a shop.

But you think IABU to recognize/notice and care about the nastier elements of popular culture? Really?

I think it matters. I honestly do.

OP posts:

DirtyMartini · 14/02/2011 20:30

sorry, that last reply was to a post further up.

So it's not just me then. phew

OP posts:

Nomorerain · 14/02/2011 20:34

You're right. It does matter. You can only hope that more people realise this and be put off from buying it - ever again.

GetOrfMoiLand · 14/02/2011 20:40

I too saw that - I cannot help but be amazed how they twist the headlines esp. re Kerry Katona 'i'm pregnant' shite.

Can you imagine how Amanda Holden feels. And why did the editor not have a twinge of pity for the woman (hang on, he works for Desmond, any compassion he has would have been forcibly removed).

OK really plumbs the depths, imo.

smokinaces · 14/02/2011 20:47

I saw this in Debenhams the other day and was shocked. In fact the assistant (it was empty) and I grabbed a copy and were saying how awful a) the KK stupid story was and b) how bad the front cover was.

OK didnt use to be like this did it? it really seems to have gone downhill.

BeatriceLaBranche · 14/02/2011 20:47

Gets people talking, which ultimately is the goal.

Any publicity is good publicity, no?

saffy85 · 14/02/2011 20:56

YANBU.

Most things are fair game as far as celebrities go- dodgy outfits, diva behaviour, getting caught with your pants down etc. Report all you want. But a person's death is not fair game imo, whether it is someone's precious much longed for baby or the media savvy Jade Goody.

It isn't just "the latest gossip" there are people grieving for what or who they have lost.

HollyBollyBooBoo · 14/02/2011 20:57

The worst I ever saw was on People magazine in Canada, on front page it said 'Kendra loses baby Hank', and a picture of Kendra crying. Now my first thought was that losing meant he'd died! You read the article and it was that her baby was living with his Dad on one side of the States whilst she was working in LA. To me that was just a shockingly deceptive headline.

squeakytoy · 14/02/2011 21:00

Absolutely not being unreasonable.

The DM was just as bad today, giving a low down on how grief stricken Amanda is (understandably.. we hardly need a fecking article about it). ... and below that a photo of her taken a few weeks ago showing the baby bump...how fucking insensitive is that... the poor woman and her family do not need to keep seeing those photos to remind them.

I noticed the Kerry Katona headline and scan read it while I was waiting at the till as it was for sale at the checkout, and wondered if that headline breached some sort of false advertising. (although it wouldnt have surprised me for it to be true with that daft bint)

saggybaps · 14/02/2011 22:25

YANBU - total pile of tosh/ twaddle featuring utter muppets (Andre/ Katona/ Price). Sinking to gutter sensationalism to flog a load of senseless, pointless shite.

Can't bear the sodding mag.

ImFab · 14/02/2011 22:26

Where did the Kerry in love with Dan and up the spout come from?

Valpollicella · 14/02/2011 22:31

I'll bet (and this is not in defence by any means) that the other baby stories were part of the whole cover.

Once Amanda's very sorry news emerged I reckon they got rid of a story to fit it in. They wouldn't have wanted to trash the whole front page, so fitted it in, juxtaposing it horribly with the other three stories

DirtyMartini · 15/02/2011 09:33

You are probably right, Val. If that is the case, though, I think they could have at the VERY least changed the text under the Kerry Katona photo to something that didn't refer to pregnancy. Given that she's not even in a relationship with the guy and it is all just a plug for a stupid ice skating show.

ImFab -- I think the Kerry quote was something along the lines of her saying "The tabloids would have you believe we're madly in love and I'm pregnant!" and then they took part of that and put it out of context in the most misleading way possible.

I am purely speculating. I haven't read the article. They do this ALL the time though; it's quite specific to OK amongst all of the gossip rags to present quotes in such a way that they give you the exact opposite idea of what's true. It's like a game they play with their readers, coming as close to blatant falsehood as possible whilst still falling back on the fact that those words were actually spoken in the interview text. (I know because I used to read these mags as a kind of guilty pleasure ... but I don't any more because I've decided they are so fucking bad I don't want any part of 'em)

OP posts:

52Girls · 15/02/2011 09:41

Write to the editor. I did once and got a reply when I complianed about false headlines on the front of OK. I used to buy it yrs ago but this sort of thing put me off. I wouldn't line the budgie's cage with it now...(if I had a budgie!)

noeyedear · 15/02/2011 09:43

In my defence, I was in hospital and they only had rubbish like OK magazine around to read, but I did read the article and it was exactly what Dirtymartini said! She said jokingly 'yes, we're in love and I'm expecting triplets ha ha'

Anything that has anything to do with Richard Desmond and his porn empire is going to be salacious rot. You only have to look at his 'newspapers' to see what absolute untrue rubbish he is somehow allowed to get away with!

wellwisher · 15/02/2011 09:45

YANBU. I'm surprised that Kym Marsh agreed to talk to them at this stage to be honest; I think I'd feel like I was tempting fate, but some of these so-called celebs will do anything for money.

MadameOvary · 15/02/2011 09:49

I used to buy Heat, too, and read OK and Hello in doc's waiting rooms, now I don't bother, they are such vapid shite I'd rather not waste my money.
If I feel the need for some shallow sleb nonsense I read the DM online (I suspect a lot of MNers do, but would never admit it)

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