The powers that be at Grand Central Station have decided to shield New York’s naïve commuters from the cover of FHM–this time covering up the physical attributes of World Wrestling Entertainment’s (WWE) Torrie Wilson, who appears on the September issue wearing a black bikini bottom and some coiled lengths of rope. The September issue, which went on sale in early August, is partially obscured by white sheets of paper in both the window display and the sales racks of the Hudson News retail outlet located on the east side of Grand Central’s main concourse.
This is the third month in a row that Grand Central Station’s management has deemed FHM’s cover too hot for full display. The July issue, featuring porn actress Tera Patrick, and the August issue, featuring swimmer Amanda Beard, were both partially obscured with white sheets of paper as well. A previous “Mag Bag” in MediaDailyNews mistakenly reported that the August issue had been wrapped in brown paper.
It’s unclear what effect, if any, such local actions have on the decisions of national advertisers–but lad mags in general have recently been struggling with declining ad pages and revenue. Like celebrity titles targeting teen girls, lad mags’ early success may have led to over-saturation of the market. Although neither were lad mags, the closing of shopping mag Cargo by Conde Nast and automotive interest title MPH by American Media Inc. (AMI) this spring seem to point to a certain, ahem, softness in the young male market.