Nice interview with Maxim EIC Jimmy Jellinek where he differentiates the "increasingly upscale"Maxim man from a reader of GQ:

I think it's someone who's a lot more honest about themselves than the GQ reader who's trying to delude themselves into some sort of aspirational lifestyle, completely unattainable. The Maxim lifestyle is attainable for everybody. I feel the GQ lifestyle is something you can't necessarily attain, you can aspire to [it] but you're never really going to get to [it] because the average guy can't afford anything in the magazine. Maxim is useful and something that pertains to a man's life.

There's also an interesting bit of information on how cover models are chosen:

We do a tremendous amount of research, testing, polling, focus groups to see which women resonate with our readership. This is a huge, tremendous business we're running. We only have 12 covers a year, so you can't just go with your gut.

Yeah, we always suspected the decision was made about three inches lower.

King of Maxim [REDEYE]

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