She is their unrivaled cash cow and putting Connie Ferguson on a magazine cover make editors happy because they will not get any pressure from their respective boards.
Don't get me wrong, I love Connie Ferguson to bits but lately I find that Connie is on the cover of almost each and every magazine including those that are aimed at the White market. I repeatedly love Connie and I am one of the people who, every time there is a malicious rumour about her, quickly dismisses it saying until Connie comes out and say something, the whatever rumour shall be considered a lie. I am a fan of hers and unashamedly a groupie.
Archive picture of Connie and Shona from May 2008 issue of True Love
Now, having said that, I just have to be frank about this even though I'm a fan. Connie is a superstar and there is no doubt about that. The South African media has propelled her into a bigger superstar and Connie laveraged on this and built a succesful brand about herself. Without the media, Connie wouldn't be this mega-star she is today. She has millions of adoring fans in SA and somewhere else in the continent.
Now, getting to the gist of this article: It seems because the media made Connie a mega-star that she is, they are using her as their cash cow for their declining magazine sales. A Connie mag cover is a guranteed best seller on the shelves but are we being fed too much of Connie magazine covers? Let's take a closer look.
Publicity picture of The Wild from MNet
This year alone, Connie was on the cover of:
Real, I bought the copy just because Connie is on the cover and it was back in March. To this day, I will admit and say I still haven't found time to read the article. I bought the magazine out of the Connie brand loyalty and considering that Real costs a little just over ten rand, I just had to buy it, besides, I knew I would earn more brownie points with my girlfriend
The current issue of You Pulse is sold out because Connie is on the cover
Just last month, I again saw her on the cover of You Pulse, the mag costs nearly R30 and I just said to myself, this mags are for women and I'm not buying this one because you will find I will only enjoy the Connie article and the rest is about how to seduce a man and female fashion spreads so I just said nay, save your $ Makisto.
Connie enjoys special covers
As if that's not enough, I walk to CNA on Tuesday to see what the mags have on their covers this week and guess what? Yes, you guessed it right; Connie Ferguson on the cover of Women and Home! I was speechless.
When one assess this situation, it is clear Connie is still relevant and appeals to the new generation of magazine buyers across all genders. But shouldn't these magazines give us a Connie break?
Last year alone, Connie appeared in the Drum magazine for over 5 times including main features
Last year, Connie has been in almost every magazine aimed at Black people. When the news about her leaving Generations first broke, she was gagged but when her contract ended and left the soapie, she was free to talk. Then came the extensive magazine covers. It was the Move! magazine that first did the article with Connie dedicating it to her 17 years of Generations talking about Karabo's fashion, hair and all.
Move! magazine was first to cash in on the Karabo's tragic 17-year journey
A month later, it was the Drum magazine. They pretty much wrote about what we read in Move! so I decided not to buy the mag because there was nothing new they were going to tell us. As I browsed through the mag at CNA, I could see the article was almost a duplicate of the one I saw in Move!
tvplus magazine also followed by doing an 8-page feature Connie send-off including a wedding exclusive
Fast forward 30 October and Connie exits Generations. The very following Monday, the tvplus magazine had Connie on their cover. I was like jeepers creepers. However, I was pleasantly surprised because the magazine had some exclusive news about Karabo's wedding but they also followed the Move! lead of talking about Karabo's fashion and hair, much to my dismay.
However, it isn't unusual for magazines to feed us same stories every now and again. How many of you have read in newspapers and magazines that Sophie Ndaba grew up in an orphange in Zimbabwe? I remember I first read about the story back in 2003 in the Soul magazine but once again, the magazines repeated the info throughout the years with True Love back in 2009 titling their Sophie cover as "An Orphaned Queen"! This, I just wanted to show that magazines sometimes lack creativity and feed us same old stories all the time.
In 2009 and 2011 You magazine did Valentine specials on the love birds. In 2011, You simply reprinted the 2009 article
Then, You magazine this year (or last year) did a Valentine over on Connie and hubby Shona. Well, those are my fave couple and I bought the mag even though after reading, I felt they just simply repeated what they wrote on their 2009 cover with the couple.
Archive pic from True Love 2008: Connie was on December 2010 issue of Bona magazine
Connie and hubby were again on Soul cover in February last year.
Last year in November, Bona magazine did another Connie cover which was meant to celebrate Christmast. I browsed through the mag at Shoprite and I just simply couldn't waste R8.95 on the mag because the article was a summary of what the tabloids wrote and the
Exclusive interview Just Curious did with Shona last year. So, there was no point in me buying the mag.
Part of the Bona article in December 2010 issue could be read on Just Curious. Bona published the articled long after Just Crurious cashed in on the Connie magical touch
Yes, we get it that Connie is a mega-star but can we get a break already? If I was also Connie, I would never turn down any interview because the nature of her job requires her to be out there. A good public figure never turns down an interview, even if it's from an unknown remote newspaper from rural villages or a campus publication because there are prospects everywhere.
Connie is a super star of note: Just Curious and TVSA, as well as many other blogging sites, were fighting to get Connie's attention when she left Generations.
Essentially, I feel that South African magazines lack creativity and are not able to create another mega-star. Yes, the media gave Bonang and Connie the superstar status but they need to find another promising public figure and make a superstar out of that person. No disrespect to my sister Connie but I am currently tired of seeing her on every magazine cover. Next y'all shouldn't be surprised when you see Connie on the cover of Sarie and Huisegenoot.
Pictures through the lens of various sites on the net. Makisto sends out his love to all the web content managers for programming the pictures in such a way that I can copy them.