2018 SI Swimsuit

Hate to say it but Sailor Brinkley isn't half of what her mom was. She has a busted face.

Who is NOT the target audience when putting together SI Swimsuit.

1. Hardcore Sports Fans

Why? Because they are likely already subscribed and will automatically get an issue. I know some who even throw it away, which is how I learned that its part of
the package anyway.

2. Hardcore Model Fans

They already have them, so they don't care to target them. That's pretty much how mainstream marketing works. They consider the ones in the stands to be a done deal,
so they go out for everyone else.

So why Danielle Herrington? Well, having a black girl on the cover preemptively addresses the issue of whether there is enough color on the inside or not. This leaves you with three major candidates. Lais, Danielle and Ebonee. Lais is more "deserving" and maybe even Ebonee is. Danielle though is a more fluent English speaker than Lais, which factors in to the various speaking engagements and such. Ebonee by comparison is farther away from the type of black that is trending in American marketing at the moment. Danielle is closer to the "Blackish" type of black that American advertisers are obsessed with at the moment. It is important to look outside of the perspective of either a sports fan or modeling fan because they are NOT the target audience as they would have (in theory) bought it anyway.

All that said, I think the cover was great at face value and in my adventures, I do see people who don't know models marveling at it. I think she's pretty and has the body of
a super hero. I would have given it to Lais or Hannah myself for the record. Also for the record, Danielle Herrington just so happen to be my favorites.  Her, Hannah, Daniela, Alyssa are probably my recent favorites.
 

Fun little Easter egg...

That revelation is definitely true to your username.  Its one of those things that seems obvious when pointed out, but I still would have missed it otherwise.

9 hours ago, Joe > Average said:

That revelation is definitely true to your username.  Its one of those things that seems obvious when pointed out, but I still would have missed it otherwise.

Hahahaha. ??

Urgh, if I had to sum up how I feel about this year's SI swimuit cast in one term it would be political correctness and I CAN'T STAND political correctness. First a bunch of plus-size models, now a woman with one leg? Where is this going to end? Feminists that don't shave? I still stand behind my opinion that a big chunk of fashion advertisement is selling (just like with any other kind of advertisement) a fantasy. A fantasy that you should only look at as something beautiful and not "oh, I'm pressured to look like this". This whole "everyone is beautiful"-crap has no helpful message than just selling a lie and succumbing to the need of the average woman to feel as desirable as a pretty bombshell that all the SI models used to be. Out of the 26 models of this year's issue, not even half of them are legit models but insta models, nepotists and other amateur models.  Now it feels like everyone can be in the pages of SI swimsuit (except for Asians of course... in case anyone noticed) which also disparages the "prestige" of it. No offense to the average woman, but just know your place. Jeez.

Awesome post. I think Ashley Graham and the one-legged chick are hot , but agree about the overall standard being lower.  Its really interesting that before, everything was pretty much decided for the consumer. Men like this right? Well, put some of that in there. Now, social media gives the general public more of a voice, but it results in a worse product.

Lets face it, social media poses a big threat to the quality of commercial fashion. Being a commercial medium, its hard for them to ignore the social media train. Whereas I would rather see a Dioni Tabbers than an Alexi Ren, its hard for advertisers to look past the fact that its 38k followers vs. 12 million (with roughly the same number of posts in less time). Even a top model like Cintia Dicker has less than 200k with 2,000+ posts (by far more than both). For whatever reason, the traditional fashion models don't seem to be resonating as much with the social media audience. Strippers, wanna be fitness gurus, wanna be makeup gurus and amateur models have left them in the dust for the most part.

At the end of the day, I guess fashion fans just want some things to be sacred. If you're not good enough to make the MLB, they aren't going to put you in just because you have a lot of followers. That's what fashion fans want SI to be. Just cut the politics and fill it up with the best looking models in the business. Looks unlikely to happen, but would be nice.

@Joe > AverageI agree with everything you and @VSfan88 have posted about the SISE. 

It is a mess, it’s not elite to the most beautiful women wearing almost nothing and showing off in exotic and gorgeous locals. It seems to me that it’s lost it’s focus. 

I understand that times are changing and we fans need to accept certain truths. Such as the importance of social media in how things are promoted. 

I just feel that if the sales numbers aren’t where SI would like them to be, they need to regroup and decide what’s important to the brand. 

/off

@Joe > Average & @VSfan88 your last posts are spot on. Couldn't agree more