MAD Magazine is a counter culture publication that was founded in the 1960's by William M. Gaines. The magazine satirizes everything from popular television and entertainment, to important political issues and government leaders. Despite the fact that MAD contains no advertisements, it has flourished for more than three decades and is still widely read today.
In today's media advertisement has become a necessary part of the business, Ads fill the pages of newspapers, magazines, even comic books. In this clip journal project, I am attempting to determine why MAD Magazine has survived over the years without the aid of advertisement.
I have come up with three main factors that could explain MAD's success.
The first factor that has made Mad's survival over the years possible is it's foundations. Its creation was during the sixties, when counter culture was at its peak, a time when rebelling against 'the system' and not 'selling out' were the ideals of popular culture.
Mad (magazine)
The first issue of Mad. Art by Harvey Kurtzman.
With issue 24 (July 1955), Mad switched to a magaz...The fact that the magazine held within its covers no advertisements catered to the ideal of not selling out, which drew a faithful audience.
The second factor is tradition. As is true with most MAD readers of my generation, My first encounter with the magazine was when I was a kid, going through some old things of my father's in the attic. I came across an old issue of MAD and became interested in it although I only understood a few of the satires that it contained. It is a fact that most young people who read the magazine have parents who have read or still read it.
The final factor is that MAD often contains lurid subject matter, which attracts a lot of younger readers. This would attribute to it's current success, along with a television show that was...