• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, July 5, 2012

One of the most popular titles for teenage girls is changing its editorial policy to include more photos of female subjects that haven’t been “touched up” with Photoshop or otherwise visually altered, Seventeen editor-in-chief Ann Shoket announced in a letter to readers published in the August issue of the magazine.

The change comes in response to online pressure organized by Julia Bluhm, a 14-year-old girl who used Change.org to rally support for her national campaign, gathering around 85,000 signatures.
 
Shoket said the magazine will “never change girls’ body or face shapes” and “always feature real girls and models who are healthy” -- the second concession an acknowledgement that many models celebrated in the pages of women’s magazines aren’t necessarily the picture of health, even if it is chic to look like a heroin addict.
 
This probably won’t be the last campaign targeting young women’s beauty and fashion mags for presenting unrealistic physical ideals to their readers.

Celebrating her victory, Bluhm noted that two other teenage activists, 16-year-old Carina Cruz and 17-year-old Emma Stydahar, have launched their own Change.org campaign asking Teen Vogue to pledge not to change girls’ body sizes or face shapes.
 
Mag+ 3.5 Launches for Multiple Devices
 
Mag+, the digital magazine publishing outfit founded by Bonnier Corp., has unveiled the latest version of its app, Mag+ 3.5, which allows publishers to deliver their digital editions to a variety of devices, including the iPhone, iPad, Kindle Fire and Android, without having to laboriously recreate the digital documents for each different format. Bonnier also announced the launch of the first iPhone magazine apps created using Mag+: the British Journal of Photography, published by Incisive Media, and Sweden’s Icon.
 
Ogden Launches Mother Earth Living
 
Ogden Publications is merging two of its existing magazines, Natural Home & Garden and The Herb Companion, into a single new title, Mother Earth Living, whose first issue is set to hit newsstands on October 16. The title of the new magazine aligns it with Ogden’s flagship publication, Mother Earth News, which should make it easier to promote and market the new lifestyle spinoff.

Ogden publisher and editorial director Bryan Welch explained: “By calling on the resources of our flagship brand – Mother Earth News – we can provide advertisers with a larger marketing platform and reach a wider audience than we could with the smaller publications separately.”
 
Mattison to CEO, Prometheus Global Media
 
Prometheus Global Media, which publishes media trade publications including Billboard, Adweek and The Hollywood Reporter, has named a new CEO to replace Richard Beckman, who stepped down last Friday. Mattison is a senior managing director of Guggenheim Partners, one of the investment companies backing Prometheus (the other is Pluribus Capital). Before joining Guggenhim, she was an executive with Wal-Mart.
 
Hammes To Publisher, Foreign Affairs
 
The Council on Foreign Relations has named Lynda Hammes publisher of its flagship journal, Foreign Affairs. She succeeds David Kellogg, who is retiring after 25 years in the top spot. In her new role, Hammes will oversee all business operations, while continuing to manage the magazine’s digital strategy. Before being appointed publisher, Hammes was deputy publisher and director of digital strategy for the publication. Prior to joining CFR in 2003, Hammes was a production manager of radio programming at the United Nations and associate editor of Art + Auction.