Conservative Singapore has been a tough market for the risqué women’s magazine Cosmopolitan. The Singapore version of the monthly Hearst publication, which was launched just four years ago after a ban by government censors was lifted, is calling it a quits.
The October issue, which will be released next month, will be the last said Singapore Press Holdings, the local publisher of Cosmo.
In an interview with the Straits Times, an SPH spokesman attributed the closure to an unsuccessful business model, not regulators or a conservative public.
“Cosmopolitan Singapore was launched four years ago in a crowded lifestyle market. As a business model the magazine is not sustainable,” the spokesman said.
It was required to be covered on the newsstand as well as having a prominent label on the cover reading “Unsuitable for the young.”
The magazine was originally banned in the 1980’s for its “extreme liberal views”. It was required to be covered on the newsstand as well as having a prominent label on the cover reading “Unsuitable for the young.”
The cover shots are often provocative and the headlines and taglines on Cosmo are well noted for containing sex tips and other adult content. The magazine has long been the target of regulators around the world, not only in Singapore.
The most recent issue of Cosmopolitan Singapore
