Magazine cover variants

[Jwanon]

Hi everyone,

 

I wanted to make a thread about all the cover variants that exist of our magazines

 

This is the Watchtower n°1 of 2020

 

As you can see the cover is different depending on the language. Do you know any other issues that have different covers ?

[Brother_Bliss]

I have some old ones on my computer i can dig up. I think i shared them here like 15 years ago. 

 

The photos are similar yet different depending on the culture where they will be circulated. This is both to appeal specifically to them (and reduce the risk of potentially offending them).

[Doak]

By the way, there are/there were some small cards that alluded to our website and that contained 3 different images: one with just the website logo, another with an open Bible and another with a black family studying the Bible together. I remember going out to preach and being told that each card had a different target audience: the logo for young people, the Bible for adults, and the black family for people of color.

 

At the time I didn't question it, but nowadays I think: is it really like that? Was this the logic for handing over the cards or was the thinking completely wrong? Wouldn't that be a small form of discrimination?

[Dustparticle]

38 minutes ago, Jwanon said:

Hi everyone,

 

I wanted to make a thread about all the cover variants that exist of our magazines

 

This is the Watchtower n°1 of 2020

 

As you can see the cover is different depending on the language. Do you know any other issues that have different covers ?

No just depending on a language. It depends of someone race and cultures too

[Brother_Bliss]

19 minutes ago, Doak said:

Was this the logic for handing over the cards or was the thinking completely wrong? Wouldn't that be a small form of discrimination?

It's not discrimination. It's marketing. Consider your target audience and then use what's more likely to appeal to them.

 

"To the Jews I became as a Jew in order to gain Jews; to those under law I became as under law, though I myself am not under law, in order to gain those under law. To those without law I became as without law, although I am not without law toward God but under law toward Christ, in order to gain those without law. To the weak I became weak, in order to gain the weak. I have become all things to people of all sorts, so that I might by all possible means save some." - 1 Corinthians 9:20-23

[Jwanon]

Awake of July 2013 was changed in Turkey to not give the impression that it promotes public demonstrations

 

 

Edited July 22, 2022 by Jwanon

[jwhess]

Many of our brochures or booklets were targeted to a specific culture, or ethnicity or area.  In the brochure, "The Road to Everlasting Life", has scenery and dress reflective of Africa. The first four words in the first sentence tells us the focus.  "Almost everyone in Africa agrees..."

 

We have covers and material focusing on Muslims, Hindus and so on.  We change the pictures to provide a comforting appeal.

[Eejay]

[Eejay]

[Jwanon]

Thanks a lot Eejay 🤩

[Br. Ice]

2 hours ago, Jwanon said:

Awake of July 2013 was changed in Turkey to not give the impression that it promotes public demonstrations

 

 

Was this one originally released like this in Turkish or was this done at a later time?

[Doug]

3 hours ago, Brother_Bliss said:

It's not discrimination. It's marketing. Consider your target audience and then use what's more likely to appeal to them.

 

And marketing is subjective.  There was a time when the AWAKE! would publish feedback comments from readers , including non-witnesses.

I remember one such comment.  The magazine cover showed a black child with a glass of milk.  The idea was the abundance of healthy food in the New World.

However, the reader wrote to the branch that many blacks are lactose intolerant.  The reader thought the cover was not well thought out, and said so.

 

I should add that I don't think it was a mistake.  The image is about life in the New World, not life today.  In the NW no one will be lactose intolerant.  Maybe that's the reason the FDS chose a black child  -  to drive the point home.   

Edited July 22, 2022 by Doug

[Jwanon]

6 minutes ago, Doug said:

However, the reader wrote to the branch that many blacks are lactose intolerant

Only 19% of black Americans are lactose intolerant. And even then, a lot of black children can drink milk. The intolerance kickstarts when they grow older. 

[Hinata]

13 minutes ago, Doug said:

I remember one such comment.  The magazine cover showed a black child with a glass of milk.  The idea was the abundance of healthy food in the New World.

However, the reader wrote to the branch that many blacks are lactose intolerant.  The reader thought the cover was not well thought out, and said so.

 

I should add that I don't think it was a mistake.  The image is about life in the New World, not life today.  In the NW no one will be lactose intolerant.  Maybe that's the reason the FDS chose a black child  -  to drive the point home.

 

4 minutes ago, Jwanon said:

Only 19% of black Americans are lactose intolerant. And even then, a lot of black children can drink milk. The intolerance kickstarts when they grow older. 

 

I found the comment Brother Douglas may have been referring to here:

 

*** g87 10/22 p. 28 From Our Readers ***
    Africans Drinking Milk
    Your article “Will Africa Ever Be Free From Hunger?” was particularly enlightening. (March 8, 1987) However, please be informed that your cover photo of the youngster with an apple and a glass of milk is not what we want to see in Africa. At least 70 percent of the world’s black population is lactose intolerant. We will not do service to the native Africans by encouraging them to drink milk.
    G. H., M.D., Hawaii
    Our correspondent in South Africa states: “We checked with several Africans, and they said they had all drunk milk as children. The use of cattle and their milk has been important in the lives of black people of southern Africa from before the days of European settlement. In fact, the Zulu language has a word, ‘ukukleza,’ that describes the practice African herders have of milking a cow straight into their mouth. Of course, the situation may be different in other parts of Africa.”—ED.
https://www.jw.org/finder?wtlocale=E&docid=101987768&srctype=wol&srcid=share&par=7-10

 

—

 

About the post on topic, I’ve seem to remember alternative version of cover for g20.07. Does anyone also remember it or is it just my imagination?

 

https://www.jw.org/finder?wtlocale=E&issue=202007&pub=g20&srcid=share

 

[Brother_Bliss]

15 minutes ago, Doug said:

And sometimes mistakes are made.  There was a time when the AWAKE! would publish feedback comments from readers , including non-witnesses.

I remember one such comment.  The magazine cover showed a black child with a glass of milk.  The idea was the abundance of healthy food in the New World.

However, the reader wrote to the branch that many blacks are lactose intolerant.  The reader thought the cover was not well thought out, and said so.

I wouldn't say this was a mistake. They published the complaint and didn't exactly apologize....

 

*** g87 10/22 p. 28 From Our Readers ***

 

Africans Drinking Milk

 

Your article “Will Africa Ever Be Free From Hunger?” was particularly enlightening. (March 8, 1987) However, please be informed that your cover photo of the youngster with an apple and a glass of milk is not what we want to see in Africa. At least 70 percent of the world’s black population is lactose intolerant. We will not do service to the native Africans by encouraging them to drink milk. - G. H., M.D., Hawaii

 

Our correspondent in South Africa states: “We checked with several Africans, and they said they had all drunk milk as children. The use of cattle and their milk has been important in the lives of black people of southern Africa from before the days of European settlement. In fact, the Zulu language has a word, ‘ukukleza,’ that describes the practice African herders have of milking a cow straight into their mouth. Of course, the situation may be different in other parts of Africa.”—ED.
 

However, this does show the wisdom of having different photos for different language editions of the magazines. 

 

 

[Dages]

58 minutes ago, Eejay said:

Interesting, they have the same colours.

[Doug]

1 hour ago, Brother_Bliss said:

I wouldn't say this was a mistake. They published the complaint and didn't exactly apologize....

 

*** g87 10/22 p. 28 From Our Readers ***

 

Africans Drinking Milk

 

Your article “Will Africa Ever Be Free From Hunger?” was particularly enlightening. (March 8, 1987) However, please be informed that your cover photo of the youngster with an apple and a glass of milk is not what we want to see in Africa. At least 70 percent of the world’s black population is lactose intolerant. We will not do service to the native Africans by encouraging them to drink milk. - G. H., M.D., Hawaii

 

WOW - YOU ARE FAST !!!   LOL     I edited out the original line that you're reacting to.

[Doug]

1 hour ago, Hinata said:

 

 

I found the comment Brother Douglas may have been referring to here:

 

*** g87 10/22 p. 28 From Our Readers ***
    Africans Drinking Milk
    Your article “Will Africa Ever Be Free From Hunger?” was particularly enlightening. (March 8, 1987) However, please be informed that your cover photo of the youngster with an apple and a glass of milk is not what we want to see in Africa. At least 70 percent of the world’s black population is lactose intolerant. We will not do service to the native Africans by encouraging them to drink milk.
    G. H., M.D., Hawaii
    Our correspondent in South Africa states: “We checked with several Africans, and they said they had all drunk milk as children. The use of cattle and their milk has been important in the lives of black people of southern Africa from before the days of European settlement. In fact, the Zulu language has a word, ‘ukukleza,’ that describes the practice African herders have of milking a cow straight into their mouth. Of course, the situation may be different in other parts of Africa.”—ED.
https://www.jw.org/finder?wtlocale=E&docid=101987768&srctype=wol&srcid=share&par=7-10

 

 

WELL DONE !!!     So,  this medical doctor says at least 70%  of the world's population is lactose intolerant.   Jwanon says only 19% of Americans are.   Perhaps both are correct?

[Eejay]

3 hours ago, Doug said:

at least 70%  of the world's population is lactose intolerant.

At least 70 percent of the world’s black population is lactose intolerant

[Eejay]

3 hours ago, Doug said:

Perhaps both are correct?

It is likely to be a confusion between lactose malabsorbtion and lactose intolerance and their respective estimates of occurrence. These things are never as simple as they sound.

"It is important to realize that lactose malabsorption (lactase non-persistence) is not equivalent or synonymous to lactose intolerance."

[Eejay]

 

This gets to be kinda fun after a while  😄

[Br. Ice]

5 minutes ago, Eejay said:

 

This gets to be kinda fun after a while  😄

I believe the bottom one is the “real one”, the other two are photoshopped.😁

[Eejay]

3 hours ago, Br. Ice said:

I believe the bottom one is the “real one”, the other two are photoshopped.

It is probably the earliest version. They are all in our publications though.  😊

[Cushi]

15 hours ago, Doak said:

By the way, there are/there were some small cards that alluded to our website and that contained 3 different images: one with just the website logo, another with an open Bible and another with a black family studying the Bible together. I remember going out to preach and being told that each card had a different target audience: the logo for young people, the Bible for adults, and the black family for people of color.

 

At the time I didn't question it, but nowadays I think: is it really like that? Was this the logic for handing over the cards or was the thinking completely wrong? Wouldn't that be a small form of discrimination?

It’s not discrimination at all. There’s some black people that live in some places in the world that have never seen a white person before or rarely see them. Wouldn’t you agree that putting white brothers and sisters on the cover of the magazines offered in such places would detract from the message? Most people would focus on the people in the literature and not the message itself. The same for some other countries. 

Edited July 23, 2022 by *Jack*

[Eejay]

4 hours ago, *Jack* said:

Wouldn’t you agree that putting white brothers and sisters on the cover of the magazines offered in such places would detract from the message?

It would be interesting to know the actual criteria because the practice is not consistently applied. It  must be difficult to balance the need for diversity against paying unnecessary token homage to todays gnat-straining political sensitivities.