I’m always surprised when people bemoan the perceived demise of print media. Print media isn’t going anywhere; it is changing radically[1] but the demand for printed media will remain strong for years to come. And the reason is simple: it’s about the glossy. South Africa has seen an explosion of niche glossy magazines. These are aimed at the very top end of the South African spending pyramid and are all essentially lifestyle magazines. Ostensibly they are about self actualisation or home improvement or leisure pursuits, but in truth they are all about the lifestyle; they’re aspirational – nothing more.
Now don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against aspirational products[2] as long as they don’t claim to be anything else. And here’s a hot new straight-chipper of an entrant to that market: Golf Punk.

Hey punk!

The magazine (published in South Africa under a UK license) launched in late 2007 and seems set to turn a tidy profit from casual golf punks. Here’s their pitch to advertisers:

[Golf Punk is] a magazine with the express intention of making players look like Hollywood stars, introducing equipment in a whole new light, and shooting the best fairway fashion ever seen.

Damn. I can dig on that. If I were a golf advertiser looking to sell some rad shirts I would be crapping my pants right about now. Hollywood! fashion! punks! Who could ask for more?

Seriously though, I think that this is a brilliant ads pitch and I would be willing to bet that the management team spent as much time crafting that sentence as they did planning their launch issue. Golf Punk is totally up front about their goal – inject as much sex as possible into golf and sell nothing but the wildest products off the back of that.

Punks

So go ahead, check out the Golf Punk site. Browse their Bunker Babes or check out golf clubs styled like sex toys under Golf Junk. It’s brilliant from the opening tee to the clubhouse. And next time you find yourself in that snaking, air conditioned food market queue, pick one up and travel along to their fantasy golf destinations: you know you want to.

[1] for example I certainly don’t think that the broadsheet will survive in its current form.
[2] I own a pair of Nike shoes that belong to their Sports Culture range. Can you fucking believe that? It’s not even Sports Leisure or Recreation anymore, just Sports Culture. Plop those babies onto a footstool while you watch Snooker on ESPN and you’ve made it, you’ve filled the mandate that those shoes put to you.