Magazines reach out to well-heeled

Hera Diani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

While browsing through a local society magazine, "Johan", an Indonesian who has lived in the Netherlands for most of his life, pored over the parade of photos of people hobnobbing and partying.

The 33 year old, who rarely makes trips to his homeland, finally came across a face he recognized, a man striking a pose at a trendy club.

"Hey, I know this guy! He works at a bar in Amsterdam, carrying kegs of beer! Well, now I know what he's doing every time he comes home to Jakarta," he said.

With a look of surprise, Johan pointed again to the man's picture. "Look at his outfit, it's gotta be expensive."

And part of his surprise may have come from the fact that in this supposedly impoverished, indebted third world country, we can get to see the upper crust having their cake and eating it too in several glossy society magazines.

The magazines provide information for the rich and famous on where to shop, dine, spend their vacations and get a Botox jab, as well as allocating ample photo space for them to have their moment in the spotlight.

A sickening show of vanity and pretentiousness, you say? Jealousy gets you nowhere would be the likely retort.

The Peak and Indonesian Tatler, both in English, have been joined by Prestige Indonesia, a franchise of the Singapore magazine, which was launched in a swank do at a five-star hotel in Jakarta in September.

Prestige Indonesia's publisher and editor-in-chief, Ronald Liem, said the timing was right to launch another society/lifestyle magazine in the country, with an increasingly educated and sophisticated market.

The market for luxury products is also growing, with new boutiques opening here.

"Luxury product advertisers have the budget and they are looking for the right media to advertise their products. They are looking for something like this in Indonesia," said Ronald, who also publishes the English-language travel and lifestyle magazine DestinAsian.

Prestige also has a sister company involved in luxury businesses, such as property and retailing, which means in terms of advertisements, the magazine is in safe territory.

Of course, the focus on glitz and glamor is not for everybody. Photographer James Nachtwey once said that his commitment to documenting war and poverty was partly due to fact that the media gives too much attention to lifestyle, celebrities, fashion and entertainment.

Ronald argued that people want to find escapism amid the bombardment of depressing news about terrorism and global problems.

"The market is big enough, there is a market segment there. We are targeting people who aspire to have this kind of lifestyle."

It is targeting the affluent market, but about half of its 15,000 print run gets complimentary distribution to the main movers and shakers.

Instead of hiring professional models for its layouts, the magazine uses socialites and celebrities.

"I think Indonesian ladies are quite famous for being beautiful and are beautiful dressers. So, we approach the celebrities and socialites. That's the unique selling point of the magazine," Ronald said.

Amid the heavy advertisement load, product information, fashion and party pages, he added that the magazine aspired to offer something different from other magazines in content.

There are columns with financial advice, Ronald said, such as how to spend money wisely (an apartment in Sydney or the Caribbean? A private jet or private boat?), as well as information about heritage, culture and restaurants.

"Some people consider it soft journalism, well, it's not New Yorker. But we want our readers to actually learn something about it, 'cause I don't like to waste trees. When we do a profile, we won't ask those superficial questions like a favorite brand and so on. We talk about a philosophy or rule of leadership, that's more interesting.

"It's not high journalism, but we can add more substance with the questions we have."

Despite the desire for the magazine to bring more depth to its content, many people, even those in the targeted readership market, find them to be superficial and only serving to confirm societal status.

But restaurateur Amalia Wirjono said the magazine helped her keep in touch with upper class society, her target audience as well, to promote her restaurant Koi.

"True, it is more of a status thing. If I want information, I look someplace else," said Amalia, who makes frequent appearances on the party pages of society magazines as well as appearing on the cover of Prestige Indonesia.

Director Nia Dinata, whose 2003 film Arisan (Gathering) poked fun at her own crowd of urban socialites, said she did not see any reason to subscribe to such magazines.

"What we need right now is a magazine like Vanity Fair, that can balance the articles on lifestyle and serious issues like politics. Even the pieces on politics are an easy read."

It's true that there is no middle ground here between the serious content of magazines like Tempo and Gatra, or the light entertainment and lifestyle magazines of Kosmopolitan and a+, as well as the society magazines.

There is no magazine that can create a happy medium like Vanity Fair, which runs cover stories on Reese Witherspoon or Jude Law along with scathing condemnations of George W. Bush, or even music magazine Rolling Stone's current affairs articles.

Ronald disagreed.

"It doesn't fit into the whole thing if we suddenly talk about corruption and stuff. This is not the concept of the magazine. if you mix socialites with politicians and stuff, you get things mixed up."

Media observer Veven SP Wardhana said that the difference was that in developed countries people consider lifestyle and entertainment to be sources of information, not status symbols.

"That's why we can find in-depth analysis on lifestyle in a foreign magazine, not just the superficial stuff," he said.

The ultra-lite content has more to do with the mentality of the people in this country, he added, as well as the fact that the reading habit remained poor.

"Finding writers won't be a difficult thing, as media people are pretty flexible. But people are not really looking for information here. There are people who do, and they will go straight to the source: Foreign magazines or the Internet."