Publication for men's lifestyle magazine FHM and Zoo are going to be suspended after 2015 in the United Kingdom. Bauer Media executives announced the developments in a statement Tuesday.
"Unfortunately it's true and it has been announced today the intention to suspend publication of FHM," the statement read on FHM's website. The publishing house didn't delve into the specifics as to why it was going to stop publication, nor did it provide any hints on whether or not this was a permanent move.
Mashable reported that readership for the magazines went down in the first six months of 2015, but it's also possible that the end may be largely due to criticisms the publication has received from feminist movements regarding the objectification of women. A #losetheladsmags campaign directed at FHM, Zoo and its counterparts was initiated by Feminista on the internet in recent past
It is assumed that the company will continue publishing digitally, where it is currently raking more than 5 million hits, but News Statesman reported that even the digital arm could also be shutting down.
Per Yahoo U.K., counter-proposal are to be expected in the future months, which would affect all subsequent operations. "I would like to thank our advertisers and retailers who have supported the brands and I'm sure that everyone who has worked on FHM and ZOO over the years will be sorry to hear this news." said publisher Gareth Cherriman in the Yahoo report.
Baeur Media is not the first to decide dropping its men's lifestyle magazine from its roster. In 2014, rival Nuts Magazine from IPC Media also announced its closure, per The Guardian. As its male audience are more drawn to internet content than buying actual magazines these days, publishing copies was no longer a feasible business model.
More recently, the most popular men's magazine, Playboy, announced it will no longer be publishing nude photos beginning next year. It's a move that has been dubbed as the "end of an era," per Cosmopolitan.
FHM was first published in 1984 as "For Him Magazine," but changed its name a decade later. At its peak, it was published in 27 countries and its annual "100 Sexiest Women" list was always its most sellable issue. On the other hand, Zoo had its debut in 2004 and was considered to have racier content than FHM. While FHM's popularity spans many countries, its sister magazine is most familiar to British and Australian men only, per CNN Money.
