GQ magazine - What's the audience?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I buy GQ magazine a few times a year and it’s usually a pretty good source for current fashion tips. As I page through it, however, something I’ve occasionally pondered is what the intended audience is for this magazine?

The reason I ask is because many of the ad’s (though by no means all) are (to me) very specifically and obviously directed at a gay male readership in terms of the overall look including the model’s “seductive” stance or the group “fresh boys at play” scenes. These type of ads seem more common with the “ultra” high fashion accessory items, underwear and liquor ads.

Is it recognized explicitly by the magazine and it’s advertisers that GQ is going to deliver a gay audience of a specific percentage and socio-economic cohort and the (assumedly expensive) ads are carefully constructed based on who the targeted purchasing audience is likely to be, or this not spelled out by GQ and simply assumed by the advertisers or what?

2

From what I’ve heard, GQ used to be predominantly aimed at a gay audience, but now is mostly straight.

I work in a magazine store, and the men who buy it (judging by my gaydar and by what other magazines are purchased) are overwhelmingly straight. We keep it in the “men’s interests” section, next to FHM and Maxim. Gay fashion magazines, like Genre and Out, go in the “gay and lesbian section” on another set of shelves.

3

Straight guys. Mid-20’s + ?

4

A classmate once showed me a back-page GQ humor feature on “GQ covers you’ll never see”. One of them featured a hunky, shirtless guy with a headline saying something like “Feelin’ Gay, Feelin’ Great!” So if they are targeting a gay audience, they aren’t willing to be open about it.