skylarwoodward

Last night I adventured over to the launch party for Good Magazine, a new publication launching in the US in September for people who want to do well by doing good. I had wanted to post information about the party and the magazine after meeting the editor, Max, the day before but the RSVP list was closed soon after Friday started. Nonetheless, it was a great scene – closer than any other party this year to the Kiva fundraiser just a few months back. Though we weren’t expecting it, we might have guessed – Al Gore was on hand to celebrate with us and support the magazine (probably through his son as the magazine seems to have tight connections to some Yalies). In any case, Meredith, Audrey and I fought our way in to say hello and offer each our own thanks for things important to us he’s fought for. Of course, I thanked him for creating the Internet (kidding).

Most curious from all this though is the target of this audience, how it continues to connect worlds in my life, and that a such a publication is launching now. It all seems to confirm so many of my observations about current cultural trends. It’s inevitable success in the marketplace will undoubtedly solidify these suspicions as well as work to bring these trends into a more mainstream view.

Good describes itself as a cross between the Do-Gooder Press (Mother Jones, Ode, Plenty), The Establishment (Wired, The New Yorker, Rolling Stone), and Cool Magazines (Swindle, i-D, Tokion, BlackBook). It is an interest bet that social consciousness, environmentalism, and activism are going mainstream — that people are realizing need to start concerning themselves with things that matter and that this is fueled by the freest exchange of ideas and creativity in history. (read, World 2.0) The promotional literature introduces the magazine like this:

From the pop status of hybrid cars to the future of energy, from the mass appeal of sweatshop-free clothing to the near-obsession with organic everything, from the blurred line between celebrity and activism to the merger of capitalism and idealism, the world is just waking up to a new kind of good. Welcome to the early edition.

While large communities in San Francisco and Boston have already come well into this space, this magazine promises to mix the right dose of popular appeal to bring this sense of balanced responsibility to rest of America. Max says they plan to roll out to most major stands including your local grocery store; just don’t look for them at WalMart – while such a move seems trendy given the target market, the decision to avoid that market is evidently based more in distributor responsibility: they don’t plan to see much uptake in such locations don’t want to be wasteful.

I could go on about the facinating, almost ironic, target audience; the promising advertisers are among Tom’s, American Apparel, Burt’s Bees, Trader Joes, Advil, and Canon. More interesting though is to see what will become of this trend – Bobby thinks it’s all a fad and will blow up a couple years. There are certainly enough people jumping on the bandwagon to tip it. Is the concept of “motivated moneymakers driven by ethical ambition” or “conscious consumers driving progressive materialism” sustainable? Does it hijack the ideas on which the trends are based just to subtlely subvert them? There are too many angles on subject to capture it now.

For now Good seems good. I’m sure they’ll be enough critics among the edge of the movement. Matt and Jessica are in the first issue – their photographic debut as poster children of Microfinance 2.0 – and it’s a beautiful portrait. The subscription policy is both genius marketing and commendable charity – subscribe and all $20 of the fee goes to one of 12 do-gooder chairties of your choice. No skin off your consumer conscience. Go for it. See you in September, Good, and thanks for a fantastic party in SOMA.