I have been a fan of a variety of 4WD magazines, including 4WD Action, and the videos that come with them. In general I find them to be increasingly advert laden. For example, in 4WD Action (Aust) #199... of 256 pages, I counted about 120 full page adverts (46%) plus add on the half pages this would be another 20 pages (approx 7%). Then count the articles masquerading as articles but that r really advertorials, you can add another 20 pages (7%). I think a good >60% of all 4WD magazines is advertising, in some form or another. This seems consistent with other forms of print media. They have to make money, I guess.
What r my gripes.
1. It's all very interesting to see what a 4wd will do, but I don't think these magazines provide a picture of what most 4wd owners do with their vehicles. I think that some of the damage that is inflicted on various tracks is downright irresponsible and ought not be encouraged. Even more so, when so many situations are staged for effect, such as the many boggings and winchings.
2. The story telling is also quite disjointed, with a fair bit of "boys with toys" wackerism in the journalistic style of writing.
3. The copy itself is often poorly edited, with an increasing number of errors, coming from a large reliance on spell checkers, rather than good careful reading of articles prior to print.
4. The content, for the most part, is informative in a general sense, but much of the "knowledge" information could be obtained from very accessible other sources, such as the internet.
5. Photography, while at times spectacular in terms of subject matter, is often very poor in a quality sense.
6. The use of colour backgrounds to text is often inappropriate, with text being difficult to read. I have seen as much colour variety in a technicolour yawn after a Friday arvo booze up. It must be a schizophrenic's nightmare to see inside one of the magazines.
Still, I keep buying them!!
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