Bravo (magazine)

Infobox Magazine
title=Bravo
editor = Tom Junkersdorf
editor_title = Editor-in-Chief
staff_writer =
frequency = weekly
paid_circulation =445.041 (Q1/2007)
total_circulation= 619.100 (Q1/2007)
category = Teenage
company = Heinrich Bauer Zeitschriften Verlag KG
publisher =
firstdate = 1956-08-26
country = Germany, Poland
language = German, Polish
website = [http://www.bravo.de/ Bravo.de]
issn =

Bravo is the largest teen magazine within the German-language sphere. The first issue was published in 1956, subtitled as "the magazine for film and television" ( _de. „Die Zeitschrift für Film und Fernsehen“). Marilyn Monroe's portrait graced the first published issue, the never-published dummy issue cover displayed Elvis Presley.

History

The founder of the magazine was columnist Peter Boenisch. The first issue on 26 August 1956 cost 50 Pfennig, 30,000 copies were printed. Issue number 13/57 was released on 31 March 1957 with the new subtitle "the magazine with the young heart" ( _de. „Die Zeitschrift mit dem jungen Herzen“) as well as "film, television, pop music" ( _de. „Film, Fernsehen, Schlager“) which disappeared soon. Starting from issue 34/57 (13 August 1957) the magazine no longer had any subtitles underscoring its newfound focus.

Beginning in 1968 it was published weekly by the "Bauer Verlagsgruppe", which is located in Hamburg; the editorial office however is in Munich. In the 1970s the magazine sold more than one million examples. By 1996 each issue still sold around 1.4 million issues. ["Märkische Oderzeitung - Journal", 26./27. August 2006, S. 4] Afterwards the circulation fell steeply. Today the magazine sells around 460,379 copies of each issue (Q4 2006). [http://www.bauerverlag.de/bravo.0.html Heinrich Bauer Verlag: BRAVO] ]

Focus group and classic columns

Bravo covers topics which primarily interest youths, among which are current information on pop and movie stars, as well as relationship and sex counseling.

Under the pseudonym "Dr. Christoph Vollmer" and "Dr. Kirsten Lindstroem" the then-47-year-old author of love novels Marie Louise Fischer started giving advice on relationships ("Knigge für Verliebte", "Liebe ohne Geheimnis"). Starting in 1969 Dr. Martin Goldstein (born 1927 in Bielefeld), an actual doctor, psychotherapist, and religion teacher, took over and started replying to readers questions under the pseudonym "Dr. Jochen Sommer". Goldstein had made himself a name in sex education with the publications "Anders als bei Schmetterlingen" and "Lexikon der Aufklärung". Later, he replied to sexual questions as "Dr. Korff", while "Dr. Sommer" concentrated on psychological questions.

From the early 1970s on a whole group replied to questions. The editors put value in the fact that the "Dr.-Sommer-Team" continued to made up of experts. At its peak Bravo received around 3000 to 5000 letters on puberty and sexuality per week. In 2006, 400 letters were still received.

Due to the sex education in 1972 two issues with articles on masturbation were censored (prohibited for sale to under-age customers) because they were deemed youth-endangering.

Bravo made noticeably strong use of Anglicism and "Denglisch" starting in the 1980s, long before this became a mainstream phenomenon.

Bravo was – primarily in the 1970s and 1980s – formative for generations of German youths and teenagers, ["Pop 2000" (ARD), episode 4 "1968-1970: Sex & Drugs & Rebellion".] , which resulted in the papers nickname of _de. „Pickel-Prawda“ (pimple-Pravda). The magazine was sometimes confiscated in schools by teachers. Many of today's adults received all of their sexual education from the articles by the Dr.Sommer-team. ["Pop 2000" (ARD), episode 8 "1982-1985: Gib Gas, ich will Spaß".] Within the GDR the magazine was forbidden, but still very popular and traded for high prices. Bravo played an influential part in promoting pop groups and artists in Germany.

In addition to the idea of the Dr.-Sommer-team, Bravo invented the so-called "Bravo-Starschnitt" ("star cut"), a puzzle of a life-sized poster of a celebrity. Every new issue provided one cutout piece - a perfect way for customer retention. The first Starschnitt-feature began in 1959 and was a poster of Brigitte Bardot.

Present

Originally there was only a single Bravo magazine, today different variants are published. This is a result of higher individualisation and changing interests. The following brands are part of the "Bravo Family":

* "Bravo.de" (Internet portal for teenagers independent of the magazine)
* "Bravo Girl" (targeting girls)
* "Bravo Screenfun" (for computer games and video game consoles)
* "Bravo Sport" (sport magazine)
* "Bravo Sport TV" (sport TV show)
* "Bravo TV" (youth television magazine)
* "Bravo Hits" (regularly published music compilation album)
* "Bravo Hip Hop Special" (published six times a year, focusing on Hip-Hop, R'n'B and Rap)

Teenage magazines like Bravo are of high importance for the music industry as an advertising medium. Ads can be found in all Bravo formats.

Starting on 16 May 1993 Bravo TV was aired first on RTL 2 and later on ZDF. The first presenter was Kristiane Backer, followed by Heike Makatsch. After a longer break Bravo TV reappeared on 5 November 2005 on ProSieben.

The magazine distributes its "Bravo Otto" (a small Indian-styled figure) award in different categories. The design of the figure is inspired by Winnetou, played by Pierre Brice, who had a longstanding connection within his cinematic role to Bravo. Among the prized artists were Inge Meysel, Pierre Brice (Winnetou), Joachim Fuchsberger, Stefan Raab, David Hasselhoff, Mariah Carey, Boris Becker, Bro'Sis, Heike Makatsch, Horst Janson and many more. Furthermore each week the readers vote in the Bravo charts, which sometimes oppose the sales charts and are an indicator of artists popularity in the past and today.

In 2006 Bravo released an anthology providing an overview of Bravo's perception of the world within the past 50 years.

References

External links

* [http://www.50jahrebravo.de www.50JahreBravo.de Official site for the 50 year anniversary]
* [http://www.bravo.de www.Bravo.de] Bravo Internet portal (independent from the magazine's editorial staff)
* [http://www.drsommerteam.de DrSommerteam.de] Dr. Sommer Team: guidance and counseling
* [http://www.bravo-archiv.de www.bravo-archiv.de] The digital Bravo archiv (1956 to present)
* [http://www.bravo.pl Polish Language Version Bravo.pl Web Portal] (PL)
* [http://www.bravomag.rs Serbian Bravo - Official Web Page]