SPH closes Singapore edition of ‘racy’ Cosmopolitan
Singapore Press Holdings has closed the local edition of international women’s magazine brand Cosmopolitan after four years of publishing.
The magazine, which was once banned for being too indecent for local tastes, was published under licence from US publisher Hearst.
In a quote in SPH-owned newspaper the Straits Times, an SPH spokesman said that the business model was not sustainable.
“Cosmopolitan Singapore was launched four years ago in a crowded lifestyle market. As a business model the magazine is not sustainable,” he said.
The publisher has given readers who want to buy the last edition of Cosmopolitan Singapore more than one month to do so. The October issue – which will be on sale for the month of September – will be the magazine’s final print run. The August edition is still on sale.
In the Straits Times’ story about the closure, Cosmo is described as a “racy women’s magazine” which was banned in the 1980’s for its “extreme liberal views”.
The title contained sex tips and other adult content deemed risqué in the conservative citystate.
An international edition of Cosmo was reintroduced in 2004, covered in cellophane, and a local version launched in 2011.
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