Columbus CEO uses diversity as soft porn

There's so much I could tell you about the "Columbus CEO" Fall 2022 issue. 1) It's gone completely overboard for D.I.E., 2) it's now a quarterly instead of a monthly, 3) it's now including soft porn in it's stories about D.I.E.

Yes, indeed, in this fall's issue (almost wrote month) cover story about Donna James, a black woman, fully clothed, who is going to make Victoria's Secret more inclusive and diverse so it can regain it's huge share in a dwindling skimpy underwear market it includes this photo. Evidence of inclusion. All shades of black, maybe a trans model (didn't read the story), an African model, obese, and who knows, perhaps one of them is mentally ill or challenged.

The story with the cover seemed to indicate that this accomplished savvy black woman is a shrewd 65 year old businesswoman who would turn the company around after the #metoo movement, a clientele that has moved on to hard porn and sex positivity (i.e. anything goes including choking and slapping and beatings), a scandal about Les Wexner's relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, and the transmovement where men are not only moving into women's locker rooms and sports, but taking their modeling jobs. That's a lot to dump on an older woman who wears long hair and matchy-matchy pant suits to work--like the 70s. She probably doesn't wear the product.

And I'm not surprised "Columbus CEO" has moved to fewer issues. How long can you attract advertisers who want to hold on to a market that is based in a city that is 72% white, 16% black, 4.3 Asian, 4.3 Hispanic and the rest "other" with stories on racism, gender anomalies, obesity is good, all the while telling your market they are bad, disgusting people taking up too much space on the planet?

Maybe it will work--I was a librarian not a publisher (Ray Paproki), and I'm certainly not their target audience. To me, it looks like shooting yourself in the . . . foot.

Update: Last year's Future 50 (in business, influence, etc.) cover issue had over half women, 40% black, and when I looked through, none live in areas predominately black or minority, virtually all in high income areas with big salaries. Does that show success or that "Columbus CEO" is a hypocrite and all the diversity articles are just hype to be on the bandwagon? The editor for that issue is now gone.