Bravo (magazine)
Encyclopedia
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" . Marilyn Monroe
's portrait graced the first published issue, the never-published dummy issue cover displayed Elvis Presley
.
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" as well as "film, television, pop music" which disappeared soon afterwards. Starting from issue 34/57 (13 August 1957) the magazine no longer had any subtitles underscoring its newfound focus.
In 1968 it began to be published weekly by the Bauer Verlagsgruppe in Hamburg
; the editorial office however remained in Munich
. In the 1970s the magazine sold more than one million copies. By 1996 each issue still sold around 1.4 million issues. Afterwards the circulation fell steeply. Today the magazine sells around 460,379 copies of each issue (Q4 2006).
s, among which are current information on pop
and movie star
s, 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
), a practising 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 be 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 indexed (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,, which resulted in the paper's nickname of (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. Within the former GDR
(East Germany) 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.
The magazine is controversial abroad for its That's Me! section, which often features sex interviews and full frontal nude photos of teen models from age 14 (although the age has been raised to 16), which while legal in Germany, can cause problems with international child pornography laws. The magazine often works around these laws by having the models hold the camera's shutter button themselves, thereby showing explicit consent.
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. The first Starschnitt-feature began in 1959 and was a poster of Brigitte Bardot
.
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
, Whitney Houston
, Madonna
, 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.
Teen magazine
Teen magazines are magazines aimed at female teenage readers. They usually consist of gossip, news, fashion tips and interviews and may include posters, stickers, small samples of cosmetics or other products and inserts. Magazines targeting teenage boys are not often called teen...
within the German-language sphere
German-speaking Europe
The German language is spoken in a number of countries and territories in West, Central and Eastern Europe...
. The first issue was published in 1956, subtitled as "the magazine for film and television" . Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, singer, model and showgirl who became a major sex symbol, starring in a number of commercially successful motion pictures during the 1950s....
's portrait graced the first published issue, the never-published dummy issue cover displayed Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
.
History
The founder of the magazine was columnistColumnist
A columnist is a journalist who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs....
Peter Boenisch. The first issue on 26 August 1956 cost 50 Pfennig
Pfennig
The Pfennig , plural Pfennige, is an old German coin or note, which existed from the 9th century until the introduction of the euro in 2002....
, 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" as well as "film, television, pop music" which disappeared soon afterwards. Starting from issue 34/57 (13 August 1957) the magazine no longer had any subtitles underscoring its newfound focus.
In 1968 it began to be published weekly by the Bauer Verlagsgruppe in Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
; the editorial office however remained in Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
. In the 1970s the magazine sold more than one million copies. By 1996 each issue still sold around 1.4 million issues. Afterwards the circulation fell steeply. Today the magazine sells around 460,379 copies of each issue (Q4 2006).
Focus group and classic columns
Bravo covers topics which primarily interest youthYouth
Youth is the time of life between childhood and adulthood . Definitions of the specific age range that constitutes youth vary. An individual's actual maturity may not correspond to their chronological age, as immature individuals could exist at all ages.-Usage:Around the world, the terms "youth",...
s, among which are current information on pop
Pop Star
"Pop Star" is a 2005 single from Japanese singer Ken Hirai. The single went on to top the 2005 Oricon Charts and is known for its remarkable music video, featuring Ken in seven different personas, including a raccoon and his own manager. The Video also helped Ken break into the US and Canadian...
and movie star
Movie star
A movie star is a celebrity who is well-known, or famous, for his or her starring, or leading, roles in motion pictures. The term may also apply to an actor or actress who is recognized as a marketable commodity and whose name is used to promote a movie in trailers and posters...
s, as well as relationship and sex
Sex
In biology, sex is a process of combining and mixing genetic traits, often resulting in the specialization of organisms into a male or female variety . Sexual reproduction involves combining specialized cells to form offspring that inherit traits from both parents...
counseling.
Under the pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
"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
Bielefeld
Bielefeld is an independent city in the Ostwestfalen-Lippe Region in the north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population of 323,000, it is also the most populous city in the Regierungsbezirk Detmold...
), a practising 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
Sex education
Sex education refers to formal programs of instruction on a wide range of issues relating to human sexuality, including human sexual anatomy, sexual reproduction, sexual intercourse, reproductive health, emotional relations, reproductive rights and responsibilities, abstinence, contraception, and...
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 be made up of experts. At its peak Bravo received around 3000 to 5000 letters on puberty
Puberty
Puberty is the process of physical changes by which a child's body matures into an adult body capable of reproduction, as initiated by hormonal signals from the brain to the gonads; the ovaries in a girl, the testes in a boy...
and sexuality
Human sexuality
Human sexuality is the awareness of gender differences, and the capacity to have erotic experiences and responses. Human sexuality can also be described as the way someone is sexually attracted to another person whether it is to opposite sexes , to the same sex , to either sexes , or not being...
per week. In 2006, 400 letters were still received.
Due to the sex education in 1972 two issues with articles on masturbation
Masturbation
Masturbation refers to sexual stimulation of a person's own genitals, usually to the point of orgasm. The stimulation can be performed manually, by use of objects or tools, or by some combination of these methods. Masturbation is a common form of autoeroticism...
were indexed (prohibited for sale to under-age customers) because they were deemed youth-endangering.
Bravo made noticeably strong use of Anglicism
Anglicism
An Anglicism, as most often defined, is a word borrowed from English into another language. "Anglicism" also describes English syntax, grammar, meaning, and structure used in another language with varying degrees of corruption.-Anglicisms in Chinese:...
and "Denglisch
Denglisch
Denglisch or Denglish is a portmanteau of the German words Deutsch and Englisch. Used in all German-speaking and Dutch-speaking countries, it describes an influx of English, or pseudo-English, vocabulary into the German or Dutch language through travel and the widespread usage of English in...
" 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,, which resulted in the paper's nickname of (pimple
Pimple
A pimple, zit or spot is a kind of acne, and one of the many results of excess oil getting trapped in the pores. Some of the varieties are pustules or papules....
-Pravda
Pravda
Pravda was a leading newspaper of the Soviet Union and an official organ of the Central Committee of the Communist Party between 1912 and 1991....
). 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. Within the former GDR
German Democratic Republic
The German Democratic Republic , informally called East Germany by West Germany and other countries, was a socialist state established in 1949 in the Soviet zone of occupied Germany, including East Berlin of the Allied-occupied capital city...
(East Germany) 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.
The magazine is controversial abroad for its That's Me! section, which often features sex interviews and full frontal nude photos of teen models from age 14 (although the age has been raised to 16), which while legal in Germany, can cause problems with international child pornography laws. The magazine often works around these laws by having the models hold the camera's shutter button themselves, thereby showing explicit consent.
In addition to the idea of the Dr.-Sommer-team, Bravo invented the so-called Bravo-Starschnitt (star cut), a puzzle
Puzzle
A puzzle is a problem or enigma that tests the ingenuity of the solver. In a basic puzzle, one is intended to put together pieces in a logical way in order to come up with the desired solution...
of a life-sized poster of a celebrity. Every new issue provided one cutout piece. The first Starschnitt-feature began in 1959 and was a poster of Brigitte Bardot
Brigitte Bardot
Brigitte Anne-Marie Bardot is a French former fashion model, actress, singer and animal rights activist. She was one of the best-known sex-symbols of the 1960s.In her early life, Bardot was an aspiring ballet dancer...
.
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 gamesComputer Games"Computer Games" is a single by New Zealand group, Mi-Sex released in 1979 in Australia and New Zealand and in 1981 throughout Europe. It was the single that launched the band, and was hugely popular, particularly in Australia and New Zealand...
and video game consoleVideo game consoleA video game console is an interactive entertainment computer or customized computer system that produces a video display signal which can be used with a display device to display a video game...
s) - Bravo Sport (sport magazine)
- Bravo Sport TV (sport TV show)
- Bravo TV (youth television magazine)
- Bravo Hits (regularly published music compilation albumCompilation albumA compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...
) - 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
Advertising
Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...
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
ZDF
Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen , ZDF, is a public-service German television broadcaster based in Mainz . It is run as an independent non-profit institution, which was founded by the German federal states . The ZDF is financed by television licence fees called GEZ and advertising revenues...
. The first presenter was Kristiane Backer, followed by Heike Makatsch
Heike Makatsch
- Early life :Makatsch was born in Düsseldorf, Germany, the daughter of former German national ice hockey team goaltender Rainer Makatsch. She spent several months in New Mexico in 1988 in an effort to improve her English, and later studied politics and sociology at the University of Düsseldorf for...
. After a longer break Bravo TV reappeared on 5 November 2005 on ProSieben.
The magazine distributes its "Bravo Otto" (a small Indian
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
-styled figure) award in different categories. The design of the figure is inspired by Winnetou
Winnetou
Winnetou is a fictional Native American hero of several novels written by Karl May in German, including the sequels Winnetou I through Winnetou IV....
, played by Pierre Brice
Pierre Brice
Pierre Brice is a French actor, mainly known for his role as fictional Apache-chief Winnetou in German Karl May films.- Life and films :...
, who had a longstanding connection within his cinematic role to Bravo. Among the prized artists were Inge Meysel
Inge Meysel
Inge Meysel was a German actress. From the early 1960s until her death, Meysel was one of Germany's most popular actresses...
, Pierre Brice
Pierre Brice
Pierre Brice is a French actor, mainly known for his role as fictional Apache-chief Winnetou in German Karl May films.- Life and films :...
(Winnetou), Joachim Fuchsberger
Joachim Fuchsberger
Joachim Fuchsberger is a German actor, television host, lyricist, businessman, activist, paratrooper and World War II veteran best known to a wide German-speaking audience as one of the recurring actors in various Edgar Wallace movies Joachim Fuchsberger (born 11 March 1927 in Zuffenhausen, today...
, Stefan Raab
Stefan Raab
Stefan Konrad Raab is a German entertainer, television host, comedian and musician. Raab began his television career hosting the comedy show Vivasion in 1993 and has been hosting the late-night comedy show TV total since 1999. He became well-known in 1994 after composing a hit single spoofing...
, Whitney Houston
Whitney Houston
Whitney Elizabeth Houston is an American singer, actress, producer and a former model. Houston is the most awarded female act of all time, according to Guinness World Records, and her list of awards include 1 Emmy Award, 6 Grammy Awards, 30 Billboard Music Awards, 22 American Music Awards, among...
, Madonna
Madonna (entertainer)
Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...
, David Hasselhoff
David Hasselhoff
David Michael Hasselhoff is an American actor, singer, producer and businessman. He is best known for his lead roles as Michael Knight in the popular 1980s US series Knight Rider and as L.A. County Lifeguard Mitch Buchannon in the series Baywatch...
, Mariah Carey
Mariah Carey
Mariah Carey is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. She made her recording debut with the release of her eponymous studio album in 1990, under the guidance of Columbia Records executive Tommy Mottola, whom she later married in 1993...
, Boris Becker
Boris Becker
Boris Franz Becker is a former World No. 1 professional tennis player from Germany. He is a six-time Grand Slam singles champion, an Olympic gold medalist, and the youngest-ever winner of the men's singles title at Wimbledon at the age of 17...
, Bro'Sis
Bro'Sis
Bro'Sis were a multicultural R&B group from Germany, formed in 2001 in the second installment of the television talent show Popstars. Originally a sextet, the group eventually became a quintet, selling more than 2.2 million albums and singles worldwide...
, Heike Makatsch
Heike Makatsch
- Early life :Makatsch was born in Düsseldorf, Germany, the daughter of former German national ice hockey team goaltender Rainer Makatsch. She spent several months in New Mexico in 1988 in an effort to improve her English, and later studied politics and sociology at the University of Düsseldorf for...
, 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.
External links
- www.50JahreBravo.de Official site for the 50 year anniversary
- www.Bravo.de Bravo Internet portal (independent from the magazine's editorial staff)
- DrSommerteam.de Dr. Sommer Team: guidance and counseling
- www.bravo-archiv.de The digital Bravo archiv (1956 to present)
- Polish Language Version Bravo.pl Web Portal (PL)
- Serbian Bravo - Official Web Page
- Slovenian Bravo - Official Web Page
- Czech Bravo - Official Web Page
- Hungarian Bravo - Official Web Page
- Romanian Bravo - Official Web Page
- Bulgarian Bravo - Official Web Page
- Spanish Bravo - Official Web Page
- Portugal Bravo - Official Web Page
- Mexican Bravo - Official Web Page