Every year People Magazine elects the Sexiest Man Alive and every year, without fail, some controversy arises. But as debate flourishes, the sales of the magazine reach new heights. It’s now to the point where the announcement of the Sexiest Man Alive is newsworthy and whoever is selected goes on a promotional tour.
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But how does People choose whoever is going to make it onto their cover? Surely the magazine must have some process and requirements, especially in an age when rating people based on their beauty is far from acceptable. Let’s have a look.
People’s values in electing the sexiest man alive
Rest assured, People does have a process. In 2019, when they elected John Legend, the editor in chief at the time explained how the choice is made in an interview with CNN.
Dan Wakeford told CNN that when the magazine chose to make that ‘election’ yearly, in 1997, the vote had to be the result of an established process in line with the magazine's values. CNN writes that choosing the sexiest man alive goes beyond ‘just identifying a celebrity with a handsome face.’
In 2019, Wakeford highlighted that the goal was to ‘choose somebody who is kind, and who is good and is nice.’ He added:
People is really trying to inspire people to make a difference in the world and do good through our content, (...) The “Sexiest Man” is a person of character
But of course they also have to be someone,
Who is hot, who is doing really well, and who actually is sexy.
The process of electing the sexiest man alive
In the same interview with CNN Wakeford admitted that the cover is something that editors of People ‘think about all the time’. Talking specifically about the process of choice, the former editor in chief said:
There are so many different variables and ways of approaching it
A starting point often is, when we want to make a decision, is to think about the zeitgeist, think about what is sexy at the moment. What do people find appealing at the moment?
Next is looking at what concepts will make sense visually.
However, in the end, the editors and members of staff involved in the process still ask themselves this simple question:
Do we find them sexy?
Beyond that, the choice is also influenced by the data collected from the millions of readers People has. They also create more data and ‘send calls out to consumers and focus groups, working out who people find sexy.’
The impact of being elected the sexiest man alive
Though this election of the sexiest man alive might sound silly to some, for the men in question it is the opposite. Indeed, as Wakeford himself points out, ‘this is one of the biggest moments of a star’s career. This title will follow them.’
If we take the newest winner of the title, Patrick Dempsey, this is something the actor seems to be thrilled about. On People’s Instagram account the actor says:
It’s great, it’s fun. It’s a tremendous honor.
This is also very good publicity for Dempsey’s upcoming film Ferrari, set to come out in December. But this isn’t all. The actor has also used his appearance on Jimmy Kimmel to talk about issues he cares about. For instance, he mentioned the Dempsey Center in Maine which aims to ‘make life better for people impacted by cancer.’
Maybe People is right. Being sexy does just mean a ‘handsome face’ but also what’s on the inside. Inspirational stuff…
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Sources:
CNN: Inside the ‘Sexiest Man Alive’ selection
People: Jimmy Kimmel Reveals Patrick Dempsey as PEOPLE's 2023 Sexiest Man Alive
