How has the Cosmo girl changed since former editor Helen Gurley Browns days?
KW: In a very major way, she has changed in terms of her confidence level. When Helen projected the image that used to be in ads back in the ’60s and ’70s of this really almost haughty-looking sophisticated woman, that was the fantasy in your mind, if you were a Cosmo reader, of how you were going to be. Let’s face it: Back then, women weren’t making that kind of money. They didn’t have the same number of choices. The fact that they were in this position of ruling the world it looked like they did in the ad but of course they didn’t. When I got the job, I knew that the ad campaign was Fun Fearless Female, but I assumed like a lot of good ad campaigns, it was more sizzle than steak. But when I got in and started reading the letters and emails from readers, I was blown away by how confident they are. They feel a very healthy sense of entitlement. They feel if they work hard enough, they can have anything they want. It’s so refreshing. The only thing they struggle with today is they’ve go
