WWE Launches Kids Magazine

The WWE has just launched a magazine geared towards children. I'm actually surprised that the WWE hasn't done something like this many years ago. Since the '80s, children have been a key demographic for the company.

Why this magazine makes sense?
The WWE knocked all their competition out of business in the '80s in part due to their catering towards children. By creating toys and a cartoon series, the WWE shed the old image of wrasslin' as taking place in a smoke-filled room and made it an event for the whole family. Since the Attitude era of the late '90s, the WWE has pretty much abandoned catering their program towards the viewing habits of children by getting rid of their Saturday morning syndicated shows and featuring an edgier product. By creating this magazine, they have created an access point for their product to the next generation of wrestling fans.

Potential pitfalls for this magazine
I see two potential pitfalls for this magazine. From the outside, there are many groups that think that there was no sex, drugs, or violence in society before pro wrestling was thrust upon the youth of America. For these people, this magazine is a great way for them to vilify the WWE for marketing a product they deem harmful to children. I guarantee you that the next time a famous wrestler does something wrong or a ludicrous University study is published, someone will make mention of this magazine.

The other major problem that can happen is if this magazine becomes a success and the WWE decides to add more child-like elements to their programming. By gearing their product towards children, the WWE almost went out of business a decade ago. When you try to introduce child-like elements to a show featuring a huge segment of adults in the audience, the fans have shown an unwillingness to accept these characters. Hopefully, the WWE will keep the features of this magazine to the pages and not try to recreate them on an episode of Monday Night RAW.

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