Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition

In 1964, the popular men's sport magazine, Sports Illustrated (SI), published its first Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue (SISI). Each subsequent year, the magazine has dedicated an issue featuring beachwear rather than sports news. Although the first SISIs primarily focused on fashion and contained mostly travel and tourism advertisements, over the years the issue became less and less about fashion and travel and focused more on the sexual appeal of the models sporting the swimsuits in exotic locations. The SISI's targeted consumers consist predominately of heterosexual males. The SISI is extremely popular and usually outsells regular issues [Page 1389]of SI. There are varying opinions on the merit of the issue, as fans classify it as art and critics consider it a form of ...