While most of us think of magazines as publications that we buy in order to be entertained, educated, or informed, there are many magazine buyers who buy them mostly because they represent status symbols. And although these fancy magazines do have lots of valuable and interesting content, many who subscribe to them do so with no intention of actually sitting down to read them. They instead want to use the magazines as decorations or props, in order to impress other people.

One example is the person who is not wealthy but who subscribes to a magazine like the Robb Report, which is full of articles, ads, and pictures related to the lifestyles of the rich and famous. The magazine is expensive, and shelling out money for each issue can be as costly as the purchase of a hardback book. But those who find it impressive are quick to point out that it carries with it a certain status factor. And those who keep it around on the coffee table or in the office waiting room are banking on the fact that their visitors will translate that affluent impression to the person who placed the magazine there.

Other publications like the women's fashion magazine W or the men's magazines like Esquire and GQ carry a status attached to fashion, clothing, jewelry, and social power. Many people get a kind of vicarious feeling of influence and power by owning the magazine ? as if by reading about others who have real wealth or fashion sense, the attributes somehow come through the pages and can be experienced by the reader. Car magazines are big on this kind of status. Many of the people who read magazines about cars that cost in the hundreds of thousands of dollars ? brands like Saleen, Porsche, and Rolls ? are actually teens who are barely old enough to have a driver's license. But because they are thrilled by automotive beauty and power, the magazines are fun to read. And when their friends see the magazines, it can often transfer a kind of status to the person ? usually a guy ? who owns the magazines.

But the status factor is not easily outgrown, and sometimes it is part of a marketing strategy. Many people who subscribe to magazines about resort homes, custom architecture, international travel, and high finance do so not to read the magazines but just to use them as accessories. For instance, stock brokers or real estate agents might have them around for clients to see. And many wine magazines ? the ones that rate wines ? are kept in restaurant waiting areas in order to convey to the guests who are waiting patiently for a table or a place at the bar that the establishment is classy.