SI 5/16 product-placement cover

Reebok had to pony up beaucoup bucks for this cover. Clearly that's the only explanation for this cover. It looks like someone ran in front of the camera right when the photographer was taking the shot.

 

I think it's a good effort with the photo, but it's a marvelous fail. TSP, I hope you were joking.
When I was younger, I used to count the Nike swooshes in every issue to see how much extra advertising they were getting; the numbers were mind blowing.

 

It's also an ugly shoe.

 

Considering it's a new shoe that Reebok is hyping the hell out of, there's no way that's a coincidence... I'm guessing Reebok never paid for the cover directly, but I'm guessing there will be a shitload of Reebok ads in SI in the future.

 

I thought is was a picture of a prosthetic.

 

Anybody here get SI Kids? All of their covers lately have been product-placement covers, with a real cover underneath. It' really hard to tell that it's really an ad — and certainly kids would have trouble telling the difference.

The April edition has Dwyane Wade on the cover with a goldfish — as in Goldfish crackers. But the SI Kids logo looks normal. In small print above the logo it says PROMOTIONAL COVER WRAP. Turn the page, and you get the real cover, which is Carl Crawford and the Baseball Preview issue.

 

Sporting News had something like that with driver Steven Wallace and 5-hour Energy a few months ago.

http://www.mediabistro.com/sportsnewser/sporting-news-sells-fake-cover-to-5-hour-energy_b6039