Status Magazine publisher clears the air

“I would be totally out of my mind to have advertising that people had not paid for, and to unprofessionally go to people’s website and put their ads in this magazine.”{{more}}

Publisher Pearl Williams made this point as she defended her latest work: Status Magazine, during an interview with Searchlight Newspaper recently.

Williams was refuting suggestions that the status of her magazine is questionable, after some persons queried the authenticity of its advertisings and features.

“My intention is clean. It is an effort to promote St. Vincent and the Grenadines as I said at the launch (April 16th 2008.)”

“Let us say I did not receive proper representation on behalf of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and I took my initiative to promote a product, why should it come across aggressively?”

“This is an attack, a pull down and narrow-mindedness. We need to congratulate our people and support our people.”

The leader of the Beautex International Mas band indicated that her magazine, which features successful business persons, politicians and entertainers, has a style of its own, unlike any other in the region.

When asked about the resume-like format of the feature stories, Williams said she and the magazine’s other writers chose to write articles in a profile style.

“We prefer to go with the facts written and signed by the individuals rather than using any put together profile that looks outstanding.”

“We have to be careful about twisting words and formatting stories that are not necessarily the case. We decided that we are just going to stick to the facts of these people.”

In relation to the advertising, Williams said that there was a case of miscommunication when it came to a number of the local adverts featured in the magazine, while in other cases she went on the word of her sales representative and advertising consultant.

Williams, also the organizer of the Miss Big and Beautiful Pageant, said that the Hairoun ad featured in the magazine was complimentary, for the support her organization has received from the St. Vincent Brewery, while the Carib Beer ad was sanctioned by a marketing representative who is no longer with Bottlers Ltd.

She also said that her sales representative and consultant, who she refused to identify, gave her the go ahead to publish other ads in the magazine.

Despite the queries, Williams expects demand for the production to increase, and believes that the magazine will offer competition to other regional and international publications.

“Despite all this, we have emails and calls coming in for issues of the magazine.”(JJ)