Oct 10 2007
The Harlequin Romance Report: Furthering Stereotypes for Another Glorious Sales Year
The 2008 Harlequin Romance Report has the theme Confessions. Confess your sins here and be absolved. Or just provide fodder for the mockery cannon that gets aimed at romance readers every time this thing is released.
Harlequin puts a great deal of time and expense into producing and distributing the Report. Do they take the opportunity to showcase the diversity of romance readers and portray them as intelligent members of society who have a soft spot for a good love story? Not this year. This year, we’re going to Hell because we are ssssinners.
I’ve come to expect something along these lines from the Report. What blows my mind is that people are participating in the degradation. Here are the total posts by category as of this writing:
Lust (190)
Greed (10)
Envy (20)
Pride (16)
Anger (23)
Sloth (17)
Gluttony (17)
Other (42)
I gotta admit, I’m curious about Other.
Note the preponderance of entries under Lust because, of course, romance readers are all sex-obsessed.
What I would like to see is a category where those of us who choose not to expose our inner evil for a publisher’s publicity campaign can say so, so that when the results are tallied, the more circumspect portion of the romance-reading community is represented along with the seven deadly dwarves, Lusty, Greedy, Envy, Pridey, Angry, Slothy, and Gluttony, and their mutt who answers to Other.
Am I alone in thinking painting one’s customers with a big brush of biblical reckoning is tacky? Offensive? Insulting? Bad business? Or is this “all in good fun” and I’m missing out on a ripping good time?
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11/4
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11/25
October 11th, 2007 at 8:59 pm
No, I agree that that’s incredibly stupid, all things considered. :/ I’m sure the Marketing Department thought it was cute or fun or a tiny bit wicked or however they sold it, but the romance genre and its adherents really don’t need to have the fires of scorn fed by people supposedly on the inside. [eyeroll]
Angie
October 12th, 2007 at 5:30 am
This has bothered me more than it should. People get up in arms about miniskirts and swan hats reflecting poorly on Romance, but I’m not seeing the same hue and cry over a major romance publisher’s annual marketing extravaganza holding up these “confessions” as representative of readers of the genre like it’s a better image than the sexually frustrated hausfrau so many people envision when they think “romance reader.” Maybe it’s because it’s a publisher that nobody’s making a stink over it.
I should probably put my displeasure to good use and contact their marketing department, perhaps suggesting “Diversity” as next year’s theme. I’d toss in my demographics if it would help demonstrate romance readers come in all genders, races, occupations, financial situations, religious backgrounds, etc.