Ana Fadigas, founder of G Magazine, remembers stories and achievements

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Ana Fadigas is the name responsible for an unprecedented feat that, nowadays, could even seem like a platonic idea. Fadigas founded G Magazine, where she managed to remove the clothes of models, ex-BBBs, sportsmen, actors and singers from the mainstream media for the appreciation of the gay community in the late 90s and 2000s. The personalities performed a frontal nude – sometimes even showing an erection – for the publication, which hada monthly circulation of around 20 thousand copies.

Initially under the name of Bananaloca, G Magazine went beyond the naked bodies, it was also synonymous with activism, with behavioral guidelines and important columnists who collaborated over the years. There were 176 editions that makes us remember.

The G Magazine went on to circulate for more than fifteen years and, according to the IVC (Circulation Verification Institute), it went on to sell 180,000 copies per month, which represents more than half of Playboy’s average circulation at the time, which was 240,000 copies.

- BKDR -

In an interview with GAY BLOG BR, Ana Fadigas recalls some points of the trajectory of the most successful magazine ever made for gay audiences in Brazil:

In Bananaloca magazine, the predecessor of G Magazine, you had two partners, among them, the presenter Otávio Mesquita. Why did they leave the project as soon as it started? Did they not believe in the market potential?

Yes, Bananaloca was the great test to enter this market. Two journalists, who did not use their real names, owned the Bananaloca website and, in partnership with them, we did five editions. For reasons of diverging paths to take, we left Bananaloca aside and became G Magazine. At Fractal Edições, our publisher, we were three partners:Ângelo Rossi, Otávio Mesquita and me. We followed the three with Sexy magazine (the publisher’s first magazine), well after Otávio left the company, but he worked hard on the brand and segment before that. Ângelo Rossi also left years later taking the Sexy magazine to his publisher, the Peixes, a new publisher at the time. I stayed with Fractal and G Magazine.

The G Magazine had 176 editions, what is your favorite?

Impossible to choose an edition as a favorite! Really. Each edition I fell in love with the project.

And what did you like least?

Maybe there are some that I didn’t like so much. But I think that when the cover model “only” posed for the fee, it bothered me a little. But I wouldn’t be able to quote them (laughs).

Did Alexandre Frota’s AG Magazine sell the most?

Frota made four editions of the G, if I’m not mistaken, they all did very well in sales. I think because he was also our partner in the dissemination of his editions. He always strive for good work.

The publication lasted from 1997 to 2013, which was the magazine’s most profitable year?

I only consider G Magazine until the 120th edition, marking the 10 years of the magazine. Until that I signed the magazine. The publisher that bought G Magazine, bought with the intention of making money with the brand. But, in addition, they have no respect for the original project of G Magazine, which was to have first-rate journalism along with nudity, and, without following any path, the magazine was coming to an end. Both the print and the virtual edition.

The financial life of G Magazine had ups and downs. In the first years we invested a lot in the magazine’s physical structure, fees, columnists and so. We reinvested, normally. Throughout its existence, G Magazine has had periods of financial vigor. Even more often with the portal at UOL. For example, the covers with football players. BBB participants, soap opera actors and so on. They had great sales. My dream would be for the new publisher to invest in a new path, perhaps, as I no longer had the stamina to invest.

Who would you like to see on the cover of G Magazine?

At the time I would have liked to have seen Reynaldo Gianecchini.

And what did you think of Roger’s photo shoot, from Ultraje a Rigor?

I didn’t like it. Had no soul.

The publications and newspapers are going through a great crisis, do you believe that the print media is over?

The print media has already counted its days! There are a few newspapers and few magazines left that will soon become obsolete. Perhaps on paper, we only have very segmented vehicles. G itself was already fully inserted in the virtual world. It was the future expected from there.

Have you worked for decades at Editora Abril as an editor, going through several publications, what do you miss most about the time when the magazine had a lot of prominence?

We, lovers of magazines or print media, miss everything (laughs). And I breathed magazine for four decades or so. I loved the smell of ink on paper and other homesick sensations. I remember with joy my eight years in front of Contigo magazine,when she broke sales records. Weekly magazine was passionate.

Changing the subject a little, what is your opinion about the current government?

Wow! Shall we talk about the nameless now? Brazil fell into a deception from which we do not know how to get out. They dismantle the country without thinking about tomorrow. Zero future with this government. But as I am, and I have always been a left-wing, I think that better days will come. Perhaps the left-wing needed this brutal awareness.

And currently, in times of social isolation, what have you been doing?

It took me about ten years to recover from the sale of Editora. Watching G Magazine end, the third marriage also come to an end, the market declines sharply in my area, without being able to see the future very well… I went to deal with depression. I dedicated myself a lot (laughs). Today, grandmother of four male grandchildren, two teenagers and two big boys, I live halfway between these loves, the pandemic, and militancy within the parameters of my age. I follow this scenario very well. And I still dream of picking up the pieces of this story and letting it be told in some way.

To follow Ana Fadigas on Instagram.

SEE ALSO:

“Bananaloca”, the publication that originated G Magazine

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