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In this post I’ve composed a collection of magazine covers that have kindled a lot of debate and harsh controversy through the years.

These covers also serve a very important purpose being an object lesson for what to avoid in both design and editorial.

While some contentious covers have increase sales for their magazines and caused the businesses to prosper, and also brought awards for the editors who had the verdict to go to press with them, others were mortification that the publication had to either make an apology for, or fire an editor over.

Here are some of the most controversial magazine covers of all time. If you know a magazine cover that had been debatable over the years please suggest us and we’ll make that cover a part of this collection.

Time Magazine, January 2, 1939: Hitler as Man of the Year

This cover featured an intricate illustration of Hitler playing “his hymn of hate in a desecrated cathedral while victims dangle on a St. Catherine’s wheel while the Nazi hierarchy looks on.” Baron Rudolph Charles von Ripper was a Catholic that escaped Hitler’s Germany, and the artist of this upsetting piece. By 1938, Hitler had decisively detained power in Germany, taken over Austria and Czechoslovakia, and had been given a free hand in Eastern Europe by the English prime minister of the time, Neville Chamberlain. Time has had to guard this choice all through history, and at the time protected it by describing that the “Man of the Year” was a title bestowed on the person who had most influenced events of the previous year.

Time Magazine, April 8, 1966: Is God Dead?

This cover has been known as the most contentious of all time. The related article concerned the “death of god movement” that had rebounded in the 1960’s. The cover and article infuriated readers.

Life, November 26, 1965: War In Vietnam

Paul Schutzers has taken this eye-catching illustration of a VietCong prisoner being taken and convicted by American forces during the Vietnam War. Photography and news coverage like this assisted to turn the American public against the Vietnam War. While Schutzers was one of LIFE’s best photographers, he was killed on his mission during the Six-Day War of 1967 between Israel and its neighboring states of Egypt, Jordan, and Syria.

Esquire, April 1968: The Passion of Ali

This smart interpretation of Muhammad Ali was fashioned to demonstrate his martyrdom to his cause after he declined to join the US military due to his spiritual beliefs and was then stripped of his strong boxing title. The piece was done after the same approach as “The Martyrdom of St. Sebastian”, an admired theme through medieval art but most decipherable in the painting by Andrea Mantegna.

Esquire, May 1969: The Drowning of Andy Warhol

Another achievement of Esquire’s previous imaginative Art Director, George Lois, this picture combined two different shots of a soup can and Warhol. In the first decade of his service at Esquire, movement was heightened from 500,000 to 2 million, a figure for which his covers were to some extent accountable. This shot gives an orientation to Warhol’s well-known “soup can” show that represents the American futuristic art movement.

Playboy, October 1971: First Playboy African-American Woman

This cover was the first Playboy cover to feature an African-American woman. The model is Darine Stern and the photographer was Richard Fegley.

This post continues — we’ll be back with 6 more covers — keep checking for updates !

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