I found this image on the magculture.com blog. Esquire's December issue is a flashback to the covers we saw in class yesterday with Bill Clinton and Halle Berry. Each time Esquire replays this image it becomes more distasteful.
The December issue with Robert Downey Jr. implements a few different pieces, but still conveys a similar message as Clinton's cover. To start, the current cover gets rid of the blue tie. The blue tie stood out in the previous covers by being one of the bold colors standing out in the all black clothing. Instead of using the blue tie again, the December issue relies on the sitting position to refer back to the previous covers.
Something that I found distracting is the overuse of headlines on Downey's cover. Esquire goes from no headlines with Clinton, to a few large headlines with Berry, to headline overload. This cover is too busy.
The positioning of Downey's hands is a different move from the previous images and personally I found this in poor taste. At first glance it seems as though he is pointing to the white box, but on closer inspection this is not the case. Esquire has taken the initial message Clinton conveyed and overtime has turned into a not so subtle sexual reference.
