Can't a Cover be Just a Cover?

Context
On the Today Show this cover of Vogue is described as being very controversial. LeBron James, big hoops star and Gisele Bundchen, top model for the day, grace the cover which is being compared to the King Kong movie poster. Several people emailed Today with their comments. One asked, "Can't a cover be just a cover?" My response is, "No. Not when the cover is Vogue. Not when James is only the third man to be featured on the cover. Not when this cover shows the first black man to ever grace the cover of Vogue Magazine. Not when the photographer is Annie Leibovitz. Not when you understand the importance of a magazine's cover to grab an audience and sell the magazine's image. Many photos were taken that showed a silly side, athletic side and serious side of both celebrities. These are shown in the magazine, but this one introduces it. James declared, he was "just showing a little emotion." I think that the image is intentionally bigoted.

How I could use this in class
I will show this cover this week, since it is a hot topic, but in the future it will go into a unit on images. We will discuss the racial and gender implications and decide if they are in play in the image. We will then discuss why Vogue decided to use the cover. What was their agenda? Does this image encourage you to buy the magazine or pass on it? I think it will be lively discussion.