Michele Bachmann Newsweek Photo

About

Michele Bachmann Newsweek Photo refers to a magazine cover featuring a wide-eyed photo of Minnesota congresswoman and 2012 Republican presidential candidate nominee Michele Bachmann. The image has inspired photoshop fads and parody videos, and sparked a debate about whether it was appropriate for Newsweek to use the photo.

Origin

On August 7th, 2011, the official Newsweek Twitter^[1] account posted a link to a sneak preview of their magazine cover that would be released the following week on August 15th.

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The photo was taken by Canadian photographer Chris Buck^[2], and was seen by many to be an intentionally unflattering photograph due to Bachmann’s surprised expression.

Spread

On August 7th, 2011, Gawker^[3] published an article titled “Michele Bachmann Looks, Um, Surprised to Be on Newsweek Cover” describing the unpublished magazine cover.

Jon Stewart shamed Newsweek editor Tina Brown during an episode of The Daily Show on August 9th.

On August 16th, 2011, ABC News^[7] published an interview with former Deleware Senate GOP nominee Christine O’Donnell claiming that the Michele Bachmann cover was sexist.

The picture of Michele Bachmann on the cover of Newsweek was “absolutely” sexist, the former GOP nominee for the 2010 Delaware Senate seat told me. Christine O’Donnell said she speaks from experience when she says women candidates –mainly Republican women – are unfairly treated.

#QueenOfRage

The #QueenOfRage hashtag was started by Newsweek in their initial tweet of the image. It has since been used by other Michele Bachmann related tweets, often referencing the famous Newsweek cover.

Derivatives

Bachmann Eyes

BuzzFeed Editor Matt Stopera posted a series of images titled “Hot Chicks With Michele Bachmeyes”^[6] showing women photoshopped with Michele Bachmann eyes on August 8th, 2011. The “Bachmanneyezed” Tumblr^[8] was created 2 days later on August 10th (see also Steve Buscemeyes).

Alternate Newsweek Covers

A collection of alternate Michele Bachmann Newsweek covers was posted to Funny or Die^[5] on August 8th, 2011.

Parody Videos

Search

Search queries for “michele bachmann newsweek” began rising rapidly on August 8th, 2011, the day after the Gawker article was published.

External Links