FT rebrands its luxury magazine to HTSI

The Financial Times is changing the name of its luxury magazine from How to Spend It to HTSI, reports Jim Waterson of The Guardian.

Waterson reports, “Yet the FT says the How To Spend It name no longer reflects the ‘changing times and priorities’ in a world of financial inequality and the invasion of Ukraine. As such the magazine has been rebranded as HTSI, with the FT inviting readers to ‘to interpret the ‘S’ in line with their own deeper interests.’

“The newspaper suggested possible definitions of HTSI include how to style it, how to save it, or how to steer, surf or savour it. Other potential reader interpretations – such how to splurge it, how to snort it, or how to steal it – did not make the press release announcing the changes.

“Jo Ellison, the magazine’s editor, said the change was necessary to ‘reflect a world with deeper sensitivities’ and ‘the irony with which the title was first conceived has sometimes failed to land.’

“She suggested it was uncomfortable to run a magazine called How To Spend It in a world dealing with the after-effects of a pandemic, where Russia was invading a neighbouring country, and where the cost of living crisis was starting to bite.”

Read more here.