Is the latest Businessweek cover smart of sophomoric?

Former BusinessWeek chief of correspondents Joe Weber, now a University of Nebraska journalism professor, writes about the latest cover of Bloomberg Businessweek, which features two airplanes apparently fornicating, by asking his students what they thought about it.

Weber writes, “Another concurred, adding a thought about the cover language. ‘If the title was about a merger, there’s no way I would pick it up. This I would pick up,’ she said.

“Many found it funny. ‘It’s fun. I like the design. It’s a mature joke,’ she said.

“Of course, opinion wasn’t unanimous. A solid minority, including some who found the image entertaining, thought it ‘inappropriate’ for a national business magazine. Some even worried about kids seeing it on the dining-room table or newsstand. Two found it ‘distasteful.’ While saying she found it ‘slightly inappropriate,’ one hurried to add that she was not offended.

“And some were just perplexed. ‘It’s just a couple airplanes,’ said one. ‘Airplanes can’t have sex.’ Another said he couldn’t get the image at first, since it looked like a couple planes colliding or flying in tandem. And one, blushing, said the word that came to mind was ‘sexual,’ and she added that the idea was ‘disconnected.’ She asked, ‘why refer to two plane companies as sexual?'”

Read more here.