[5][4] Launched in November 1972[6] under the direction of Ita Buttrose, the magazine's founding editor,[7] Cleo became one of Australia's most iconic titles due to its mix of seemingly controversial content, including the first nude male centerfold (following American Cosmopolitan's nude centerfold of Burt Reynolds six months' earlier) and detailed sex advice.

According to the magazine's editorial philosophy, "Cleo gets women, and it also strikes the perfect balance, offers a bright, light-hearted tone and aesthetic without shying away from the more serious issues that are important to their readers.".

In addition, Beauty Bites, Cleo's digital app, offered an interactive component to technologically minded Gen Y readers, including how-to video tutorials, expert advice and reader-generated content.

Alongside articles on group sex, contraception, "happy hookers" and Jack Thompson as the first nude "Mate of the Month", the launch issue featured tips on "How to be a sexy housekeeper."

In stark contrast to the lack of literary content in modern glossy magazines, Buttrose ran a short story by Norman Mailer, a prominent author at the time.

When the magazine conducted the first national readership survey in 1974, figures revealed that 30 percent of women aged between 13 and 24 read Cleo every month.

In her first editorial letter, Buttrose described who she thought the Cleo reader was: "You're an intelligent woman who's interested in everything that's going on, the type of person who wants a great deal more out of life.

Every month, there were feature articles covering issues including: the work/life balance, the pressure to get married and raise a family, abortion, contraception, women's education, domestic violence and rape.

The magazine helped create the feminist public sphere, opening doors for discussions about new ideas which modern women treat as mainstream today.

Cleo pushed boundaries in mainstream publishing with candid articles on topics ranging from sex toys, fantasies and orgasms, to lesbianism and contraception.

University of Sydney media academic Megan Le Masurier interprets the centerfold phenomenon as an incentive for popular feminist desire.

The representation of the male nude "offered women the chance to imagine themselves as active sexual agents, quite capable of holding the gaze".

The move came as a result of research conducted by the magazine which revealed a conservative streak among Generation Y readers – Cleo's largest audience demographic – most of whom still live at home.

As Markson explained: "They are embarrassed to be sitting at home with their parents reading a magazine which has the word 'orgasm' in bold print on the cover".

[18] In the pages of Cleo, all the racy content of the earlier, more progressive era was replaced with celebrity news and fashion, beauty and fitness tips.

Where Dolly targets teenage girls, Cleo focuses on an older group, women in their twenties and thirties.

Cleo suffered a steady decline in circulation due to changes in the way media was consumed and the failure of publishers in the 1990s and 2000s (decade) to follow their readers online.

On 20 January 2016, Bauer Media Group confirmed that Cleo magazine would close in Australia after more than 40 years of publication, with the final issue being March, on sale 22 February.

In June 2020, Cleo was acquired by the Sydney investment firm Mercury Capital as part of its acquisition of several of Bauer Media's former Australian and New Zealand titles.

She had the talent and conviction to take advantage of this period of social and political change, with new ideas about sexual freedom, female independence and gender equality heavily promoted in her magazine.

Despite scepticism from Sir Frank Packer, the Publisher, Buttrose's hunch that Cleo would appeal to modern Australian women proved to be right, with the magazine becoming the top selling monthly women's title and elevating Buttrose to the status of a feminist icon and magazine queen.

Andrew Cowell, the art director on the debut edition of Cleo said: "Ita's always had a talent to tap into a real need.

Nicole Kidman, Miranda Kerr, Deborah Thomas, Paula Joye and Mia Freedman all credit her as a long-time supporter.

[33][34] Mia Freedman's first foray into magazine publishing was also at Cleo – doing work experience under then-editor Lisa Wilkinson.

[38] Sarah Oakes is an experienced editor who has worked on a number of Australian publications such as K-Zone and Girlfriend and received many accolades throughout her career.

"[41] Cleo experienced an Average Net Paid Sales (ANPS) decline from 149,256 in 2008 to 134,286 in 2009, with a rate dropped by −10.03% and the number of copies sold decreased by 14,970-year-on-year.

There is plenty of joking, bantering, and double entendres among the female characters who use humour to deal with obstacles that come their way from the suits upstairs when creating the magazine.

"Paper Giants' recruitment of humour…is an important corrective to the cliché of humourless feminists and to po-faced and hubristic accounts of radical political movements".