Years past having any relevance, Vice is clearly now just a hollow label for sale to ANY brand looking to drop some money on a misguided “co-branding” opportunity – five years too late. Much like a hooker in heels, Vice’s branding-arm Virtue sells “access” to youthful tastemakers in a manner equally indiscriminate of who’s money they take. Though this is tasteless brand dilution, the “cool” ‘boomer agency types wearing Ed Hardy shirts on the weekend can’t spot this. To them, Vice in 2009 is totally tight with so-called “tastemakers,” “hipsters” and “youth.”  Or so says their out-of-touch media. And that logic leads to the agency equivalent of buying a knockoff Chanel purse on Canal Street.

Sadly if they caught this same train five years ago, at least it would have included doing lines in the bathroom of some downtown club, whilst palling around with the magazine’s masthead and some B-list types like Johnny Knoxville. That IS what made Vice so grand in its heyday. Some cubicle joker from Read the rest of this entry »