Are Brands Compromising Their Morals to Increase Sales?

Mediaweek recently published an interesting article entitle 'Ads for Respected Brands Hit Racy Sites'.

As pop-culture and celebrity gossip blogs continue to see increased traffic, particularly with the youth demographic, advertisers’ views on what counts as acceptable have started to change. Given the uneasy economic climate and tightening budgets, it’s become increasingly important for mainstream brands to be mindful of where their ad dollars are going. As a result, following the crowds, even if that means entering non-traditional venues on the web with less respectable material, makes a good deal of sense. Despite the inherent logic of this move, some in the media still question whether this issue has more to do with negligent ad networks than with any real shift in attitude. In either case, it’s always been a challenge for manufacturers to reach a new audience without alienating their loyal base. The takeaway from this seems to be that a quality product or service will go a long towards keeping your customers regardless of the occasional media misstep.

Read the full article here

Vice magazine

Being one of the few magazine's I look out for, it was interesting to see 'Vice' magazine make it into The Independent. A recent article addresses the complicated nature of Vice Magazine becoming a more accepted format for a contemporary magazine.

Vice is known for publishing controversial content focused on youth culture and currently has an international readership approaching a million. The Independent reports:

Founded in Montreal, Canada, in 1994, the magazine started as a government-funded project, as part of a community-building welfare programme. Then known as the Voice of Montreal, it was originally run by three friends - Shane Smith, Suroosh Alvi and Gavin McInnes - and became the Voice before Vice was finally born. Now with its headquarters in New York and more than 900,000 readers across 22 countries, Vice is building an empire - complete with its own web-based television channel, fashion range, online store and record label…

Adding to its growing portfolio, Vice has released a string of coffee-table books bringing together some of its most popular features: Vice Dos and Don’ts showcases wry commentaries on street fashion; the Vice Guide to Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll is self-explanatory. And now, an exhibition features images from the latest venture, the Vice Photo Book.

“We are bored and disenchanted by what is served up to our generation,” Capper says. And this is the antidote.

Read the full article here