It's Here, It's Free And Isn't Afraid To Offend

Sydney Morning Herald

Tuesday May 6, 2003

Peter Gotting, Marketing Writer

It is a slick new street magazine targeting young people with advice on oral sex, cocaine, ecstasy, and with articles headlined: ``Hooray for hate" and ``The day I joined the KKK".

Its creators say it is just what young people want to read.

Even the ads in the decidedly un-PC Vice already a hit in Canada, the United States, Britain and Japan are extreme.

One ad featured in the launch of the Australian edition, unveiled yesterday, proclaims: ``F--k the brands that are f--cking people".

That hasn't stopped the free Vice snaring advertising support from General Pants , Mambo , Diesel and Asahi beer, and the magazine's Melbourne publishers say ad space sold out in three weeks.

Last night's launch, on a boat on the harbour, was sponsored by the mainstream label Tsubi and General Pants . It featured a New York band, A.R.E. Weapons , known for their prodigious swearing.

Even though Vice is anything but politically correct, it was not all about being offensive, said its international marketing manager Erik Lavoie , 24, visiting Sydney from New York. Vice was the Rolling Stone for today's 18-35 year-olds, he said.

``It's youth culture . . . All the other music magazines that we read are pieces of shit. They don't write about things we love. The interviews are crap, the reviews are crap. [Vice] is just a very ironic and straightforward writing style; you write what you feel."

According to its website, Vice was set up by ``a few Montreal drug addicts scamming welfare make-work programs back in 1994".

It was funded by a United States dotcom millionaire who has since gone bust. But the management bought the company and built it into a global streetwear magazine, with spin-offs including clothing, a record label, books and stores in North America.

Its 25,000 Australian copies will be distributed free through bars, clothing and record stores.

``It's a very grassroots way to issue it," Mr Lavoie said ``There's no ads for the magazine when issues come out. You have to know that it exists. It's all about being in the know."

Colin Blake , marketing manager of General Pants Co, said the magazine was not just out to shock.

``A magazine like Vice is just talking about things that genuinely interest people."

© 2003 Sydney Morning Herald

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