Indie Musician's Viral Tour Diary Was a Marketing Stunt for His Startup

Jack Conte of the YouTube-famous band Pomplamoose caused a stir last week when he posted an account of his tour financials on Medium. "Being an independent artist is so difficult" was the thrust of his essay—true, no doubt—and tucked into the back half was a mention of an apparent way out: Patreon, a crowdfunding…
America Too Fancy For Budweiser All of a Sudden
America, "The World's Fanciest Nation," loves beer, it's true. But now it seems that you all want "good" beer. What ever happened to good old-fashioned bad American beer?
"Indie" Bands Sell Out Just to Sleep in Corporate-Run Crash Pad
The music industry has shifted from a business model of "selling albums" to a business model of " sell out hard as hell and hope to get your song in an ad campaign." Now, bands can directly pimp themselves out to the Sour Patch Kids™ brand in exchange for room and board.
Dog Pack Swarms Unprotected Seniors in Elaborately Planned Raid
"A little girl saves money to buy dozens of tennis balls at Walmart, presented as wrapped gifts for nursing-home residents, who are puzzled until they realize they're meant for play during a surprise visit by an onslaught of dogs." Walmart's latest ad is fucked up.
What Is Gamergate, and Why? An Explainer for Non-Geeks
Until recently, you might have lived a life blissfully unaware of the online #Gamergate movement. But last week, computing giant Intel pulled its ads from an independent game-development site thanks to the gaming lobby. Now that major companies are taking sides, it's time to figure it out. Let us be your guides.
Please Don't Be Cynical About This New Site's Huge Corporate Sponsors
What happens when you combine the editorial sensibility of Upworthy with the world's most powerful corporations and filter it all through Vice's ad agency? Collectively.org, a new site that will save the earth. Cynical? Stop being part of the problem.
Hundreds of NYC Pay Phones Have Been Tracking You for Months
Titan, a company that controls the ad space on 5,000 phone booths around New York City, quietly installed bluetooth beacons capable of automatically tracking and serving ads to nearby smartphones on hundreds of its Manhattan booths, BuzzFeed reported early this morning. Now, in the wake of BuzzFeed's report, City…
Emails: Vice Requires Writers to Get Approval to Write About Brands
At most media organizations, there's a "Chinese wall" between editorial and advertising operations—each department operating independently of one another. At Vice Media—marketing shop first, editorial brand second—that's not quite how it works, according to a series of emails published to Twitter by recently departed…
Bizarre GOP Ad Theorizes "Republicans Are People Too"
For many crypto-Marxist Americans, ragging on Republicans is a cherished pastime, but what do we really know about our conservative brothers and sisters? For instance, what even are Republicans? According to a new ad campaign by consulting firm Glass House Strategies, Republicans are people, primarily the kind that…
Superficially Attractive Celebrity Hammers Home Shallowness of Populace
You, the American consumer, are much like a mildly sedated monkey: passive; easily distracted; focused upon only the most superficial occurrences. A clothing corporation celebrates these traits in a new advertisement that will certainly catch your attention, you shallow monkey.
"In a market of brands hungry for content they can own, why not opt for words written by real journalists?" writes Matt Van Hoven of "brand journalism," the latest buzzword for human-sounding ads. "Certainly it could go a long way to convince readers that what they're getting is truth, or some form of it."
Clive Owen Needs an Alka-Seltzer
Every time I drive on the New Jersey Turnpike I see one of these billboards, and every time I see one of these billboards I start getting a phantom headache. The crisp, compact jpeg here doesn't do justice to the image looming beside the highway: Clive Owen's pained gaze, caught between excesses of light and of…
Axe Body Spray Gives Up on Sex, Because, Let's Get Real
Axe™ is a brand of male perfume named after the tool with which most women would like to strike the young men who adorn themselves with Axe™. FYI, gentlemen, Axe™ is now about more than not getting laid.
Here's How Conde Nast and Mo Rocca Are Making Propaganda for Monsanto
Genetically modified agribusiness and pesticide conglomerate Monsanto has a reputation (rightly or wrongly) as one of the most evil companies in America. Here's one way they're working on their PR: by enlisting the help of Conde Nast, and Mo Rocca, and some desperate charities.
EHarmony Turns to Fred Durst For Guidance
Limp Bizkit dirtbag Fred Durst is now directing advertisements for the EHarmony dating corporation.
This Is What Boyz II Men Has Been Reduced To
Boyz II Men: one of the most beloved R&B groups of our youth, whose songs provided the soundtrack to the vast majority of the slow dances, graduations, and funerals of the 1990s. What are those guys up to now?
