The Empire of Vice

A recent article in The Independent 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.

The Vice Squad: How ‘Vice’ magazine became the new teen bible