Branded Journalism. Hybrid branded magazines published by companies to showcase their products or associated lifestyle — from Abercrombie and Fitch, Sony, Kinko’s etc. — are the latest obscenity blurring the boundaries between journalism and commercialism. ‘Increasingly, as Naomi

Klein shows in her blistering book No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand

Bullies, companies see themselves as alternative providers of content.

They can now shape the environment in which their advertising is

delivered, enabling them to further reinforce their brands. The

magalog, Klein tells me, represents “a growing impatience in the

corporate world with the traditional role of the advertiser as the

commercial interrupter, intruding on ‘real’ culture. Now, the brand

wants to be the cultural infrastructure, not an add-on, or an interruption.

Magalogs are an important part of that: rather than associating

with a lifestyle, represented by Rolling Stone or the New Yorker,

magalogs allow the brand to be the lifestyle, their products the

essential accessories.” ‘