A Partnership Shrouded in Secrecy

Vice’s partnership with PMI first became public when a deal to do ‘white label content’ got leaked to the Financial Times. At the time, pesky moralists, like the President of Tobacco Free Kids, asked that Vice end its current relationship. Vice remained defiant and pointed the finger at Edition Worldwide (a spin-off of Vice UK, run out of the Vice UK office, directed by Vice management, “[Shane Emerson Smith] holds, directly or indirectly, 75% or more of the voting rights”). Vice and PMI have now been together for three years.

With three years and no public outcry, a hubris formed. Kelly explained this relationship to me in detail. Vice was making a series of short ads disguised as documentaries and unlike before would be VICE branded — logo and all — which was to be released early 2019. The plan was to remain silent to critics and weather the backlash.

As the PMI documentary deadline grew closer, the company faced massive layoffs and a scandal wherein the Executive Chairman Shane Smith was reported to have been yachting with brutal and oppressive Saudi Prince Mohammed Bin Salman. ‘VICE Presents: Bone Saws & Bone Cancer’ would be too much bad press in one month.

An Untenable Grift

Kelly speculates that Vice’s reputation has become so toxic that Philip Morris became concerned about blowback. Vice is short on the social capital needed to sell the ‘do good with bad money’ line.

Vice, of course, was not doing good with bad money. Editorial restrictions on the PMI funded videos came in all forms:

Selecting which story pitches are OK

“They don’t want journalists [to appear on camera]. Journalists ask questions.”

Blacklisting / removal of doctors, specialists and experts critical to PMI

Vetted, softball questions for PMI’s CEO André Calantzopoulos

If and when Vice releases the next documentary they will try to convince its audience companies switch between branded and funded content all the time but “its all a big lie to deceive the public into supporting [PMI]’s goal”. Something more pernicious than an ad, Vice is effectively willing to act as a Big Tobacco lobbyist.

Everyone in the partnership has signed secrecy agreements. Even subjects are asked to sign them (but not all of them have). “What they’re hiding is the transparency. The lie is that the funder has given up their rights and they haven’t”

Kelly, over several days, described the internal tensions between management and the filmmakers. Vice filmmakers, trying to subvert their masters, but ultimately stifled by those in control.

VICE: The Big Tobacco Lobbyist

What Vice is trying to do is immoral everywhere but plainly illegal in several countries. The tobacco industry is banned from advertising in over a hundred countries. Vice’s new initiative is called “Change Incorporated” (which happens to be quite difficult to Google). Their leaked internal pitch video says they are “partnering with companies at the heart of the world’s biggest issues […] to achieve real, measurable change”.

Since PMI is generally considered a criminal organization it needs Vice to get people to appear on camera. Vice is providing name [at] vice [dot] com emails for staff to communicate with documentary subjects. Kelly explained the deception of getting crew and subjects “[t]he company line was not to tell them until after either interviewing a subject or talking to potential staff etc. Selling the ‘we take money and use it for good’ line”.