Vice Media Kit— WARNING for Advertisers

While writing an Unofficial Guide to Vice Media I realized the media kit is an illusion and the whole company is toxic.

Made for FORK VICE by Anonymous Illustrator.

WORK IN PROGRESS (Updated April 15th)

While training to become a forensic consultant and expert witness; I was given some very simple advice, “tell the truth, and you have nothing to worry about”. Vice Media, the subject of my new book, has lots to worry about.

Vice Media is currently valued between 4–4.5 billion. More than the NY Times (2.2B), more than Buzzfeed (1.5B). But when I mention Vice to people outside the media, I get a lot of blank stares.

BUZZFEED (Blue) vs VICE (Red) VICE NEWS (Purple) via:SocialBlade

Vice is an enigma — a Satanic inspired Rubik’s Cube. Researching the book has been an exercise in collecting contradiction after contradiction.

Announcing growth while shutting down sales in Mexico (after overtly mentioning in their media kit they will pimp editorial for the price of a new car).

Declaring outlandish revenue while providing no real evidence.

36 offices around the world? Random houses on Streetview from what I can tell.

How many employees? How many contributors? I plotted the answers chronologically and it looks like noise. This isn’t an accident. Shane Smith, the CEO of Vice, is known for being a liar.

4000 contributors one day 2500 another. 1800 employees one day 1000 employees another.

Shane’s Bubble-gum

Shane says Vice is a trusted brand. What a load of crap. Vice is talked about in media circles — mostly — because they say they have a lot of money. People also talk because their reputation of paying shit and being a little scary. Understandably, the industry is tough and nobody wants to bite the hand that feeds. Even if that hand has violated you.

Vice forces their brand into documentary festivals and documentary magazines. But their work is marred in plagiarism, deception and plenty of sensationalism. A fact-checking nightmare.

People working independently in documentary and journalism despise Vice. Even people working for Vice dislike Vice. What the f**k is going on?