big rant
about
vice

whats up teenagers

I don't know if you know the site called vice.com, it's makes articles and such for the teenage generation. This article is a big rant about vice.

I especially liked to visit motherboard, the tech category, but that's now defunct. That was a part I liked. I have read some decent articles on vice. It's not all bad.

Then the homepage. First of all: lots of sex. That's apparently what people like. Also lots of weird articles, like this one on the dutch vice: "That I got a labia correction does not mean I am not a feminist". Like what the crap? Those are completely separate things. "That I went to the grocery store does not mean I do not like to go out swimming". And "woke" and call out culture, something I do not appreciate; ironically this post is something like that... right? idk

Many journalistic sites often have a code of ethics, such as Reuters, Al Jazeera or AP. Vice doesn't have that.

But what baffled me the most? These articles:

• "Banning Flavored Vapes Might Be Good for Teens. It Also Might Be Racist"

  F... FDA-nie-san? if u ban da JUUW minowities wiww buy deadwy methow cigawettes instead, vewy wacist UwU

• "The FDA Is Considering a New Kind of Smoking Device from Philip Morris"

  Sigh. Vice presents this as a better alternative to regular smoking. But it has not been proven it is better than a regular cigarette. The tobacco is heated up to 350 °C.^{1, page 7} The RIVM has measured many carcinogens you can find in regular cigarettes.^rivm Long term effects are unclear. In my eyes, the claim that his is a better alternative is not supported by evidence.

  Secondly, to my perspective reading "Global Marketing of IQOS",¹ the manufacturer is marketing this as very trendy device, with gorgeous young women, and influencers that are being paid to post a picture with the smoking device. This seems in contrast on what a marketing move would be towards current smokers.

  Why is vice making such an article about this?

• "Smoking Is Bad, But So Is Everything Else". In this article, the author seems to love smoking. The vocabulary makes it as if it's nice. Then the author explains that we're gonna die anyway, so why not having a little cigarette while we're at it? Problem is, as far as I know, smoking is not nice. A friend of mine who smokes, describes like smoking is going to the bathroom. You get a relief. But then the tension builds up again, so you need to go to the bathroom again. If you never start smoking, you won't need relief obviously.

  Both the chronic toxicity and the level of addiction is nearly on par with crack. However, the acute toxicity of smoking is very low.^RIVM

  8 million people die a year from tobacco use.^WHO There are mothers in their forties that die from smoking, only because in the midst of insecurity they tried a cigarette during teenage time. There are people who had a limb removed, and still can't stop smoking. It is not having a nice cigarette while you're still alive, the cigarette contributes towards your end of life. To compare them with "bad habits" seems a little unfair in my opinion. An addiction is not just a bad habit. In the Netherlands, smoking accounts for 51% of cancers accountable to lifestyle; more than everything else combined(alcohol, crappy food intake, obesity and lack of exercise)²

  A solution for this? Make sure kids don't go smoking. And here is vice, a media company for youngsters, having these dubious articles that teenagers will read.

All of these articles seem to read to me as a covert ad for smoking. What if I told you that in March 2019, Philip Morris, the largest cigarette manufacturer in the world, made a 6.5 million US dollar agreement with Vice Media?^{1, page 247} Yes you read that right. How are you supposed to know that? No where on vice this has been made public.

At least, not until March 2020, when in another strange article there was a brief mention.^{vice, archive.org} It claims editorial independence from Philip Morris, but what a whistleblower told notvice tells a different story.^notvice But still, realistically, this you only would know per chance, and it was only after prof. Glanz asked the author about this. And Glanz wouldn't have known about this if it wasn't leaked to the FD; there's no public annual report or such thing from vice.

This is not the first time either that vice made a deal with Philip Morris.^fastcompany

The WHO calls tobacco industry interference the greatest obstacle to reducing tobacco use,^{WHO, page 60} making this even more dubious, not the mention the fact that vice is mainly read by young people. All the smokers I have met, have started smoking as a kid or teenager. There wasn't a single one who was 30 years old and thought "oh let me try a cigarette".

Worst part, the articles are still online. They haven't been removed. For example, Teen Vogue has removed a paid-for article.^@textfiles And there are only more dubious articles being produced it seems.

Also, in 2015, Vice Magazine had run adverts for an electronic cigarette.^{tobacco.stanford.edu}

On 2019-12-16, Philip Morris retweeted an article from Vice.^archive.org

This all means to me, that the trustworthiness of vice has been permanently damaged.

Wether you read vice or not, my advice is to keep this in the back of your mind.

Screw you, vice.

References

1. Jackler RK, Ramamurthi D, Axelrod A, Jung JK, Louis-Ferdinand NG, Reidel JE, Yu AWY, Jackler LM, Chau C. Global Marketing of IQOS The Philip Morris Campaign to Popularize “Heat Not Burn” Tobacco. SRITA White Paper. February 21, 2020.
2. Bijdrage van leefstijlfactoren aan kanker (Dutch)

Special thanks to notvice. If you want to read more vice rants than check out this site, from plagiarism to incorrect information, this article is just the tip of the iceberg. Also thanks to the authors of the great reference 1. And also thanks to the WHO. And stuff.