Outside of it being a very weird out-of-the-box idea, it is destined to fail. They won’t be able to attribute any revenue to this expense, and it will end up on the cutting room floor when it comes budget time to evaluate which were their winning and losing marketing tactics. It will fade out faster than the “Merry Go Round” teen clothing stores that were around when I was a kid, just like Michael Jackson’s glove that inspired those stores.

I guess we’ll see whether their strategy works. And I’m already telling all of my friends they’ll love Jon Skovorn’s books, so you’re covered there!

The thing is, were i a teen, I’d just be looking at this as a way to get a free smoothie. I used to go to gallery opening in college for the free food. Being a broke artist does things to you, I suppose. Another way to look at it is Google. Basically, they offer free products like web search, email, and blog, etc. In return, you see their Ad Sense column on the side of everything. And those ads are customized for you, based on the contents of your search/email/blog. So it is a bit of “ooh, you like YA books by Sarah Ockler? Perhaps you’d like YA books by Jon Skovron! Say, here’s a link to a Jon Skovorn book on Amazon right here! but you don’t have to click the link. You can just avail yourself of the free service and filter the ads out, either internal, or with the use of a browser plugin designed to do such things.

The point is, exploitation can be a two-way street, provided that you’re sharp enough. We can’t stop Vogue from being Vogue, but we can help people get savvy to it and see the possibilities that work within the system.