Thursday, October 27, 2022

viz needs saving (maybe)

hello


a pure and simple plea on behalf of some company, look you see, so that i may cling on to the ideals, the petulance and the sense of years gone by. it would appear that one of my most beloved and cherished things. being as it is The Viz, are in a spot of bother. this is something in which they are far from alone in respect of, be it in the wider sense of the world or magazines in general. but still, probably (perhaps) the world is somewhat better with The Viz in it. 

the last two, possibly three (3) editions of The Viz have featured full page adverts off of The Viz, suggesting to people (presumably businesses) that they might quite like to advertise in their publication. please. as in, with their usual humour, they are saying that with no new advertisers coming in, things are looking grim. which, i believe, is quite true of most actual, really published magazines these days. such is the world we have created, better or worse. 

it costs me nothing to push their plight here, and so here i am trying to spread their appeal. 


once it was indeed so that The Viz was home to plentiful adverts. they had a "cheapskates parade" for smaller ads, normally or nominally dominated by people wishing to sell "legal highs", guides on how to beat fruit machines and some particularly niche sexual services. also, though, they used to have some pretty decent full page ads, be it for a new album, film or computer game. that's disappeared i suppose. likely through a mix of "online" advertising being seen to be the way, or The Viz not being quite so trendy and a thing to appear in. 

years ago the advertisers actually put some effort it, creating ads quite specifically for The Viz and their readership. from memory i recall Sega, in particular, doing ads in The Viz which were a trifle risque for such a big company (and certainly at the time). but then i am not even sure Sega are still a thing any more. 


what shall i do if The Viz fails to attract some advertisers, and ceases to be? be rather sad, i would imagine, or expect. it is, after all, something i have been purchasing and reading for somewhere north of 35 years now, i think. it still pains me that all of a sudden Mad stopped publishing when i was in SA, and that is well north of a decade ago. not a lot i can do expect highlight their cause here, and of course keep handing over coins of money to them, as and when they publish stuff. 

something of a hmn or hang on, though. dare i say it, but perhaps it is a case that all things must end. i am reluctant to go full tilt and say it has run out of steam, but the most recent edition (at the time of this going "live"), being edition 320, was rubbish. as in it featured an extraordinary lack of amusing or funny things, and many of their "dull", more recent characters which i suspect i am far from alone in skipping over. ultimately, had i taken the £3.95 cover cost in coins, placed them (carefully) on some railway track and, presuming no strikes, watched a train absolutely pancake them, that would have likely been better value for money. 


maybe, though, a new coming of advertisers will inspire The Viz to do partially decent, mostly funny editions once again. hopefully. it's got to be worth a go. 

nothing much more i can do, then, except throw this out here. so, if you are reading this, and have access to a reasonable, moderate advertising budget, give The Viz a shout. actually, call if somehow in these days you have a not inconsiderable sum of money and wish to take out a vanity ad, for some reason. 



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!





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