Steal this Magazine

With the advent of the Internet, magazines and newspapers fought to keep their readers loyal to the paper versions. When things started looking bad they released some of it online. Now, as publishing companies start hacking and slashing to keep their print biz running during the economic crisis, some companies that sell the written word are heading the opposite way. Trip magazine in Brazil — one of the best lifestyle magazines in the country, with a few issues designed by Ray Gun magazine design pioneer David Carson — is putting the whole kit and caboodle online for free. To promote their big move they put out photocopied issues of the magazine and its female counterpart, TPM, all over metro stops and other public places, encouraging people to “Steal This Magazine”, a riff on Abby Hoffman’s famous phrase … as if the naked girls on the cover doesn’t already give you a reason to want to steal the issue. Check out the video of the campaign. The question of whether we will still pay for a magazine despite having the content for free still rages on. What’s your take on it?