
In the late ’90s, I occasionally did freelance typesetting for a small firm that designed annual reports for AOL, Boston Properties, Tommy Hilfiger, and other corporations. It was a really good gig, and my Quark skills improved enormously from having to lay out elaborate financial tables in meticulous, pixel-perfect fashion.
It was at this firm that I acquired the hilarious Publishers Clearing House spoof below, which was tacked to a bulletin board in a corner of the office. I pulled it down and made a color copy of it. All the jokes are about the advertising industry, and everything’s very inside-baseball. So it’s likely that this originally appeared in some sort of advertising-industry trade publication. I have no idea where it was published, and I’ve always been curious. If you know, please post in the comments!
I’ve been wanting to post this for several years, but its unwieldy size and awkward layout made it difficult. Even with the new Panopticist design, I’ve had to cut this up in Photoshop so I can post a readable version.
Anyway, pretty much everything in this is funny and spot-on, and there are dozens of perfect little details. As the tagline for Popular Concept says, “It’s Stuffed Full of Zingers!” Here’s the whole thing; zoomed details are after the jump.

A few of the best: Popular Cliché, Hinge Neck, Prima Donna (“The magazine for those who bend for no one”), and Professional Award Judge (“The magazine for those so creative, they now only judge shows”).



Here’s a list of all the magazines: Popular Cliché, Modern Deadline, Bathroom Stall Digest, 8000 Cat Photos, Hinge Neck, Lorum Ipsum, Jelly, Suck-Up, Advertising Hairstyles, Pitch, Dandy Idea, Prima Donna, Corporate Charger, X-Acto!, American Idea, Fake Client Journal, Award Monger, American Intern, Meal Ticket, Reimbursement Nightmares, Snipe, Expense Report Weekly, Ego, Creative Pickup Artist, Professional Award Judge, Strange But True Timesheets, Spraymount, Copy Diva, Caffeine Aficionado, Screenwriter Hopeful, Sellout, CFO!, Award Polish, Freelancer, Popular Concept, Xylene Beat, Agency Romance, American Book, Color Copy Nightmares, Typesetter Digest, Boot Lick, Frustrated Artist, Marker World, Creative Leper, Pro Bono, 2001 Cocktail Recipes, Couch Quest, Middle-Aged Junior, Popular Merger, Window View, Burnout, Salary Cap, Suit Monthly, Phallic Symbol, White Space, Gutless Bastard, Depressed Hobbyist, Sphincter.
Leave a comment:
Warhol, Spielberg chat. Probably high.
Kubrick’s Danube, Muppet-chicken style.
Examples of Modern Alphabets, 1864.
» see all of the magazine covers
best of Panopticist
the magazine covers
Republicans
graphic design
Sarah Palin
John McCain
typography
television
magazines
Clive Thompson
Rob Harrell
Nick Bilton
Maura Johnston
Peter Dizikes
Terri Senft
Tom Igoe
Carrie McLaren
Randall Rothenberg
Chris Allbritton
David Callahan
Rebecca Skloot
Julian Rubinstein
Rob Warner
Daniel Radosh
Mike Daisey
Caleb Crain
Heath Row
Jami Attenberg
Emily Votruba
Chris Millward
David Feige
Emily Gordon
Maud Newton
J. Edward Keyes
Jod Kaftan
Lindsay Robertson
Jen Bekman
Elizabeth Spiers
Lockhart Steele
Jim Romenesko
James Wolcott
Gawker
Eat the Press (Huffington Post)
Media Matters
Dan Kennedy
Veiled Conceit
Bob Somerby
Roger Ailes
FishbowlNY
Digby
Talking Points Memo
Jason Kottke
Gothamist
Curbed
Triple Mint
whatevs.org
Low Culture
pullquote
Old Hag
Kung Fu Monkey
Cool Hunting
Cult of Mac
design*sponge
Apartment Therapy
Rake's Progress
Beatrice
The Elegant Variation
Maccers
MemeFirst
Andrew Krucoff
Catherine's Pita
Cityrag
The Fold Drop
escapegrace
Fimoculous
Death May Be Your Santa Claus
Can't Stop the Bleeding
Encyclopedia Hanasiana
Rick's Cafe Americain
Men's Vogue Daily
Heaneyland!
The PreCogs
Jim Affinito
All the Little Live Things
Language Log
Design Observer
Drawn!
music (for robots)
Donkey Rising
Daily Kos
Atrios
Tapped
Home
About
Five-Word Links
Best Of
Blog Archives
Writing Archives
My Music
RSS
What is a Panopticist? Some insight is here.
video
graphic design
music
typography
magazines
television
technology
politics
film
Republicans
childhood
spoof
1970s
best of Panopticist
books
I’m Andrew Hearst, a New York-based writer, editor, designer, musician, and gadabout. You can learn a bit more about me here.
Email: hearst@nyc.rr.com
This site is powered by Movable Type 4.21 and was lovingly hand-coded in BBEdit.
Search results powered by Mark Carey’s Fast Search plugin.