• by Amy Corr , Staff Writer @MediaPostOTL, August 30, 2005

If imitation is the highest form of flattery, what do you call an imitation of an imitation? Earlier this year, the magazine industry unveiled a three-year $40 million consumer ad campaign to breathe life back into a flailing medium. The centerpiece was a series of mocked-up futuristic covers of actual magazines.

One of the ads, created by Fallon for the Magazine Publishers of America (MPA), featured a Sports Illustrated cover showing the Chicago Cubs winning the World Series - in 2105.

Interestingly enough, an online publisher designed its own version of the ad campaign to parody the print industry's effort. ZooZoom, an online fashion magazine, which bills itself as "the original online glossy," is behind the satirical ad.

The original MPA ad showed a man sitting on a park bench reading a magazine while said park bench scrolled stock prices. The background contains a future-esque city and a passing robot. The copy reads: "In the future doctors' offices will be virtual. Families will go on cybervacations. And people will still set aside a moment in each day for something real."

ZooZoom's ad features a present-day man sitting in a park with his laptop. The copy states: "Right now, doctors' offices are unfortunately not virtual. Families have to go away together. People are reading magazines online, even in the park."

The MPA campaign conveys that regardless of how technologically advanced we become in the future, magazines will still exist.

David McIntyre, publisher of ZooZoom, said the ad is "all in good fun. We're not saying that print is dead, rather that everything co-exists."