Suicide of vice fashion images may be deadly | Helen Lewis

' The Samaritans have guidelines covering both journalistic and creative portrayals of suicide, and they are very clear: avoid glamorising suicide and gives details of the methods. Photo: Niall Carson/PA

As a brand should go to stay sharp, even if it means that their readers end up dead? Vice magazine aims to find out.

Youth culture magazine published a fashion spread of models recreating the famous suicides of women writers. There's Sylvia Plath poised in front of the oven, with a tendency Suno dress and Virginia Woolf wading in water in a frock coat and vintage Gothic Christian Siriano.

On one level, we shouldn't be surprised by raging abattoirs on display here: this is what makes the Vice. The brand is all shocking and busting taboos; his schtick is serious mixing footage from some of the most hellish places on Earth with useless topless models and video titles such as "Why the British are obsessed with sheds?"

But under the self-image that gonzo is so keen to promote, Vice is a giant corporation of old school. According to the New Yorker's recent feature on brand, has 35 offices in 18 countries and 1 million subscribers to his YouTube channel. It was estimated at $ 200 million in 2011 and its CEO, Shane Smith, says his goal is to be "the largest network for the youth of the world". Under his skinny jeans, yellow Deputy wearing a suit.

This is the paradox of the new media age: some of the most wild, insane looking are running as traditional businesses. Reddit, seat of violently misogynistic forum called things such as beating women, is owned by Advance publications, the same parent company as Conde Nast, Publisher of Vogue and GQ. It's just that nobody likes to talk about it.

So what is a corporation to do slick when he wants to appeal to young people? Because outrage public decency, of course. And that is hard on the internet where people swear they breathe and you can't move to erect nipples. So companies like Vice to poke at other taboos, such as rape, drug use and suicide.

The worst thing is, it works. Creating a Twitter storm every now and then is exactly what he wants. Has no aspirations to be taken seriously, so it has no need to apologize if anyone was offended. It does not have the kind of editors who are likely to be brought before a Select Committee to explain themselves. And although publishes an English Edition, doesn't feel like part of the fabric of the British media. There will be no inquiry Leveson-style in his actions; You can easily say the PCC to bugger off.

But let's not be in doubt about what did the Vice. The Samaritans have guidelines covering both journalistic and creative portrayals of suicide, and they are very clear: avoid glamorising suicide and gives details of the methods. It is widely accepted that following these rules reduces copycat suicides. If you live in London, feels passenger announcements regularly accidents and delays due to a person under a train, but not found regularly in the Evening Standard. That is for good reason: the Samaritans cite studies from Vienna and Toronto where voluntary restrictions on suicide reporting reduced their underground occurrence of 75%.

Similarly, the inclusion of a particular method of suicide in a popular television program or a prominent media reports has been shown to increase the suicide attempts of that method. Every year in England and Wales, about 24,000 young people between the ages of 10 and 19 suicide attempt. What will children in that kind of anguish see when watching those pictures Vice? A menu is displayed. Using famous women makes it worse because the vulnerable can fixate on a favorite writer and identify with them.

As a journalist, covering suicide is always difficult, because there is a fine line between raising awareness of a vital public health issue and contributing to a spectacle that could harm the vulnerable. Which of these two was making the feminist website Jezebel when decided to republish images of Vice, alongside the comment outraged? And the thousands of Tweets on the subject, not to mention this article, simply told Deputy who has found a place in our collective conscience, that can jab to great effect?

I don't have the answer to that and it's easy to find things to be outraged about these days. But this is worth being angry, because tonight, there could be one less Deputy reader in the world.

‧ This article was amended on June 18, 2013 to remove a reference to a particular method of suicide

‧ If you have been affected by the issues raised in this article, for information and support, visit the Samaritans website or call 08457 909090

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