‘Screw the man’: NEED magazine launches campaign to go ad-free

While they’re facing the same economic challenges as every other print media outlet, staffers at Minneapolis-based NEED magazine have a unique message: “Screw the man!” The award-winning humanitarian publication launches a campaign today that, if successful, will do away with corporate advertising (“The Man”) for a year and use the freed-up pages to tell “stories of how readers are involved in saving the world.”

The grassroots campaign has not-so-serious origins, according to co-publisher Kelly Kinnunen, who, in a video at ScrewtheMan.net, says, “Almost out of frustration, and as a joke, we said, ‘Screw the man, let’s just do it ourselves. Let’s focus on our readers’ … It stuck.”

But the intent of the publication — highlighting humanitarian organizations worldwide and, hopefully, hooking up NGOs with donors and volunteers — is serious, as is the goal of the campaign. It’ll take 25,000 new subscriptions — an awful lot of man-screwing — to make the pub ad-free. In return, contributors (who can also pitch in by buying “Screw the man / Save the world” mugs and shirts) can get a shot at winning a 10-day expedition to Central America through PLAY It Forward Adventures.