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I have to admit to being a little disappointed that David didn’t draw the line at this tacky promotional magazine entitled “Life Story,” from Bauer Publishing. As you might expect, Bauer is the syndicate behind a half-dozen of those popular teen and tween magazines. They also stock your local supermarket with journalistic titans like InTouch Weekly, Woman’s World, and First. Indeed, there is not one publication from this Hamburg, Germany based company that has any redeeming news, literary, or artistic value. It’s all cheese, and aerosol cheese at that.

At best, the photography and styling is undistinguished. In some cases it is downright plebeian: A wall of retro 45 singles with cute genre titles on the labels as a background? Are you kidding me? Talk about phoning it in.

Industry and audience legitimacy won’t necessarily be undermined by appearances in Bauer properties if one has earned market credibility in the first place, but when one is trying to establish a certain authenticity, it most assuredly does not help the case. Once again the responsibility for such decisions must undoubtedly rest with Jive, which continues to telegraph its focus on their own short-term gain at the expense of David’s long-term interests.