skymall is dead long live skymall

SkyMall Will Be Back, But It Will Be Ruined

A page of perfect magazine content.
A page of perfect magazine content. Photo: Stu Raply/Flickr

Perfect magazine SkyMall filed for bankruptcy in January. It was an in-flight catalogue/commentary on high consumerism that sold mainly incomprehensible accessories for pets.

After a healthy mourning period, a former SkyMall advertiser and a former magazine editor say they want to revive the magazine. But at what cost? In the tradition of raising the dead according to witchy ‘90s cinema: We can have it back, but it will be soulless. The new SkyMall will be a shadow, a zombie, a phantom, a specter, a husk, a crumbled candy wrapper, with only a reference to its former self. The former advertiser (and current CEO of a vest company), currently in negotiations to bring it back, says of the new business model: “We’re going to include items in the magazine that people actually want to buy.” He plans to focus on technology and utilitarian products, specifically related to travel.

SkyMall is dead, long live SkyMall.

SkyMall Will Be Back, But It Will Be Ruined