Picked up this old 2003 @LaughitOff3000 annual in a dusty corner of a 2nd hand bookshop in Cape Town earlier this year and am discovering an interesting and vibrant past in South African satire and youth culture of the early 2000s.

We actually learnt about the Laugh it Off satirical story as part of a "culture jamming" case study in @FilmandMediaUCT first year media classes.

Justin Nurse and his incredible satirical t-shirts with a "jammed" Carling Black Label logo redesigned to say "Black Labour - White Guilt" was held up as an example of the power of free speech as guaranteed in the SA constitution.

For those interested in the background, SAB sued Laugh it Off for doing this, and initially won, but LIO appealed and won at the @ConCourtSA level. A massive victory.

This case was cited as a precedent in a legal opinion by our lawyers for the kind of satire we do at @politicallyaweh where we occasionally make fun of brands - only when they deserve it! So we owe Justin and the Laugh It Off crew for paving the way.

In this article of the annual, the editor of what was clearly a major youth magazine called Student Life reflects on the changing landscape of youth media consumption and the failure of the magazine's publisher to read the times and adapt...

It got me wondering what happened to Student Life magazine... Interestingly, the article mentions the publishers also published a magazine called Y-mag with @Yfm, and that the 2 magazines intended audiences were segmented along racial lines

A name that comes up online quite a bit in association with y mag is @lebomashile, including in the Wikipedia article about the magazine and a "eulogy and obituary" for the mag on a blog called KasieKulture.

And Student Life has left even less trace than Y-mag, but I did find some old grabs of it in the Wayback Machine, including the team page which includes @craigwilson and Louise Gamble.

The Laugh it Off annual has contributions from @TomEatonSA @rationalhill @MarianneThamm @TashJoeZA @TumiMolekane and many other amazing writers, photographers, cartoonists and artists.

That was 17 years ago now, and it seems like it was a really interesting and creative period where the politics, society and questions around identity were being wrestled with by these bright minds.

The questions this trip into the past inevitably raise are 1. What happened to the idea that brands/corporates in SA are there to be challenged and called out? Where are today's Justin Nurses?

The age of influencers peddling "aspiration", unboxing videos, endless product reviews and hyper-consumerism mean that many of today's young South Africans seem to have unquestioned reverence for brands - as opposed to say, having the guts to subvert their logos...

And question 2. Where are today's edgy and subversive writers, artists and creators being published in a similar kind of way? Are there online equivalents of the Laugh it off annual? Or Y-Mag or Student Life? Genuinely keen to know. Hit me up with any leads! end.