Do rich people not have phones?

Remember a few months back when I was bemoaning The New York Times and the weird phenomenon of newspapers that sell ads that just completely envelope them? You don't? That's ok. To catch you up, sometimes The New York Times comes completely wrapped in an advertisement. That's it. That's the phenomenon. Oh, and it happened again today:

Well, I suppose there's not much going on in the world right now so...

"Extra! Extra! Interconnected computer
network renders newspapers obsolete!"

-Newsies, I'd imagine

I mean, what even is that? Look, I'm not a reader of newspapers and haven't been since the advent of this cool new thing called the internet, so take my issue (pun unintended) here with a grain of salt. But say I was an old (ok, older) and every morning I pop down to the local bookstore to pick up my only link to the world and the events contained therein, and find this? I'm not saying that The Times and really most newspapers aren't little more than delivery methods for advertisements day-old headlines but...well, ok, they are, but still, people find them comforting, and these wrap-around ads are getting out of hand.

This one is for Swiss Watchmaker Vacheron Constantin and I checked out their website because I believe in being thourough and their jewel encrusted watches range from $25,000 to "Price On Request." Which I think means if you have to ask, you're too poor. 

I'm sorry, is there a lot of overlap between people who buy
the morning paper and can also afford $32,000 watches?

A homophobic, racist, Christian
nationalist with numerous sexual assault
allegations? He certainly fits the profile.

As I get increasingly old and curmudgeonly, I find myself ever more enraged by advertising and I don't know whether it's because there's simply more of it (there is) or if I'm just getting crankier (I am) or both (probably). Again, I don't even read The New York Times, and yet I'm getting all indignant about the idea that there's not even the fig leaf of journalistic integrity. LA is on fire, the Senate is questioning a grossly unfit but almost certain to be Trump's Defense Secretary, and instead the cover is an ad for Swiss luxury watches. 

Did I miss something, or did the marketing team at Vacheron Constantin think that Mark Zuckerberg's "facts are woke" screed would make them trend again? Also, when were they ever--oh--and a quick internet search tells me that they are indeed popular and it's a $76 billion dollar industry. Which, I mean, the revolution can't come fast enough, can it?

Just add $900,000 wrist watches to the list of reasons alongside
mega yachts, Logan Paul's Pokémon Card and rocket trips for billionaires.