Vanity Fair isn't the only brand that should be above the fluff of social networks but is instead begging to plant a footprint there. Luxury retailer Cartier, whose watches are so feverishly produced in various knockoff varieties, is joining the fray with a MySpace page. This is apparently newsworthy because upscale brands like Cartier are supposedly reluctant to give up complete control of their brand, so the Richemont brand's embracing of Web 2.0 represents some sort of sea change. Except not really.

The Cartier page on MySpace looks like any other souped-up profile: custom background, streaming music, list of friends (3,800 total, some of them celebrities). The only thing that's really different is that Cartier, like many other brands hoping to connect to MySpace's young audience, must pay a fee to the social network to have an official page. And what do they get in return? A promise from MySpace's censors that anything appearing on the page "respects the brand’s objectives," which means if you're shown performing a keg stand in your profile picture, your friend request will likely be declined — which is a telling sign that it's MySpace, and not Cartier, who's dictating what the watch and jewelry company's profile page looks like. It's the sweet smell of outsourced luxury.