Lizriver wrote:
Does that apply to cheapie catalogs and magazines, too?
Is a tear sheet really just an ad from a company we've all heard of?

There is a difference.  Let me explain.

The reason a tear sheet is so valuable is because it means an art director or editor chose you from a competitive field to put into a publication that has limited space (due to cost).  Printing paper catalogs and magazines is expensive - you can't just keep adding pages (and models); you have to be very selective.  Consequently the prestige of the tear.  Higher prestige company, and/or higher quality pictures bring with them greater prestige in the tear sheet (not all tear sheets are created equal).  But they are all real "tear sheets".

Major corporations and designers are also selective, and pay a good deal of money to be on the sites.  Getting a large spread on the GM site, or McDonalds, or DKNY, is an accomplishment in a competitive environment, and it has at least some of the flavor of a "tear sheet" even though it isn't one.  But being featured as some "hottest hunny" on a cheapie website carries with it none of that prestige, and any claim to "tear sheet" gets so thin you can see right through it.

Lizriver wrote:
LOL, yep, regular run of the mill cheapie site.
Does that apply to cheapie catalogs and magazines, too?
Is a tear sheet really just an ad from a company we've all heard of?

Yup that is about all it is.
Before the internet tearsheets were from printed publications only.
so if you worked for a crappy pulp rag it didn't say much about you.
Tear sheets are just another part of your resume,
they say
"I was good enough to be hired by these people"

Now with the internet comes internet models and yes You can get exposure and say "I was good enough to be on this website"

Some old school people will tellyou that tears do not count unless they are printed.
But what is more exposure and a credit to your resume.
a paper tear from LAXXPress mag
or a web page feature on playboy.com

A paper tear in an ad for a local clothing line in a local ocweakly
or a web advertizment on gap.com