I had to look this up to see if it was real. That is probably the absolute worst cover art I have ever seen for a mainstream album. These guys were one of the biggest rock bands out there and that's the best they could muster? Even if that is the cover they wanted (which is hard to imagine) I'm sure Epic spent a small fortune on promoting this record. How did this get a green light from the label? I'm not criticizing Pearl Jam's music in any way but, damn, visual artists they were not.
So you haven't seen, for example, Cowboys From Hell by Pantera or Weathered by Creed, then? I don't think Vs is a particularly bad album cover, especially by comparison to those. The photography is fine. Maybe it's not your average Hipgnosis cover, but it's ok.