It’s a tough economy. So magazines are coming up with creative ways to bring in advertising revenue. But lately these solutions seem to be blurring the line between advertising and editorial content—which might not be the best tactic.
Note Parent & Child’s recent issue, which features an ad on the bottom right corner of the cover—totally against the American Society of Magazine Editors’ guidelines. And Time’s recent 3-D story on the new movie Monsters vs. Aliens.
Cool idea, but sponsored editorial? Really? In Time Magazine?
This week The New York Times published an article highlighting other examples of where consumer magazines are “diminishing the gulf” between editorial and advertising “to the size of a sidewalk crack.”
The article notes that the only penalty for breaking ASME’s guidelines is not being eligible for National Magazine Awards. But perhaps there’s more of a downside than that. Will these short-term advertising solutions end up causing long-term damage to magazines and their readers’ trust?
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