Going Native

     "Native advertising" is just another term for advertising.

     Companies hire people and pay them a lot more than we get paid to write about how wonderful the company is. Then they pay the publication a lot of money to publish it. 

     Advertising. Just with words rather than pictures of puppies. 

     The Society of Professional Journalists revised Code of Ethics cautions: "Distinguish news from advertising." Well, that was easier when ads looked like ads. I remember our production manager once dressing up as Ebeneezer Scrooge and sitting at an old desk with a pile of coins as a Christmas ad for a local bank. That was unmistakeably advertising. An extensive write-up on the anniversary of the birth control pill could be an ad in disguise. And, it may be labeled an ad, but the label may well be in 6-point type.

     "Shun hybrids that blur the line between the two." Sounds good. We can only hope our publishers do just that.

     "Prominently label sponsored content." See the reference to 6-point type above. And it doesn't say the reader actually reads the label. 

     Labeled or not, it's scary to think these people have so much money to put into their sponsored content. Barrels more than legitimate news organizations. They always have had the money, but they used to spend it on ads that looked like ads. Maybe even with puppies.