Can Content Be Advertising?

Most people understand product placement. Brand names of cereal boxes and cans of soda on TV shows don’t get shown at just the right angle on accident. Companies pay to be included in the shot.

There’s been much debate about whether that is going too far. What advertising tactics are downright deceiving, bottom-of-the-barrel-type tactics? Most people would like to watch TV without having to watch commercials. But how many people would be willing to watch TV with tons of product placement to make up for the lack of commercials?

Probably quite a few. But let’s take it a step farther. How would you feel if advertisers paid writers to write their products right in the script? (Some seem like they already do.) Would that be acceptable? How far can advertising go before it’s too far?

Did we bring this on ourselves?
Advertisers do what works. They don’t do what doesn’t work for very long. Okay, so what’s my point? My point is that advertisers are responding to the way we as consumers respond. If product placement didn’t work, do you think advertising agencies would still use it? No, of course not.

Is advertising manipulation good or bad?
Cam Beck has blogged on ChaosScenario.com that sometimes advertising manipulation is good – if consumers are being urged to do something positive, like brushing their teeth twice a day. I’m not so sure I agree. Can’t people be informed without being manipulated? Whether I read a news article about the brushing my teeth or see a commercial about it, I’m still getting the message. But obviously advertising adds another message – one of persuasion. That’s the whole point of advertising, right?

Magazine content as advertising
The online and TV spheres aren’t the only ones affected by product placement and other advertising masquerading as content. Many local magazines have “Special Advertising Sections” in which they partner with area businesses to write about various industries, using the local businesses as sources. But at least these sections say at the top of the pages that they are advertising sections.

Many companies that advertise in magazines have tried making their ads look like actual magazine feature stories, and many have succeeded. I’ve even been snookered into starting to read an ad that I thought was a feature story. The layout of the ad matched the magazine’s editorial layout, so how was I to know? Until I noticed the little-bitty writing at the top of the page saying it was an ad, I had no idea. As soon as I realized it, I stopped reading.

So did the advertiser get me? I did read a paragraph or two before stopping. For many advertisers, that’s probably a victory. But, the joke is on them. I would have told you the topic of the advertising article if I could remember it!

So, is content advertising wrong or is this just good advertising? I know I don’t like it, but maybe that’s because I was snookered into it!