advertorial

An advertorial is an advertisement written in the form of an objective opinion editorial, and presented in a printed publication—usually designed to look like a legitimate and independent news story. The term "advertorial" is a portmanteau of "advertisement" and "editorial." Merriam-Webster dates the origin of the word to 1946.^[1]

Advertorials differ from traditional advertisements in that they are designed to look like the articles that appear in the publication. Most publications will not accept advertisements that look exactly like stories from the newspaper or magazine they are appearing in. The differences may be subtle, and disclaimers—such as the word "advertisement"—may or may not appear. Sometimes euphemisms describing the advertorial as a "special promotional feature" or "special advertising section" are used. The tone of the advertorials is usually closer to that of a press release than of an objective news story.

Advertorials can also be printed and presented as an entire newspaper section, inserted the same way within a newspaper as store fliers, comics sections, and other non-editorial content. These sections are usually printed on a smaller type of broadsheet and different newsprint than the actual paper.

Many newspapers and magazines will assign staff writers or freelancers to write advertorials, usually without a byline credit. A major difference between regular editorial and advertorial is that clients usually have content approval of advertorials, a luxury usually not provided with regular editorial.

A related practice is the creation of material that looks like traditional media (for instance, a newspaper or magazine) but is actually created by a company to market its products. One familiar example are airline in-flight magazines, which may feature reports about travel destinations to which the airline flies.^[2]

Legal issues

United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, UK's Advertising Standards Authority requires advertorials to be clearly marked as such. In a recent case, the Scottish newspaper The Herald published a feature titled "Professional Brief" that had been submitted by Glasgow-based French Duncan Chartered Accountants. According to a complaint, it did not clearly indicate that it was a paid advertisement. The newspaper argued that,because it was a "sponsored column" and it was indicated that the opinions expressed were those of the author, it did not have to refer to it as an advertisement. The ASA responded that, because payment was given in exchange for the publication of the columns and because the content was provided by the marketers rather than the newspaper, they considered the columns advertisements and required that they indicate as much.^[3]

See also

• Infomercial

References

1. ^ "Advertorial - Definition from the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary". Merriam-Webster. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/advertorial. Retrieved 2009-01-10. 
2. ^ Adair, Bill. "Corporate spin can come in disguise". St. Petersburg Times. http://www.sptimes.com/2006/09/10/news_pf/Worldandnation/Corporate_spin_can_co.shtml. Retrieved 2009-01-10. 
3. ^ "Advertorials must be clearly identified". OUT-LAW.COM. Jan 09, 2007. http://www.out-law.com/page-4853. Retrieved 2009-01-09. 

External links

• An example of a 1960s-era advertorial designed to sell toupees