The Weird and The Wacky Meet

Where YouBetIAm comes to write….

Media Diary 4:  Advertorials

Which side do you take in the advertorial debate?  Why?

                 I think that advertorials should be banned, or at least discouraged.  I know that they are a vital source of advertising revenue, but I think they pander to the least common denominator of consumer.  I also think that they insult the intelligence of consumers.  Not to mention to young media consumers they can be confusing.  Also, I think it’s important to consider at their very heart they are deceitful and misleading.

                 Advertorials may give magazines needed revenue, but who are they aimed at?  Advertorials target people who do not read fine print.  They automatically assume that consumers are stupid and will just robotically believe what businesses tell them.  It’s insulting to me as a consumer, and it’s bothersome that two different companies, the magazine and the purveyor of the ad, would conspire to mislead a consumer.

                 At their core, advertorials serve to misinform.  They are misrepresentations of the truth.  They serve to confuse and befuddle, and it’s not a good business practice.  I’ve never taken with the laissez-faire idea of capitalism.  I do not think that businesses have the right or the need to operate without some form of government supervision.  Especially when it comes to ethical issues.  Lying to the public is most certainly one of those issues.  I think the fundamental problem with advertorials is they place profit above ethics.  This is never good for anyone.

                 Profit should not be the end all goal of a business.  The public deserves, at the very least, to have the truth presented in a fair manner.  Advertorials don’t present the truth in a just way, and therefore should be banned or tightly regulated.

Copyright 2005

by Amanda Evans

Date: 03/29/05