Media literacy alert! This article about covert advertising does exactly what it talks about. It masquerades as content while advertising products…
When advertising becomes content, who wins “” advertisers or publishers, or both?
by Mathew Ingram
PaidContent.org
March 2, 2013
One of the biggest trends in media at the moment is “sponsored content” or what some call “native advertising.” But is it the savior of online media, or just another mirage in the advertising desert?
Andrew Sullivan, the former Daily Beast writer who recently launched his own standalone publishing venture, has made it pretty clear that he doesn”™t like advertising, which is why his site is supported entirely by reader subscriptions. And he also made it clear in a recent series of posts that he doesn”™t like the growing trend of sites like BuzzFeed using what they call “sponsored content” as a replacement for traditional advertising “” something he suggested was ethically questionable for media entities of all kinds.
Like it or not, however, this phenomenon is becoming more and more commonplace “” and not just at new-media ventures like BuzzFeed but also at traditional publishers like The Atlantic. Is it the savior of online media, or just another mirage in the advertising desert? This is a question we are going to discussing at length at paidContent Live in New York on April 17, including a panel entitled “The future of native advertising: Blurring ads and content.”
If it”™s useful, does it matter if it”™s sponsored? Continue reading “Concealed Covert Advertising: The New Content”