A Brave New World

Olivia Usitalo
ou813610@ohio.edu

Evolution of Media

In today’s world, technology is at its highest point of influence within our culture and individual lives. Social media sites, search engines, and smart phones have created an opportunity that is easily accessed by anyone even remotely in touch with the world. The Millennial generation, which is comprised of those born between the early 1980s and 2000s, have grown and developed with the Internet and have caused a diverse change in media and communications.

One of the most prevalent is the different advertising angle companies have used to target audiences. “Native advertising," or the act of advertisements taking on the form of journalistic articles, has created a partnership of “sponsored advertising” between marketers and social media, in which advertising is shaping into a controversial presence.

According to Jeff Sonderman’s article “How News Organizations Can Sell Sponsored Content Without Lowering Their Standards," one of the best examples for this is the increasingly popular website BuzzFeed, which shares stories and information in witty and creative ways. With the use of pictures, videos and ‘gifs’ (which is essentially moving pictures or clips), BuzzFeed authors are able to keep the attention of a generation of readers whose attention is very selective. Brands, such as Virgin Mobile, have approached BuzzFeed in an effort to advertise their product without forcing advertisements in a viewer’s face. Brands are trying to redirect advertisements from the self-involved “look at what we can do” position to the viewer-involved “look what you can do because of us” presentation.

Native May Be Negative

The ethical dilemma surrounding native advertising is the deception of the audience. Are viewers being manipulated by this new wave of marketing strategy? Is hiding a brand’s message in a form of journalism unethical in that viewer’s are not aware of the content they are viewing? Joe McCambley, founder of The Wonderfactory, is “wary” according to David Carr’s article “Storytelling Ads May Be Journalism’s New Peril”.

McCambley sees the benefit to both marketers and journalists, but he can also see the risks. He “understands the value of native advertising but...it is a very slippery slope that could kill journalism if publishers aren’t careful." What many journalists fear is the ever present danger that a PR company’s information may not be of value; the information presented to a website’s viewers could lose its credibility.

And The Answer Is...

With both worlds of journalism and public relations constantly changing and developing, branded content is becoming one of the most proficient routes of advertising that effectively reaches audiences. A few steps must be taken in order to achieve successful sponsored advertising, such as the guidelines from Ann Willets’s “The Ethics of Branded Content." In it she lists specific important considerations that need to be taken when participating in native advertising, namely disclosure. A promoted brand needs to be clearly labeled as a promotion so that audience members do not feel deceived by the website that sponsors those ads.

What it rounds down to, in the end, is the same basic principle of journalism: truth. As long as companies such as BuzzFeed keep their networks blatant and honest, marketers can safely and ethically publish advertisements that follow the flow of the websites that publish them. Native advertising, when done with a sense of separation from the actual journalistic story and public relations, can be a beneficial and effective method of integrating two evolving fields to better capture the attention of an ever evolving world.

a clever and fun advertisement from Oreo supporting Pride Week found on their Facebook page