Michelle Robinson
mr200810@ohio.edu
Advertisement Consumption
We consume advertisements constantly
throughout the day, and you may or may not even realize it. On average an American
will see around 4,000 ads a day. This can range from seeing a sports team
plastered on a fans clothing, to someone carrying a Coke can advertising a
contest, to everything we see on our smart phones and televisions.
A baby displaying an array of advertisements on his bare skin, bluebee.com
The most obtrusive ads, however, are the
ones plastered all over our computer screen that pop up and distract us from
the content we’re trying to enjoy. You can thank Joe McCambley, founder of The
Wonderfactory, for the banner ad we see on every webpage.
Viewers may swear that they are
constantly ignoring advertisements on the web, but there is no doubt you see
them for at least a few seconds. Advertisers are trying to integrate
their content into our webpages more effectively now, by creating sponsored ads
to pair with popular web pages.
An Example of a sponsored ad from Buzzfeed
Sponsored Ads
Sponsored ads can be a more creative and
integrative way to get your message across, by using content from a sponsor
that can be both engaging and interesting to the viewer. But the world of
sponsored ads is a slippery slope, and the interest of the news organizations
and fellowship of the readers can come into jeopardy.
It is argued that sponsored ads are
compromising the integrity that a news organization is trying to stand by.
In fact The Atlantic came into a fair
bit of trouble recently when they published a sponsored ad for the Church of Scientology, including allowing supportive comments from readers but blocking the critical ones.
The key to
successful sponsored ads is a balance between active advertisement that is both
informative and interesting. The company needs to be honest with the readers and acknowledge what is and what is not a sponsored ad and not try to secretly sell them an advertisement by making it seem like an editorial.
“Nobody likes to sit through aggressive
sales pitches. They’ll stop reading an article that feels like one, and they
certainly won’t be sharing it with their friends,” said Jeff Sonderman, of poynter.org.
Readers should also be able to actively comment on sponsored ads and allow criticism. The conversation between news outlets and the public should always be an active one, so audience engagement is critical.
The Expanse of Sponsorship in the Media
Even the
world of YouTube has entered the world of sponsored ads. Popular channels that are a part of YouTube’s partner program (meaning they earn money for the
content they produce) have been pairing with sponsors for years. It’s only
recently that the public has begun noticing, and criticizing, poor sponsorship.
If they’re not careful, people will accuse popular YouTubers of “selling out”
to gain profit from the sponsored companies.
Popular father of youtube family Shay Carl makes a fun video as a promotion for Windex Touch Up Cleaner.
Sponsored videos can be effective because they allow the content creators a fun way to engage their viewership. Still, there are no set guidelines for sponsored ads, so it is up to the organization's discretion whether or not to run them.
According to Jeff Sonderman, of poynter.org, he most important factor a news company needs to consider when publishing a sponsored ad is:
“Would I consider running this content if it wasn’t sponsored?”
If the answer is no, a company needs to seriously consider which sponsored ads they are willing to run. Sponsored content needs to agree with the content and values in which the company believes.
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