Branded Content In Today's Society

Jenna Guyot

jg140211@ohio.edu

Branded Content:

Branded content is a form of advertising medium that blurs conventional distinctions between what constitutes advertising and what constitutes editorial content. Many companies try and sell advertising content as editorial content. There's a huge issue with that: its unethical. Companies should clearly label their content as branded content before passing it off as editorial content. I know that there are companies which delete negative comments on a website. This hinders the credibility of the company because no one will believe that all comments will be raving. To be ethical, the company should show both positive and negative comments. 

How To Ethically Report Branded Content:

1. Make sure readers know your content is branded, so clearly label it as branded content. 

2. Allow for feedback such as comments and likes. Do not edit or remove any of the comments. 

3. Branded content should not take place of earned media. You should still work with the company to develop newsworthy stories. 

4. Make sure your content is current. Branded content should be constantly updated as information continues to develop.

5. Don't blame the news staff. They don't write, edit, or place branded content. 

Federal Trade Commission's Role:

According to AdWeek, "The FTC has given notice to ads that have resembled editorial content, and over the years it has tried to keep apace with the new digital offerings. The FTC has warned search engines like Google and Bing that they should take better care to distinguish ads and paid search results from regular search results." The FTC will step in and fix these unethical practices if they continue. 

Branded Content Done Right:

Dove's 'Real Beauty' campaign 

The Dove 'Real Beauty' campaign wanted to make women feel better about themselves after research suggested that only 4% of women would describe themselves as beautiful. This video showed how women were overly critical of their appearance by comparing two sketches - one based on their own descriptions of themselves, the other based on a strangers description. With over 170 million views on YouTube, this video was the most watched online branded content of 2013 and the 3rd most shared branded video. Not only has it gone viral, but it also inspired conversation and debate across the media while greatly strengthening Dove's 'Real Beauty' strategy. 

I believe that Dove has branded themselves in a way that young women use as inspiration. Yes, Dove received major attention from this video, but it was done in such a positive way that it focuses on the consumers emotions rather than promoting their products. 

What Next:

Companies need to consider if the content they are posting is journalistically ethical or not before publicizing branded content. If every company considered the ethics for branded company, we would not run into this issue. Making sure the content is relatable so it doesn't seem just like you are trying to sell a product is crucial; doing so will increase loyalty of consumers.