Spot the Difference

by: Anna Wise
aw138915@ohio.edu

Native Ads Taking Over

There is no doubt that online and social media advertising have become a major way that advertisers and marketers are reaching consumers. However, the question of when these advertisements go too far within journalism has been raised and disputed as to whether or not consumers and online users can tell what is and is not sponsored content.

Can You Spot the Difference?

Many publications have made the effort to clearly label and call out sponsored content within their stories, but it still may be difficult to tell what exactly is native content and what is not. I think that native content is a little easier to identify on social media because a lot of times, especially with influencers, their posts and captions stand out much more and they are clearly holding a product that's branded and visible. Many of them also tag the brands and companies within their posts and will include "#ad" at the beginning or end of their caption.

Personally, I think that even when these things are not explicitly added to the posts, it is still pretty easy to tell what posts are sponsored and by who. However, as a strategic communication major I would consider myself pretty media literate and able to decipher this information pretty easily. Someone who does not know much about how advertising works or how sponsored content can appear within their feeds may not be as inclined to notice.

Native Ads in Journalism

When it comes to native ads within editorials and journalism in general, I agree that there should be some type of regulation in place because the ads can look more like actual stories than advertising content. A lot of times, the ads will look and feel similar to the content that is normally on the news site, and that can be deceptive to readers if there is not something clearly pointing out that the content is paid for.

Source: blogflicker.com

I think this differs from social media posts and influencers because they are not representing entire publications, and journalists are meant to inform the public. Influencers' ads are also, in my opinion, more compact and easy to avoid (I can easily skip through a celebrity's instagram story of them promoting a product) but a lot of times if I am reading what I think is a story by a news source I trust, I may not realize that what I am reading is actually sponsored content.

Looking to the various codes created to help journalists remain ethical, I think that in the interest of transparency publications need to be seriously careful when dealing with native ads. I think that if they had some sort of guidelines in place to disclose when content is coming from advertisers and brands, there would be more trust within journalism, which is needed now more than ever. Journalists need to be able to stand up to interference with their publications and take responsibility for when they choose to deal with advertisers. I think the public is owed that honesty.