Mallory Jones
mj710116@ohio.edu
According to an article done in early 2020 by journalist Dan Shewen, only half of the consumer market know what native advertising is. When native advertising first started to make its appearance in videos, infographics, and even articles, there were very few guidelines put in place. In fact, it was not until 2013 that the ASME tighten the guidelines on native advertising.
One of the stricter guidelines that they put in place would not even be noticeable to the common consumer; however, ASME restricted the use of any fonts or graphics that could possibly be used in editorial content. Basically, native advertising should be visually separate from editorial.
Native Advertisement has to be transparent to the viewers to follow the guidelines. Nevertheless, it is still easy for companies to blur those lines, sometimes even just leaving a small sponsor tag in an article's corner. Often it is so controversial because it is seen as a trick to the viewers or its content is too controversial itself.
Ben & Jerry's is a well-loved company mostly because of its delicious ice cream and frozen yogurts. However, they are one of many companies that use a lot of native advertising, and it is no doubt often controversial.
Since there is no ice cream, not even a cow or milk jug, on this infographic, it is kind of obvious that Ben & Jerry's is not selling an item they make in a factory. They are trying to sell an idea to their public. Not only do they want to inform the public of facts about multiple controversial issues. Their infographic could be used on Instagram, Twitter, or even news articles if they are labeled as sponsored.
So, what really is native advertising?
According to Dan Greenburg in
a LinkedIn Business article, defined native advertising as "a type of paid media that fits the form and function of the user experience on the site or app in which they’re placed. In short, they’re ads that fit in.”
The point is that native advertising can be used anywhere. It can be seen when scrolling through a favorite social media app or even reading an article from a famous newspaper. It is not meant to disrupt the viewer's experience but be seen as the viewer's content normally sees and trusts.
It can be easy to forget that native advertisement is still paid content that multiple companies use to reach audiences across all platforms to buy the companies products or services. However, it does not mean that the audiences can not enjoy or learn from the content.
Hi Mallory!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your blog and learning more about native advertising. I agree and think it is quite interesting that only half of the consumer market truly knows what native advertising is! The idea that native advertising is everywhere, while scrolling or reading, and just placed perfectly into the experience for the user is equally smart and scary.
I also liked how you continued to explain that it is easy to forget that native advertisements are there and actual paid content. We view these advertisements just as we would anything else on the page we are interested in, while these companies are reaching their target audiences perfectly.