The Danger of Advertising vs. Fact

Katie Gold

kg094517@ohio.edu

The use of native advertising in online media is a trend that has come to replace many forms of traditional advertising within many online news organizations. While they may be well-intended, the use of such advertising makes the line between analytical reporting and subliminal advertising very blurred. If done poorly, it can not only mislead people, but it can leave a sour taste in people's mouths. Native advertising is a rapidly growing sector with it predicted to grow to a 400 billion dollar sector by 2050. Therfore, our need to educate ourselves on how to identify native advertising is essnetial and regulations are needed to avoid decieving audidences. 

Adweek.com

 One of the biggest issues regarding native advertising concerns the fact that many native ads are incorrectly or are left unmarked as 'ads', which leads consumers to think that it is all real and analytical news. Another major issue with native advertising is the fact that it is typically not written by true journalists, and in some cases, it can be written/created by the very companies who are paying for the ad. It has led to many positions in companies being created which focus mainly on creating these 'ads' through videos, or written articles and many of these people have no formal journalism training. This can throw off the content of what news sources publish and can leave people reading information that can be misleading and not follow journalistic rules. 

The larger issue is that news stories are becoming tainted with companies trying to advertise their products, and in turn, are becoming not as analytical or factual as a result. It may also lead news sources to not publish hard-hitting stories that may potentially alienate their clients. Research found that native ads on premium news websites are 44% more likely to be trusted than if they were on social media websites. This means that the power premium news websites hold is great, and regulations need to be followed and improved upon to maintain independence in reporting.

When publishing native advertising, companies need more accountability on how they go about publishing and ensuring the audience knows that they are being advertised to. To ensure native advertising through news sources doesn't interfere with FTC guidelines, news organizations must do the following to ensure that their advertising is labeled as such. For example: The biggest thing news organizations can do is ensure native advertising is properly labeled as advertising. Simply, it needs to be obvious that it is 'sponsored' or a 'paid ad'. If advertising is poised to look and read like a typical story the source would publish, the story should be put in areas on their websites or papers that document that it is indeed sponsored content. In addition, news organizations must be careful where they put the content on their websites because it risks putting it in a place where readers may believe that it is their normal reporting. 

Native advertising is changing the world of advertising and PR. These tactics allow for far more engagement from audiences, but this also comes with risks. We must ensure that native advertising regulations are followed by news organizations and that the public can tell ads from facts.