The coverage continues. This week it's news from the American Society of Magazine Editors. In their first update to their guidelines since 2011, they are addressing what has become the hottest topic in online advertising: Native Advertising. The ASME suggests that magazines and editors use the term "Sponsored Content" to identify the advertisements as distinct from their independent editorial content as well as a "prominent statement" or link to explain the origin at the top of the article. Those two updates are unlikely to send any shock waves through the growing community of publishers using this hot form of advertising. However, one additional measure is likely to cause some stir. According to the ASME, advertisers "should not use type fonts or graphics resembling those used for editorial content and should be visually separated from editorial content." ASME CEO Sid Holt cited The New Yorker and The Atlantic as publishers who are currently using Native Advertising appropriately - but refused to name others who might want to adjust their delivery in response to the new guidelines. One clear "guilty" party is Forbes, which allows advertisers to pay for "BrandVoice" content that looks and feels strikingly similar to the editorial content with which it is positioned.
Of course, this begs the question - what are the consequences of violating the ASME? Well, its guidelines are more a suggestion of best practices to follow rather than a set of rules one must live by. However, magazine issues that violate ASME can be excluded from the organizations National Magazine Awards. I'm not sure what that means within the industry, but it doesn't sound altogether consequential to me. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is the regulator who could actually make the laws. They are expected to hold a workshop in December on the topic and we may very well see some rules, with real consequences, come the new year.
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