01/07/2007

Anatomy of a decoy

By MÁRIO MAGALHÃES
ombudsman@uol.com.br

15 effects to imitate Folha Magazine

Soft drink advertisement is confused with journalism

1 - The slug ("behavior") is at the top left corner of the page, in lower-case letters, as the magazine does

2 - There is a parenthesis to the right of the slug; the magazine uses one on the right and another on the left

3 - The text starts with a display typeface as in the magazine

4 - The text has a journalistic, and not advertising, structure

5 - As with many journalistic stories, the ad quotes an "expert"

6 - The width of the columns of text is about 4.5 centimeters, as in the magazine

7 - There are subheads in the text with different colors, as in the magazine

8 - The photos give credit to the author, rare in an ad but a common practice in journalism

9 - The headline ("zero sugar, with a passionate taste") interposed on top of the photo as is done in the magazine

10 - The nucleus ("with passionate taste") of the headline is in a different color, as in the magazine

11 - Under the headline there is a highlight which informs ("FIRST GUARANA..."), a resource in the magazine

12 - The headline, in lower-case letters, mimics the magazine

13 - The highlight below the headline is in small letters, as in the magazine

14 - Contrary to common practice in an ad, the agency which created the ad is not identified

15 - There is a "service" box typical in journalism about the product's advantages

"The reader's interest always has priority over any other, including that of advertisers," Folha's Stylebook orders

The memory, which so often fails us, of this event took place when the 1970s turned into the 80s in an anti-dandruff shampoo commercial on TV. An actor said that the product smelled like medicine, was the color of medicine and looked like medicine but was not a medicine. The slogan was enshrined: "It seems, but is not."

Last Sunday's edition of Folha Magazine carried two pages (4 and 5) which at first glance looked like journalism. I chose 15 examples about how it resembled the magazine's editorial space, from the design to the structure of the text. I listed them in the box above.

Like the shampoo, the pages seemed, but they were not... journalism. The ad for Kuat Guaraná has the intention of looking like a news report.

There was, in reality, an advisory "paid advertisement." But it was the only alert about the nature of what you read and saw, in contrast to the profusion of signs indicating the contrary.

On Monday, I wrote in the daily critique (www.Folha.com.br/ombudsman) the item "Advertising decoy."

It began like this: "Folha should not accept advertisements produced with the intention of fooling readers, mimicking a journalistic piece. The shameless ad... is made as a decoy. The fact that the ad contains an advisory... does not remove the newspaper's obligation to protect readers from confusion."

On Tuesday, the editor at Folha magazines, Cleusa Turra, sent me a message: "The publication of the ad with graphic resources similar to those utilized in the body of editorial content in Folha Magazine does not conflict with the standards adopted by the newspaper.

"There was a mistake in internal control by not preventing this initiative from getting to readers. The graphic concept at the magazine seeks a visual identity that allows comfortable reading but overall allows readers to differentiate clearly between journalistic and advertising material...

"In this specific case, the 'advertising' advisory was considered insufficient to alert readers to the promotional contents."

This way Folha fulfills its role to investigate the errors of companies and the state. I resolved, in my role as reader representative, to find out about the trajectory of the ad all the way to print. Journalism which oversees power in the name of the public interest should be amply scrutinized.

Church vs state

The spokesman for Coca-Cola do Brasil - the group which owns Kuat - and the Giovanni agency, FCB, which has the beverage account, denied the intention to mislead.

"The text sent was clearly identified as an ad, in a way in which readers could conclude that it was an ad," the agency maintained.

If it was not meant to confuse, why do the imitation? Here is Article 28 in the code of the National Council for Advertising Self-Regulation: "The advertisement should be clearly distinguished as such, in whatever form or medium it runs."

Giovanni sent the layout by email to Folha on June 5, seeking approval of the newspaper. I compared it with what came out: the only thing suppressed were lines that copied the magazine and increased its visibility as "paid advertising."

The ad also came out in the magazine in "O Globo" with another design, similar to that publication. The agency said that the Rio daily got the layout in advance, but it imposed many changes before accepting it.

In fact, some readers of "O Globo" could take the ad to be a news story although the difference in design is greater than in Folha. And checking on both, there was not one advisory of the alert.
"Our opinion was that, despite all the care that we exercise, it was clear in two places at the top that it was an ad. We were mistaken," said the managing editor at "O Globo," Rodolfo Fernandes.

"The ad was too similar to a story, which is contrary to our rules. It is a rock solid clause in journalism, it is part of our contract with the reader that a story is a story and an ad is an ad. Readers have a right to have this information in a clear way. They should not have to look for the difference between the two."

If the agency erred in formatting the ad, the bigger blunder was by Folha. The newspaper had time, but it did not reject the ad. The principle mandates that the newsroom and advertising department be autonomous like church and state.

"The reader's interest... always has priority over any other, including that of advertisers," the stylebook orders.

Improper advertisement

Advertising is not the enemy of journalism - without it, an essential ingredient in the recipe, a newspaper could end up financing itself in an unorthodox way. Overall, it deals with distinct activities: the goal of journalism is to inform.

The editor for magazines said that the newsroom only has prior access to "irregular ads, which interfere with the design and/or quote editorial products."

They can be rejected. Why did they not reject the soft drink ad? Cleusa Turra: "I got the email communicating the necessity to authorize the ad and did not have such authorization by the newsroom."

Giovannni recounted to the ombudsman that on June 21 Folha asked for two modifications in the design: typeface of letters in the slug "behavior" and in the parenthesis to the side.

"Being conscious of the 'style' of the ad, I asked for alterations," Cleusa asserted. "Due to an internal failure in the transmission of the graphic, the ad sent and published was one whose layout was not authorized by the newsroom."

I don't believe that such changes solved the problem.

It is a shame that the controls did not work on Sunday. At least at Folha, there is no doubt about the impropriety of the ad.

Translation by John Wright