I have no objection to adverting sales people selling into content.  For example, if a medium is planning to run a piece on golf, then approach golf courses, equipment manufacturer, retailers, etc., about adverting in that issue or during that episode.  Also, I think it is smart marketing to copy your advertising sales rep with any press release you are sending to a particular medium.  (I don’t mind another voice bringing a good story to an editor’s attention one more time.) What I do fervently object to is the creation of seemingly editorial content strictly for its sales value as well as tolerance of the unfettered quid pro quo where advertisers get positive and pronounced editorial coverage despite the quality of the product or service in question.  Running editorial and advertising as one unit where advertisers are “partners” is ethically dubious and it destroys the credibility of real PR in that medium, and perhaps across all media.  The wall between editorial and advertising has always had a degree of fluidity, but I fear it is now no more than a gauzy veil.  Editors, producers, journalists-rebuild this wall!

Check out this segment from NPR’s On the Media for an example of such a conflict.

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