Sponcon Disclosure Lessons from Teen Vogue’s Facebook Article Controversy

As the lines between journalism and advertising become increasingly blurred, media companies must be on high alert for potential pitfalls around the failure to properly disclose sponsored content. The proper characterization of content as commercial advertising, and the proper disclosure of such sponsored content, has drawn the scrutiny of both the Federal Trade Commission and the National Advertising Division in recent years. Teen Vogue’s equivocation on whether an uncritical article on Facebook’s role in the 2020 election amounted to sponsored content provides many lessons from which other media companies should learn. Earlier today, Teen Vogue published an article titled, “How Facebook Is Helping Ensure the Integrity of the 2020 Election.” The Twitterverse was set abuzz, because it seemed to be overly laudatory of Facebook and did not contain any critical questioning.  Commentators found the questions posed and the tone of the article surprising in light of Facebook’s role in the 2016 election and its recent public pronouncement regarding its approach in 2020. “Interesting pivot for Teen Vogue here to… Facebook PR?” tweeted Steven Perlberg, a freelance writer formerly with BuzzfFeed News and The Wall Street Journal, while Molly Jong-Fast of The Daily Beast described the article as “so sketchy.” Approximately an hour after it was posted, Teen Vogue added a prominent disclosure below the headline, stating, “Editor’s note: This is sponsored editorial content.” In a... Continue reading at 'Folio Magazine'

[ Folio Magazine | 2020-01-09 00:40:34 UTC ]
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Hachette to close teen magazine Sugar after 16 years

Hachette Filipacchi is to close teen print magazine Sugar in March, which has suffered flagging circulation figures, and ahead of an anticipated group sale to US publisher Hearst. Continue reading at Media Week

[ Media Week | 2011-01-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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