‘Paste’ Blurs Editorial-Advertising Line, Allows Ads Next to Page Numbers

Paste is the latest magazine to carve out unusual space for advertising. The magazine placed contextual ads for BMW next to various editorial page numbers in its April issue.

For example, on page 30, next to the number, a small line of text reads: Number of gas stations you’ll pass before filling up in the all-new fuel-efficient BMW1 series. There’s also a small image.

There is no editorial conflict in the ad running at the bottom of the page, Tim Regan-Porter, Paste president, told Folio. “It’s not much different than putting a quarter-page ad on an editorial page. So there was no ethical concern.”

The April issue is wrapped in an ad for BMW.

Magazines have been exploring new ad formats, including ads around the logo on the cover, ads around the masthead, and allowing a single advertiser to sponsor an entire issue of a magazine, in order to help boost slipping ad revenue. Some believe the editorial-advertising line is being breached, while others see it as necessary innovation.

In the May issue of Bon Appetit, for example, Starbucks surrounded the magazine’s masthead with an ad that had staffers answering Starbucks-related questions.

Condé Nast has said it would not allow ads on mastheads moving forward.

Vice magazine last month allowed BMW to embed a glow-in-the-dark advertisement on the cover of its Canadian edition. Maintaining the integrity of the cover was “an amazing challenge,” Shawn Phelan, director of sales and marketing at Vice’s Toronto office, said.

Steve Sturm, group vp of strategic research and planning at Toyota Motor North America, scolded publishers during a recent New York Magazine Day conference, saying that readers don’t care as much about editorial ethics as publishers do. The line between advertising and editorial has been “self-governed and self-policed. You’ve put the handcuffs on yourselves.”