On Mashable.com, there are articles about technology and space topics, like the Hubble Telescope. But these aren’t blogs or journalistic stories. These articles are being paid for and sponsored by Snapdragon.
Welcome to the next trend in advertising. There have been around 2,000 articles on Google Glasses popping up everywhere. It’s not known whether these are journalistic articles?written bought and?paid for by Google. Many speculate the latter. This brand of marketing has been called everything from branded content to native advertising. They look, sound and read like unbiased articles, but they are anything but.
They can’t even calculate how much money is being spent on sponsored content. Even well noted publications from Huffington Post to Business Insider are using this marketing tool. In fact, Huffington collaborated a sponsored content deal with household product giant Johnson & Johnson. Publishers love this marketing scheme because of the abundance of ad space and to them, it’s easier to make money than with traditional advertising.
But is it ethical? When I read an article, I expect it to come from an unbiased source. Do you remember these things called newspapers? There, an actual journalist writes and publishes the story. ?But with sponsored content, any major company can write what it wants, give it to a publisher they’re in cahoots with, and that passes as journalism. That’s my concern here. And what about?mom-and-pop businesses that have to compete with the Johnson & Johnsons and the Snapdragons?of America for space? If?sponsored content just has to be the wave of the future, they need to?come up with a fair system so every business can get?it’s?chance. But I don’t even think this is possible. What would you rather read: An independent story or a corporate based article with subliminal messages to buy their product?