Advertising - or bad journalism?

964cup
964cup Posts: 1,362
edited May 2014 in Discuss the website with the team
http://www.bikeradar.com/road/news/arti ... nce-40634/

Say what? There's lazy journalism, and then there's just printing the press release without even reading it. If this is an advert for Mazda, shouldn't you say so? It's clearly not a well-informed article that adds to the store of knowledge about disc brakes for road bikes and the upcoming UCI decision, now is it?

Comments

  • supersonic
    supersonic Posts: 82,708
    I have to agree, that is absolutely bizarre to read.
    GT ZASKAR CARBON TEAM

    VOODOO CANZO

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  • imposter2.0
    imposter2.0 Posts: 12,028
    Agreed - it starts off talking about the benefits of disk brakes on road bikes, and then inexplicably turns into an advert for the Madza3 (which is a car, just to be clear). Did someone press the wrong button?

    (apologies for missing the earlier thread, btw)
  • Jeff Jones
    Jeff Jones Posts: 1,865
    It is 'sponsored content' and labelled as such. Hopefully (I haven't been around for a couple of months) that label was there when it was posted.
    Jeff Jones

    Product manager, Sports
  • imposter2.0
    imposter2.0 Posts: 12,028
    Jeff Jones wrote:
    It is 'sponsored content' and labelled as such. Hopefully (I haven't been around for a couple of months) that label was there when it was posted.

    I'm fairly certain it wasn't labelled as such - hence the comments here. Anyway, 'sponsored content' - that's what used to be called 'advertorial', right?
  • Jeff Jones
    Jeff Jones Posts: 1,865
    Imposter wrote:
    Jeff Jones wrote:
    It is 'sponsored content' and labelled as such. Hopefully (I haven't been around for a couple of months) that label was there when it was posted.

    I'm fairly certain it wasn't labelled as such - hence the comments here. Anyway, 'sponsored content' - that's what used to be called 'advertorial', right?
    Fair enough, I hope it wasn't that way for long. Yes, it's most definitely advertorial.
    Jeff Jones

    Product manager, Sports
  • imposter2.0
    imposter2.0 Posts: 12,028
    Can't really argue with advertorial I suppose, although you would typically see content like that in trade media, rather than news-stand titles. Hopefully stuff like that doesn't make it into the print edition of C+..?

    The other issue is simply with the 'relevance' of the content. Advertorial usually has a relevance to the magazine it is placed in (otherwise, it's probably in the wrong mag). But as for making the link between road disk brakes and a small family car - sorry, I just can't see it.
  • lawman
    lawman Posts: 6,868
    That is utterly bizarre! Of course the publishers rely on advertising to make money but there comes a point where it just goes too far and this is one of those occasions.

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