By: E&P Staff Minneapolis Star Tribune Reader's Representative Kate Parry is not a big fan of ads that look like Sunday comic strips.
In her latest column, Parry said reader questions about Marshall Field's "Santabear" ad in the Star Tribune's Sunday comics section "raised my concern that the traditional wall between news and advertising is straining under increasing economic pressure on the newspaper industry."
As it turned out, a line reading "advertisement" was mistakenly left off the top of the "Santabear" ad. But Parry said: "I'd be troubled by the ad even if the word 'advertisement' was printed at the top. It's otherwise indistinguishable from nearby comic strips. ... I'm concerned because the funnies are where a lot of kids form their first newspaper reading habits. I doubt they'll absorb a tiny 'advertisement' line at the top of what looks like all the other comic strips on the page."
Parry -- whose column was linked on Poynter.org's Romenesko site -- wrote that she's also concerned about "shadow ads" behind the Star Tribune's box scores, stock listings, and movie guide.
She concluded: "There's a business value to credibility that's sometimes left out of the revenue equation when newspaper industry execs strategize. Here's the news side of the equation: If readers don't trust us, they won't read us; if readers don't read us, advertisers will go elsewhere."
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