ASME Battles Product Placement in Print: ASME this year sent warning letters out to Wenner Media's Rolling Stone and Rodale's Prevention. ASME guidelines state the a title's layout and design of edit pages should be distinctly different from ad pages, and any ad pages that contain editorial elements of typeface or design should be clearly labeled as advertising. A magazine's logo, name and editorial staff should also not be used in a way to imply any endorsement of an advertised product.
In Rolling Stone's case, its Aug. 7 cover of Angelina Jolie came with a gatefold that contained an additional editorial shot of the bee-stung-lipped Ms. Jolie - but, when fully opened, displayed a three-page ad featuring Ms. Jolie as the Lara Croft character from Tomb Raider shilling for Jeep. In Prevention's March issue, an editorial supplement about caregiving included in a "tips" box a mention of Pfizer's Alzheimer's medication Aricept, which was the sole advertiser of that section.
Top executives at Prevention and Rolling Stone acknowledged receiving ASME's warnings and expressed remorse, but addressed the demands marketers have in the current media climate.
Product Placement in Peril? A few weeks ago, Commercial Alert, a consumer watchdog organization, filed a petition with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). It could make TV product placement, as we know it, a thing of the past.
