Editorial & Advertising

The Guardian has written a rather interesting column that looks at the juxtiposition of editorial and advertising. Taking the recent execution of Saddam Hussein as an example the coloumnist asks how would you feel if it was your ad running just after viewers had sat through the grainy footage of Saddam’s hanging?

“They can certainly be jarring: the chilling reality of the breaking Saddam story, the last few harrowing seconds of his life, the tawdry surroundings, the leather-clad executioners and then – almost within the blink of an eye – the cheery injunction to buy a leather-clad sofa. It came across as hilariously, appallingly discordant.”

It’s odd to observe just how often adverts are misplaced or placed in a context that completely undermines them. Hopefully as behavioural advertising improves there will be fewer awkward occurances. However, placing advertising alongside editorial will always run the risk of seeming completely out of place.

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