Question

Native advertising - articles paid for and / or written by a brand that appear on a publisher's site - has emerged as a powerful and popular new marketing content tool over the past few years . Media companies such as BuzzFeed , The New York Times , The Wall Street Journal , and The Atlantic have all invested heavily in the creation and distribution of native advertisements ( also called sponsored content ) on behalf of brands , with many charging more than $ 100,000 for a native advertising campaign . Such sponsored content is designed to blend with the look and feel of the other content on a site , and written disclosures such as " Sponsored " or " Advertisement " are often hard to see even if consumers are looking for them . So it's no surprise that consumers often can't tell the difference between paid brand content and regular articles . Marketing content agency Contently recently surveyed adult consumers , showing them one brand sponsored online content piece from The New York Times , The Wall Street Journal , The Atlantic , The Onion , BuzzFeed , or Forbes or an actual article on Whole Foods in Fortune . In four out of the six groups shown a native advertisement , a strong majority said they thought the ad was an article .

15-11 Search the internet to find examples of native advertising or other sponsored content . Could such content mislead consumers ? Are companies responsible for ensuring consumers understand and can distinguish between sponsored content and other content ?

Answer 1

Native advertising  is the use of paid ads that match the look, feel and function of the media format in which they appear. Examples of native advertising are as follows:

1) "Hennessy Fuels Our Chase for the Wild Rabbit … But What Does It All Mean?"- Vanity Fair

2) Woman Going to Take Quick Break After Filling Out Name, Address on Tax Forms" - The Onion

3)  Infographic: UPS’s 2012 Change in the (Supply) Chain Survey- Fast Company

4) 10 Quotes Every Grad Needs to Read-  BuzzFeed

Yes native advertising often misleads consumers. The content might be false or misleading in the usual sense. The content might also be considered misleading by virtue of its form. Many times consumers are not able to tell what they are reading or watching is a sponsored content or other content.Native advertising can also be deceptive for the consumers. Transparency is the key concern in such cases.

Yes the companies should ensure that the consumers understand and distinguish between sponsored content and other content. It helps the consumer to know whether an advertisement is paid or not. Consumers will never feel that they have been deceived. It will help to reduce the consumer litigation as already every information has been properly disclosed to the consumer. It will help to create proper brand image of a product in the minds of consumers. It will help to create a health relationship between company and its consumers, also creating brand loyalty for the product.