The use of TV consumer experts is the latest way marketers have tried to disguise their promotions as real news, often with the aid of media outlets. Magazines accept "advertorials" designed to look like editorial features, not ads. TV stations often use "video news releases" produced by companies, which are designed to look like news segments. Last week, the Federal Communications Commission told broadcasters they must inform viewers about the origins of these video releases.
For advertisers, these techniques help keep their messages from getting lost in an increasingly crowded sea of ads. An example is the camera maker Olympus Optical Corp. Along with Canon Inc. and Nikon Inc., it paid last year to be on a satellite tour operated by DWJ Television that featured John Owens, the editor in chief of Popular Photography & Imaging magazine, according to Michael Friedman, DWJ's executive vice president. The DWJ tour was timed to coincide with a 2004 photography trade show.
Chris Sluka, an Olympus spokesman, says the tour "secured me some broadcast coverage that's hard to get in a cluttered atmosphere." He says local stations probably wouldn't air the segments if they knew manufacturers paid to be mentioned. "I know when these are pitched, they're pitched as news," he says.
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