Archives for May 23rd, 2007

Lidl’s imitation newspaper advertisement.

I always get nervous when the line between journalism and advertising is blurred. For example, I really resent those “special” advertising sections you occasionally find in Time magazine and its ilk. Advertisers seem to hope that people will actually think that the ads are Time articles, only in a slightly different font and with headlines like: “Nigeria is a great place to invest!” or “Bangladesh’s booming economy: Why is it so booming?”

I recently got the above faux paper in my mailbox and it seems to be going for the same effect. (Does it work?) It looks very similar to the free weekly newspaper Dobro Jutro, except it’s all about how fresh the fruit is in Lidl. Not to be outdone, Rutar also sent out something similar:

Slovenske novice just called; they want their layout back.

Here the retailer Rutar has shamelessly copied the exact layout of Slovenia’s most popular tabloid. Is anyone fooled? And isn’t there some sort of law against this? I can understand parody being protected, but disguising ads as popular newspapers?