Advertorials

I've always assumed this was a fairly frequent occurrence - advertising copy printed as news. Anytime I read a story that is so gung-ho about anything (new products, movies, wars in Iraq, etc.), I am suspicious.

The San Francisco Examiner and Independent agreed Friday to label as advertising a regular restaurant news column the newspapers had used to reward advertisers and solicit ads from eating establishments.

The announcement, by Executive Editor Vivienne Sosnowski, came in response to queries by Grade the News about George Habit, a dining columnist whose articles appeared several times each week in the newspapers.
Mr. Habit's columns were presented as news and he was identified as a journalist under the byline “special to the Examiner,” or just “Independent Newspapers.”

In reality, Mr. Habit is an ad salesman, not a journalist. His column, he said in an earlier interview, is designed not to help consumers make informed dining choices, but to reward advertisers and entice new business from restaurants that have yet to sign an ad contract.

“Yes, I use the column as an initiative to get advertisers to run an ad,” Mr. Habit said. “The paper gives me a free rein.”

In the Aug. 24 edition of the Examiner distributed on the Peninsula, Mr. Habit lavished praise on 29 restaurants, bars and attractions; 25 had ads on the same pages across which Mr. Habit's column was spread. Two more establishments had advertised the previous week

And in case you thought advertorial is basically harmless:

There is sometimes a substantial discrepancy between Mr. Habit's columns and San Mateo County Health Department assessments of eating establishments, which are available online.
For example, on Aug. 17, Mr. Habit wrote about a current advertiser: “A new and exciting chef has joined the great smelling and tasting kitchen at Cinco De Mayo on Laurel Street in San Carlos. Ah yes, owner Oscar Franco has added even more culinary expertise to his comfortable, family-friendly restaurant as he continues his tradition of serving authentically Mexican cuisine in a fun and upbeat environment.”
At its last health inspection in April, the restaurant was upgraded from the “poor” to the “average” category. Online records show county inspectors have visited five times in 2005 so far, citing the eatery for major health-code violations such as “food is being contaminated or adulterated,” “required food temperatures are not met,” “vermin are not properly excluded,” and “hands are not being properly washed.”
According to Dean Peterson, director of environmental health for San Mateo County, those violations were corrected, but an “average” score means that at the last unannounced visit, inspectors found some combination of three major or nine minor infractions

Tags: Media