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Apple's Acting Ads

3/19/2016

15 Comments

 
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by David Hagenbuch, Founder of Mindful Marketing
Have you noticed recently a rash of people pretending to be someone else?  An Ohio teen, for instance,  pretended to be a senator in order to speak to a high school class.  Then police in Pennsylvania found the opposite: a 23-year old man pretending to be a high school student.  Unfortunately individuals aren’t the only pretenders--an organizational icon also has gotten into “the act.”
  
Apple News is in the news because of its plans to pretend.  How exactly has Apple, America’s consumer electronics leader and the world’s most profitable company, decided to deceive?  Its “News” app will display advertisements that look almost exactly like news articles.  The only difference is that the ads will have a very small “sponsored” byline below them.  Furthermore, that subtle commercial identifier might not even contain the name of the advertiser; it may just say “sponsored,” making the advertisement all-the-more ambiguous.
 
Since Apple just introduced News last year, many may not know exactly how the app works, or what it does.  Leveraging customer data, the app identifies patterns of interest and delivers to each user the specific types of news stories that he/she is most likely to read.  While Apple acts as the curator, the news feeds come courtesy of over 100 top publishers, such as Time Inc., which have decided to partner with Apple.
 
Right now News is only available in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia, and only on iPhones and iPads running iOS 9 or later.  Apple undoubtedly would like to expand the app’s distribution.  It also would like to increase the app’s modest advertising, which is managed by the company’s unique iAd advertising platform.  Such improvements would be welcomed by media partners such as Joe Ripp, CEO of Time, who so far has been underwhelmed by the revenue his firm has earned from advertising on the app.

Now back to the native banner ads on News . . . In its own words, Apple’s express intention is to make the ads “blend in with their surrounding[s]” by running them “directly in the content feeds, inline with the News articles” and by setting them in “the default font used in News.”  The question begging to be answered is “Why?”—Why would Apple not want ads to standout from articles? 
 
Maybe Apple just wants a very uniform look, or a simple design, throughout the News feed.  That theory seems unlikely, however, given that the company says “News also combines the rich and immersive design found in print with the interactivity of digital media, letting you enjoy stunningly crafted articles that reflect the style of the publications they come from.”  Uniformity in appearance, therefore, doesn’t appear to be an overriding objective.
 
It seems more likely that Apple wants inconspicuous ads in order to confuse consumers; i.e., to lead people to believe that the ads are articles so they’ll read the ad summaries and unwittingly click on them.  Such a claim sounds cynical, but unfortunately there’s precedent in other media for certain advertisers' use of such stealth tactics.  Likewise, Apple and others seeking to place ads in on-line environments face increasingly stiff resistance from consumers who want to avoid the ads.  In fact, there’s a bitter irony in that Apple itself has been a backer of ad blocking software.

So people will sometimes mistakenly click on ads they think are articles.  What’s the big deal?  Well, there are two main problems with that scenario:
 
1. Deception: People process commercial content differently than they do other information.  For instance, most of us will interpret a friend’s recommendation of a restaurant differently than we will the restaurant’s recommendation of itself in an ad.  There’s nothing wrong with either type of information; both can be very helpful; but we deserve to know when the information comes from an objective source versus one that has a stake (and possibly a “steak”) in our decision.
 
2. An Arms Race of Acting Ads:  What will the media landscape look like if more and more organizations resort to disguising their ads as articles or other program content?  People will find it harder and harder to distinguish real news from the faux variety, which will create considerable frustration for consumers and eventually lead them to make wholesale changes in their online behavior, upending many of the current commercial models.  Of course, it could also be that the FTC will step in and take regulatory action before such a seismic shift occurs.
 
Given the Apple News app’s current low level of advertising, the use of article-imitating ads will likely spur an increase in ad revenues for Apple and its media partners, and even News consumers may benefit from an expanding array of available articles.  That probable increase in stakeholder value, however, is offset by compromises of societal values such as honesty and respect, due to the approach’s inherent deception and consumers’ inevitable frustration.  For those reasons, Apple’s covert advertising can be called “Single-Minded Marketing.”
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15 Comments
Blake
3/28/2016 12:17:53 am

On one hand, it is interesting that Apple has followed this route of advertising, when it could potentially reflect badly on the company. However, the concept of "sponsored" content has been gaining traction on many different platforms. For example, Instagram, which used to be free of ads, has started including advertisements in the form of photos that can often be confused for the post of a friend. Similar trends have occurred on Twitter, Facebook, and other apps, so in some senses it is not surprising to see this come directly from Apple.

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Leonardo
3/29/2016 08:07:37 pm

I think Apple just followed what other companies such as Facebook and Instagram do this kind of advertising. It is a way to raise money for the company. Although it may be annoying to the customers, this type of advertising has become more frequent in all the popular apps.

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Davis
3/30/2016 08:37:19 pm

I think Apple could be smarter about their advertisement strategy. Apple is a profitable and large business with products that aren't necessarily a trend. Other social media feeds as mentioned in previous comments have used sponsored ads within their feeds, however those companies only make money through ads. Apple on the other hand sells a wide range of products and services that offer revenues. Therefore, I do not think Apple needs to make ads that will only bother their customers and tarnish their image.

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Christina
3/31/2016 05:57:06 pm

It is quite a surprise to me because I never heard of this acting ads and I did not know that Apple has it on their News app. I think they hide the ads well since no one makes a big deal out of it. But I agree that this should not be happening because for those who use the app and do not realize that there are some ads, it can create some confusion and ambiguity. Ads and news have a different purpose and by reading the wrong thing, it can create a different view on something. An advertisement that looks like an article definitely creates stockholder value because companies would be interested in partner with Apple.

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Jeannie
4/1/2016 05:27:48 pm

Unfortunately, this does not surprise me at at; although I did not know about this, with so many people trying to block advertisements it is only a matter of time before companies start getting creative and in some cases deceptive to get advertising out there. I cannot say I necessarily agree with this, but in a way they really are doing nothing wrong. Every business is going to have complications to deal with and it is just a matter of whether or not that company can think outside of the box to get around the complication and apple has done this, at least for now.

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Austin
4/1/2016 08:19:45 pm

This was surprising to have come-to-light. However, I was not drastically surprised. Apple's products have been leaning more towards encouraging individuals' hedonistic attitudes and behaviors. As such, this strategy is very effective at manipulating people into only hearing and learning about what they want. From a marketing standpoint, it was executed immaculately; yet, from an ethical standpoint, it should not have been executed at all.

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Katie Clark
4/3/2016 10:54:06 pm

I think that people can sometimes be too trusting of Apple, but at the same time Apple should not have to pretend to disguise advertisements as news articles. It's deceptive and really does not uphold societal values.

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Jordan
4/4/2016 05:39:01 pm

I must admit, I'm not particularly shocked that Apple would pursue a marketing strategy like this, but I still find it highly unsettling. As a consumer, it makes me very uncomfortable to think that I may be tricked into reading "articles" that are, in fact, only ad's. Your point that a high-volume of this kind of marketing will upend current structures, and leave customers frustrated past the point of return is so clear to me.

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Jonathan d
4/4/2016 06:54:40 pm

While it may seem "unethical" to conceal ads as news, trends change. With the changing trends people will have to accept change to adapt to the new trends. While ads have been effective in the past, now people tune them out, we hear/see ad after ad and do not even think about it. Therefore in order for ads to work they would have to change the presentation and vibe of them.

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Jennifer
4/5/2016 05:12:10 am

Apple is a company that looks for marketing strategies that are different from all other companies. I am not surprised that Apple would do this kind of marketing strategy because they want to try to attract consumers by thinking outside of the box. However, I think they should not mislead consumers to believe they are reading articles than ads because it is misleading to consumers and slightly deceiving.



















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Barrett Shutt
4/5/2016 01:10:27 pm

I find it sad to see such a large and influential company deceive people. I think Apple is not being smart in their advertising and I think they need to change their marketing strategies. The last thing I want is to be deceived into thinking I'm reading an article when in fact it is just an ad. I think Apple needs to reconsider what they are doing.

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Colton Olson
4/5/2016 01:59:02 pm

I think this a very wrong and dishonest way to go about advertising and displaying ads. This could become very annoying for anyone actually trying to read the news. Always wondering if what they are being told is true or an raised opinion toward something. This type of Ad display in my opinion will cause more distrust in companies and organizations if they decide to go this route like Apple.

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daniel amaya
4/5/2016 04:39:39 pm

This plays into the idea of unethical marketing. I find it hard to justify something like this because it is highly deceptive. For a company like Apple, I think there are more effective ways to publish ads and even within the news app itself.

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John Chau
4/5/2016 05:15:11 pm

Although Apple could be criticized for implanting advertisement in their new released application secretly. I do not think it is necessarily that bad of a strategy ethically. As a company, it is reasonable to look for profit. Apple receives money from other companies, and in return advertise their products. However, Apple does not force its users to look at any advertisement. Users have a choice whether to open the NEWS application or not. If they would like to see what Apple recommends, they will certainly be benefited because their phone has the ability to track their browsing behaviors.

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Learn more link
12/31/2021 01:12:53 pm

It also would like to increase the app’s modest advertising, which is managed by the company’s unique iAd advertising platform. Thank you for the beautiful post!

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