A Love/Hate Relationship

A magazine virtually cannot survive without advertising as it makes up 54 percent of the total revenue of an average magazine. But there are certain guidelines set out by the American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME) that advertisers are required to follow. However, the one that deters me from flipping through a magazine the most are advertising inserts. These are produced and created by the advertisers and comes bounded into the magazine. Inserts differ to normal advertising because it is often printed on different paper to the rest of the magazine. Advertisers are increasingly using this form of advertising to capture the attention of readers particularly because both Generation X and Y are so invovled in the media world.

The most common type of advertising inserts is perfume or cologne ads that have scented samples. These forms of ads are highly successful because they enable the advertiser and the reader to establish an interactive relationship. It forces the reader to feel the need to sniff the sample particularly because the smell jumps out at you when you open up the magazine. I personally think it is a clever way to advertise a product. It differs itself from other advertising making the ad more successful in achieving its goal to appeal to readers.

However when I am reading through a magazine such as November’s issue of Vanity Fair all I want to read are the articles. But each time I flip a page, I end up flipping a whole section of them all because of these inserts. As previously mentioned, it is made from different paper, usually a lot thicker than the rest of the pages of the magazine and so they act almost like page dividers. In some ways it is convenient to have them there because they act as book marks for the magazine but generally they are just irritating.

Similarly, I share the same love/hate relationship with outserts. It is another method of advertising. This is preprinted advertising which can also include editorial material. The most common one are subscription cards. Those are the ones that are constantly slipping out in between the pages of the magazine each time you flip through them. This form of advertising is definitely eye capturing as each time it falls out it also screams ‘look at me’ engaging the reader to at least pick it up and look at the advertisement.

At times, advertising can be the most irritating thing of a magazine but in most cases, they are clever and innovative inventions that does exactly what advertisers want them to do – capture the reader’s attention.