ASME calls two magazines on the carpet for ad encroachment on covers

[This post has been updated] The American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME) has called two magazines on the carpet, criticizing ESPN the Magazine and Entertainment Weekly for recent ads on the magazines' covers, according to a story by Nat Ives in AdAge.

As readers of Canadian Magazines will know, there have been a flurry of instances of advertising impinging on covers, traditionally viewed as editorial. Recently Maclean's had a cover flap that led readers to a car ad; some said the device misled readers who might think it was part of the editorial question posed in the main coverline.

Now the U.S. magazine editors society, usually called ASME, has called both ad units violations of guidelines designed to protect the industry's editorial reputation among readers. (Unlike in Canada, where ad:edit guidelines are purely voluntary, in the U.S. ASME has the power to bar offenders from the national magazine awards it runs; though it rarely uses the sanction).

The cover of ESPN's April 6 issue was half-obscured by an ad flap that said "You Wouldn't Settle for an Incomplete Cover," and, less prominently, "Advertisement." Opening the flap revealed the rest of the ad, which finished the thought: "Then Don't Settle for an Incomplete Drink."

Entertainment Weekly's April 3 issue included a cover tab on top that said "Pull This!" Following those instructions revealed a loose ad page, promoting "The Unusuals" on ABC, that had been tucked inside the cover...

"Not only does the flap constitute a misuse of the cover for advertising purposes," ASME told ESPN, "but the copy reading 'You Wouldn't Settle for an Incomplete Cover' acknowledges that the flap impinges on the cover."

"The copy is also clearly and inappropriately intended to direct consumers away from editorial content," the society added, "toward the advertising on the reverse of the flap."

ASME was less sure what to make of EW's ad, telling the magazine it wanted to "discuss" it. "ASME concluded that the cover is a violation of the guidelines because the cover notch and ad copy ('Pull This!'), which directs consumers to an ad, serve no apparent or conceivable editorial purpose," the society said. "But the cover execution is relatively novel, and ASME wants to hear what the magazine has to say about it."

[Update] MediaDaily News says in a report:

Although ASME can criticize magazines for violating its guidelines, as a voluntary industry body it has no regulatory power. What little coercive power it does possess comes from the prospect of being shamed in front of peers -- and disqualification from the National Magazine Awards. These threats seem to be having little effect on other magazines that are putting ads on their covers, including most notably Scholastic Parent and Child and Esquire.

Related posts:

• Ad encroachment on magazine covers comes in many different forms
• OMG!! Maclean's!! What happened to your cover?
• ESPN magazine takes "flapvertising" another step