Buyer beware: Payola websites

Is that website an advertisement masquerading as someone’s honest opinion? Read carefully and you may avoid any confusion.

Recently I’ve received some new offers to place new advertisements on this site. “Great!,” I thought. “Some extra income would be handy.”

But my enthusiasm lasts as long as it takes to read the “offer.” That’s because the other party suggests “editing this page” by (cough) helpfully adding some language. It’s bad enough that the result is that I say something good about party X without telling you that I was paid to so so. But it’s made worse (if that’s possible) by the fact that the language usually includes a link to another website filled with spammy badness. (Who knows? The other site may even have a virus.)

So I write back something like this: “Thank you for your interest in advertising. I’d be happy to talk further with you about this, but I want you to know that if I take any money from you, I will make it clear that the text or link I include is an advertisement. In other words, there will be a disclosure. Are you still interested?”

In this latest round of “partnership opportunities,” however, nobody has come  back with a solid pay-for-advertising offer. I suspect that’s because it’s so much easier to try to slip in some advertising into someone else’s site.

Nothing against advertising. It’s necessary and in some cases even useful and informative. But I want to know what is editorial copy and what is advertising. I believe the distinction makes for a more credible publication. You probably do, too.