True, but if the ad-articles need to stand out from the actual-articles, there are ways to do that so it’s less intrusive. Not all advertising has to be in-your-face, despite all the examples of advertising on Boing Boing.
But the truth is, they would rather have them blend in with the articles; not stand out. If they were held to print standards of advertising – which of course they aren’t since it’s a blog, same as they aren’t held to standards of journalism – every one of these BB Shop posts that are created to look like an actual post would have to lead with:
––– ADVERTISEMENT –––
But they don’t, and occasionally – not often – I won’t know it was an ad and not an actual writer recommendation until I reach the bottom to see who posted it.
And you are correct, doing it this way means more people may have to see the entire thing depending on how they enter the site, but how many people who have been annoyed by something then follow through and buy it?
The one time recently when I found myself tempted by an ad-article, I reminded myself, “This is a BB Shop ad… better check elsewhere…” and found the same thing for $5 less than the claimed “sale” price. In that case I didn’t buy it from that site either, but it was interesting to get another price to compare against.
I’ve noticed that over the weekend it’s predominantly Shop ads now. I don’t know why they’re scaling back actual posts on the weekends, but these days it’s rare when I come back to the site on Monday and see anything other than Shop ads with a posting date of Saturday or Sunday.
