Specific ad formats addressed with greater detail
The American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME) announced new guidelines to members on January 25th.
These guidelines are in the same vein as existing ones, but focus more on specific ad formats, including paid links, product placement and interruptive advertising.
The new guidelines specifically say, “paid or sponsored links should be identified as such; Websites should not promote products in exchange for advertising; and sponsored microsites should be visually distinct from the main website.”
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Furthermore, ASME believes that interruptive ads should require an editorial approval, have a “close” or “skip” button and last no more than 10 seconds.
To stay current with the times, the organization also laid out expectations for social media, saying that marketing messages should not be integrated into the social media content and that bloggers should disclose any commercial ties with advertisers.
Finally, ASME added a section on tablet devices stressing that editorial pages should look different from ads so the two are not confused.
These guidelines from ASME are purely voluntary. Violators of the guidelines may receive a warning letter, although bigger penalties may be added in the future, which may include withholding its National Magazine Awards from consistent violators.
Adweek has more on this subject for those interested in the content.
