I skipped over this ad in today’s Courier Mail as I at first thought it was for a rewards program when in fact it’s selling the newspaper and a bunch of other stuff. While I am no advertising expert, I am a consumer and I look at this ad and wonder what they are trying to sell to me. Packing newspapers up in this way makes the paper look irrelevant. I found myself looking at the other items on the list and thinking would I want that and then considering if that alone was worth the price.
If the goal is to detract from the print product this ad works.
Given the capital investment in producing and distributing the print product, newspaper publishers ought to focus more on that product and driving its desirability rather than sprinkling sugar around it to draw attention away from the product itself.