Flight Centre has paid enough money to the advertising department to allow them to remind the editorial professionals at the Sydney Morning Herald who controls the masthead. The photo to the left has been sent by a friend who reads this blog – thank you. This pollution of the front page ought to be unacceptable to any newspaper professional who cares about the medium and its brands.
It is ironic that I’m writing about pollution today with the squeals from the Formula 1 Grand Prix track in Melbourne drifting through the open doors in my home. So much for quiet enjoyment.  The sooner we lose this audio trash from our city the better. I feel the same about the newspapers. Ads stuck on newspaper mastheads are trash, they interrupt my enjoyment of the product. They demean the newspaper and give me a reason to dislike the advertiser.
hmm so what’s the headline obscured by the ad? Great way to encourage people to buy the paper by hiding a headline?
Mark I thought the Post it Note was today performing a public service by obscuring the photo of Britney Spears, well at least that is where it is positioned on the Herald in our shop.
It was covering a promo for children’s books in Spectrum.
Oh Mark, If you dont want the F1’s send them down here to NSW :). Ill take them!!!
Would you allow a contrary viewpoint about the front-page sticky-note ads sold by Fairfax? This blog has reached compulsive obsessive status about the ads – so much so that it discounts the other commentary. Latest circulation figures indicate that Fairfax publications employing the notes have not lost any circulation … so there is little or no actual consumer backlash where it counts. Fairfax – as a whole company, not just one department (editorial) – has a duty to maximise returns for its shareholders, and I have no objection to another department (sales) doing its best. Newspapers are a business first. This will upset you Mark, I know, but perhaps you should leave the newspaper preparation/production to the newspaper people, and the retail operations to the newsagents. After all, isn’t this blogspot that objects if newspapers call the tune re newsagency marketing?
Anon, first up, I changed your name from Mark to Anon as this reflects the email address you submitted. While comment posted here is published, people who are publishing anonymously need to be identified as such rather than using a name which may confuse.
I’ll continue to publish about the post it notes if I see them. At some time in the future the record will be relevant. Diagnose my interest any way you wish, I am certain it demonstrates a view about the masthead which does not augur well for the product in the context of its history.
I don’t have current SMH sales, certainly not the detailed paid-for over the counter sales data which would be necessary to see if there has been an impact.
I agree that Fairfax has a duty of care to shareholders. Newspaper professionals from the editorial side will say newspapers have a duty of care to the public. In the US there is a fierce debate as to whether newspapers of record should give over page one space to advertising. Those fiercely against would be aghast at the stuck on ads being sold by Fairfax. I have a view and I publish it here. You disagree and your view is here for all to see as well. This is the beauty of blogging as opposed to other forms of publishing.
This blog is about many things including what you say. It’s also about whatever I want to publish here. The complains from customers about these ads impact newsagents.
Mark Fletcher
When asked before about being obsessive about things Mark has stated that this blog helps him a bit like therapy. If you understand that anon, and realize that Mark is the person running this blog, then that will help you let him do his own thing.
Mark brings up many interesting points and does let lots of opinions join in. You have to give him that one.
I think the post it notes are annoying and horrible too, and even if they left a blank space on the masthead for them they still get under your fingers in an annoying way, but as we have seen with advertising for many years, if it annoys you it can get your attention.
It rates with me along side the way TV advertising is transmitted at a different frenquency so that it is always a bit louder than the shows you are watching. Apparently this is a method that works and there seems to be no way to avoid these things.
As for the grand prix, I would recommend you come and live in a nice small country town. It is good for the soul. Not as much money to be earnt, but nice and quiet.
I note that you refer several times to editorial staff as “professionals”, but the advertising staff as virtually dismissed as a “department”.
You don’t like the sticky notes. I recall there was similar objections to Time magazine many years ago when they had slash covering some of the masthead.
We all manipulate marketing our brands. Some newsagencies, for instance, don’t allow customers a free uniterrupted straight line walk from shop entrance to counter. For many customers, that is as irksome as sticky notes. Yet we “professionals” rationalise it as the craft of “merchandising”.
PS: You can call me anything you like. I notice that when I make a constructive criticism, or put an opposing viewpoint, you tend to play the man. Says more about you than me! Cheers.
Anon,
If I were playing the “man” I’d be attacking you personally, I have not done that.
Newspapers set a different standard for themselves and have done since they were created.
Newspapers are the voice of the people, us.
Journalists fight to protect sources, free speech is enshrined in constitutions and the like in many countries, and, governments protected newspapers for years from monopoly control.
All of this, and more, demonstrates the importance of newspapers and their mastheads. We trust them. We rely on them to tell us the truth. This is the way newspaper proprietors of years ago wanted it. Someone forgot to tell the bean counters.
Publishers can run all the post it not ads they like. I can complain as much as I like. You can comment here as much as you like. None of us should force the other to stop.
Mark Fletcher
I agree with Anon, I think any one who reads the blog gets the idea about the sticky post it notes!
I think even though it covers something up, their is an element of human nature that wants that we pay a lot more attention to what it is covering than if it was not covered. So even though it may appear to do damage, it may well be giving more attention to what been covered over.
Few can resist the temptation. Which is no doubt part of the reason Mark posts them everytime, they are designed to get a reaction and they do. For better or worse depending on your view.
i agree with anon. and i’m not the same anon.
The reaction I received this morning when receiving the SMH was an annoying one. Every SMH sticky note was damaged and creased, taking them of was the only sensible thing to do for presentation, some take the print of the newspaper. I like the idea however I wish they were a more pleasant shape and say every month they have a sticker promo like buy one quarter pounder and get one free.