Category Archive

Advertising

Inclusive advertising that doesn’t pander

I work in Iowa, where same-sex marriage is legal (whoot for equality), and I was recently asked by my workplace to put together a brochure about the wedding rental facilities we have available — pavilions, parks, that sort of thing.

I am already planning on including a “We rent to everyone, regardless of who you’re in love with ” in the FAQs, but I want to make a bigger statement with the actual design.

On the flip side, I don’t want to seem like I’m blatantly pandering for the sake of it — I guess in my mind, I just feel like it’s somewhat exploitative to include a picture of two brides or two grooms just because “See how different they are? AND WE DON’T EVEN CARE!!”

What do you think? What’s the best way to advertise in a non-gender specific way? How would you do it?

Hate-reads and how for-profit sites work

Let’s say you don’t like an ad-supported website. I mean, REALLY dislike it so much that you feel compelled to regularly read it, but also wish it would stop existing. (This is often called hate-reading.) Here’s what NOT to do…

Disclaimer for sponsored posts and other monetized content

My strategy for much of the advertising on the Empire has always been that it doesn’t FEEL like advertising. I do this not because I’m trying to trick anyone, but because I find disruptive advertising annoying and bothersome… so therefore, rather than have sponsored posts written by some random advertising client, all our sponsored posts are written by us, in the same voice that the rest of the posts are written in.

I’ve invested significant design and developer time/money into trying to be as transparent as possible about my monetized content, but there’s still confusion sometimes.