Last week the Daily Mail retracted a number of display ads featured in a comment piece on the death of ex Boyzone member Stephen Gately. The columnist who wrote the piece, Jan Moir, caused an uproar due to her insensitive comments regarding civil partnerships, with readers replying immediately to the content of the article.
Within minutes of receiving these comments, the Daily Mail pulled both the skyscraper and rich media display placements from the page, leaving the advertising space blank. Daily Mail responded to the ad retraction by stating “We removed the advertising within minutes of the article being published as we saw the strong reaction”.
http://www.brandrepublic.com/News/946413/Ads-pulled-columnist-Jan-Moirs-article-amid-gay-backlash/
What we have seen here is an example of how the readers became moderators of the published content. The Daily Mail editor didn’t recognise the potential danger of the piece, but thankfully the readers did, and made the paper well aware of it. As a result, advertising was removed, prompting the paper to make a statement regarding the retraction of the ads. "This is done frequently and by other newspapers. For example, we wouldn't want a mobile phone ad next to an article about mobile phone masts."
Due to the papers response to their readers, will we see a change in how content is published in future? No doubt publishers will take more consideration in what they deem appropriate for consumption, but will it ever get to a stage where authors and editors approve content with advertisers, or even more drastically, readers before going live?
If you’d like to know more about Social Media, you can reach me at nickb@polestarcommunications.com
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