Ditto, David. Until they start weaving paid product placements into their stories, I don't understand the controversy -- I understand it's newsworthy, as it has been a long time in coming -- but controversial? no.
As for B2B magazines, it's always been of interest to me that some categories -- media trade publications -- often run a cover wrap ad while in other categories (I don't recall the details, but there was a controversy in the trucking vertical years ago), to mess around with new approaches to advertising that involes the cover would be considered unethical.
David, Rex, twenty years ago at Shore-Varrone we launched the b-to-b tabloid Sports Trend with a cover design incorporating two ad positions, dubbed the upper and lower billboards. We made a clear distinction between ads and editorial, and we continued with this format for more than a dozen years until VNU (which acquired us) merged the title with Sporting Goods Business (which they had acquired from Miller Freeman). The ad spots created no confusion or controversy in the marketplace, but a nice revenue stream for us. I don't know how to get a graphic into my comment, but I'll e-mail you both a jpeg of a cover.
By the way, if you go back into the archives of old b-to-b publications, you will find cover advertising to be relatively common. The concept is new and controversial only to those who have never seen it before.
Thanks, Doug. I posted your cover here. It reminds me of a banner ad on a website home page. You were way ahead of your time. : )
Doug/Rex:
Thanks for the comments. Doug, I posted your cover to a followup post I made on the subject of cover advertising.
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