It’s Christmas time and everything’s about purchasing gifts. No surprise that brands and media are taking advantage by using their commercial peak. Reading articles with branded ads is nothing new but especially around this time of the year, you barely find content that doesn’t revolve around shopping.
Scrolling down Highsnobiety, a global fashion and media brand, I came across an article called ‘HERE’S WHAT YOUR HOLIDAY WISHLIST SAYS ABOUT YOU’. As a fashion consumer victim and a lover for personality-tests, I clicked on it immediately. The title promises to match my commercial needs to my persona. It attempts to link the psychological aspects behind my wishlist to it, instead of only listing products and indicates to help finding out more about myself and others.
I mean, who minds advertising if it helps….:
1with gift inspiration
2 understanding my personality
3understanding who the person I’m buying gifts for is
‘Browse them below and see which persona you (and those you’re buying gifts for) best align with.’
BUY THIS IF YOU’RE…
Ready to get some gift ideas, I started reading the article and was already overloaded with brand names and pictures displayed all over the website. The webpage introduces me to six personas with different styles and characteristics. Some of the personas are advertisements for other brands such as ‘The Noma Stan’ which within the first sentence hyperlinks to the restaurant ‘Noma’. It further describes that people who visit the restaurant are unrivaled in their fashion game, implicating that only these people are a match for the listed products.
This is being done by native advertising as the brand integrates it as part of the article. Hardy describes it as advertising that blends into the environment, whether its editorial or other content with the goal of merging the initial brand message with informational content. Within each persona, you’re introduced to a short personality breakdown connected to recommended products. Following each persona, you’re then faced with multiple product pictures, information and a direct link to purchase the items from their own store. The audience is clearly shown how they will benefit from the product and therefore gains awareness.
Highsnobiety is trying to convey that:
‘If the personality summary matches you, these products are the perfect match for you.’
By using this method of specific advertising, the brand aims to build brand awareness, generating positive brand associations to hike their sales.
What’s the issue?
The article isn’t promoting self expression. Rather it’s saying if you want to be part of this clique you need to buy these items. This can be compared to Custom Studios and Mini saying ‘Mini owners are all different. There’s no one person that Mini drivers look like.’ Trying to include as many different personas as possible, Highsnobiety does the exact opposite by putting labels on people. Additionally, it doesn’t cover a wide range of price segments, rather addressing people who are able and willing to spend more than £100+. Raising the misconception that one needs to spend a lot of money on gifts.
IS IT to discover my personality or to be advertised to?
The issue with highsnobiety articles is that it’s not only a media brand in the form of a magazine, but it’s also an online shop. It’s obvious that such a brand is trying to promote its own products through its article but how can we rely on the accuracy of what’s being published.
On one hand, uniting journalistic knowledge and an editor’s curation in helping your audience choose the ideal gift this Christmas in an article may seem like just another act of service to your audience. However, through affiliate links, media channels can earn percentages on the purchase of their readers, setting up another source of income and indirect commercialisation of media content. Through these choices, it can be argued that there is a skewing of choice from what becomes more financially relevant to the news channel, rather than an editorial choice of what’s really more relevant. The separation between editorial and advertisements is blurred and makes it difficult to see the true intention behind the article.