History Main / AdvertisingDisguisedAsNews

* In May 2020, multiple stations aired a [[https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/4ayvwb/local-news-stations-run-propaganda-segments-scripted-and-produced-by-amazon blatant PR piece by Amazon]] to discuss its responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.

* The closest equivalent in music radio is the practice of "payola", where record labels had radio stations give airplay to specific songs in exchange for some sort of compensation. Payola was a controversial practice; modern U.S. broadcast laws require radio stations to disclaim any furnished programming on-air, and paid play cannot count towards chart reports.

[[folder: Live-Action TV]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* In season 19 of ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' we have a [[AnthropomorphicPersonification living example]] with Leslie Meyers.
[[/folder]]

* Taboola is a service that provides links at the end of pages on news websites, ranging from actual links to other articles to nonsensical clickbait such as "Wardrobe Malfunctions That Actually Made It Into Films" (real example) to outright advertising, all mixed together in one big stew.

* ''Series/MediaWatch'' increasingly highlights how newspapers, becoming increasingly desperate for advertising revenue, are printing what are basically commercials that look like editorial content.

* Brand Power and [=MediFacts=] are marketing groups that run ads that have the feel of news-bytes, completely with a newsy-sounding musical opening.

* [[Music/DestinysChild Kelly Rowland]] was interviewed by WGN's morning show, but when confronted with questions about Music/{{Beyonce}}'s ''Music/{{Lemonade}}'', she abruptly changed the topic and began to briefly talk up her partnership with Claritin and the Boys & Girls Clubs of America. Considering there was a small box of Claritin right next to her, preeminently awaiting its acknowledgement, it seemed to be the real point of the interview.

* In UsefulNotes/{{China}}, some ads ran what looked like a [[http://hoaxes.org/archive/permalink/the_sibuxiang_beast urgent news report,]] saying that the "Sibuxiang Beast," a mythical creature, was real, and attacking civilians in a city. Much like the ''Radio/WarOfTheWorlds'' broadcast, people freaked out, and the ad maker was fined.

* The morning talk shows aired by Australia's major television networks, specifically ''The Morning Show'', ''Today Extra'', and ''Studio Ten'', similarly feature segments devoted to advertorial content.

* One of the most infamous political examples in the United States came in 2004 when multiple TV stations aired video news releases from the U.S. government that were produced and anchored by an apparent Washington reporter named Karen Ryan, which pushed propaganda for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBze5atYyCo Medicare]] and the country's education system without any indication of its true source. The General Accounting Office did point out that it's illegal to use federal funds for "publicity or propaganda purposes" without the permission of Congress.
* The Philippine magazine programme ''Rated K'' is infamous for this, shoehorning advertorials for dietary supplements of questionable efficacy, or beauty products, into episodes pertaining to a specific theme, complete with liberal use of adverbs "umano" (Tagalog for "allegedly") or "daw" (apparently), along with the usual testimonials from people who, ''umano'', benefited from the products. Don't be surprised if an advert for the supplement shows up immediately during the commercial break. The evening news programme ''TV Patrol'' egregiously played this straight as well, often weaving it into Creator/KimAtienza's trivia segments.
* The morning show (yes, the ''actual'' morning show, not an advertorial daytime show as mentioned earlier) on Fox-owned station WFLD in Chicago aired an [[http://www.robertfeder.com/2014/03/20/fox-32-barely-admits-pay-for-play-news/ remote interview with Shari Belafonte]] which ended up being an ad for a diet pill. It was disclosed, [[RattlingOffLegal briefly]].

* In China, some ads ran what looked like a [[http://hoaxes.org/archive/permalink/the_sibuxiang_beast urgent news report,]] saying that the "Sibuxiang Beast," a mythical creature, was real, and attacking civilians in a city. Much like the War of The Worlds broadcast, people freaked out, and the ad maker was fined.

* [[Music/DestinysChild Kelly Rowland]] was interviewed by WGN's morning show, but when confronted with questions about Music/{{Beyonce}}'s ''Musoc/{{Lemonade}}'', she abruptly changed the topic and began to briefly talk up her partnership with Claritin and the Boys & Girls Clubs of America. Considering there was a small box of Claritin right next to her, preeminently awaiting its acknowledgement, it seemed to be the real point of the interview.
* The Las Vegas version of the aforementioned ''Morning Blend'' was notably duped by the satirical reality series ''Series/NathanForYou'' in 2015, when it aired a bizarre paid interview with the creator of a new exercise program book called "The Movement", which involves moving boxes. It was inspired by his volunteer work with jungle children, which, for the record, are [[ShapedLikeItself children who live in the jungle]].

* Fashion and lifestyle magazines published in the United States (like Lucky, Cosmo, Seventeen, etc...) freely run advertisements that at first glance appear to be one-page features. These advertorials have titles like "10 Essential Items for Your Summer Wardrobe," "Fall In Love With Your Hair This Holiday Season," or "5 Dieting Tricks That Will Blow Your Mind." Some even take the form of interviews with average women (mothers, beauty bloggers, etc...) who only want to talk about the product in question. This "branded content" is required to have a text disclaimed somewhere on the page declaring that it's not an unbiased editorial, usually something along the lines of "This is a Paid Advertisement" or "Promotional Feature" (but only in tiny print at the very bottom of the page.)

* A similar example can be found in an [[https://retrocdn.net/images/e/e8/GamePlayers_US_0705.pdf advertorial]] made by Creator/{{Nintendo}} in an attempt to rebuke then-rival Sega's [[TotallyRadical blast processing]] marketing angle for the UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis. While the advertorial piece did make some valid points, at least some of the claims were flawed to say the least. And unless you're an impressionable youth of the time, a discerning reader could very much tell that the two-page piece is nothing more than a paid ad on behalf of the Big N.

* In 1999, the aforementioned ''Series/MediaWatch'' exposed that on-air personalities on a talk radio station in Sydney had been endorsing various companies without disclosure. In one case, a host was suddenly praising banks that they had previously criticized for their excessive fees.

* One of the most infamous political examples in the United States came in 2004, when multiple TV stations aired video news releases from the U.S. government that were produced and anchored by an apparent Washington reporter named Karen Ryan, which pushed propaganda for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBze5atYyCo Medicare]] and the country's education system without any indication of its true source. The General Accounting Office did point out that it's illegal to use federal funds for "publicity or propaganda purposes" without the permission of Congress.

Advertising has historically come in many forms, but the real challenge for advertisers today, is integrating promotion directly into content in a seamless manner. Our special correspondent [=Tropey McBlatant=] has more;

Laws in some regions, particularly in regards to broadcasting, require advertorials to be properly and clearly disclaimed, or they may be considered payola. Though in some cases, [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney they still might not be.]] This phomonenon has also spread to the internet, as websites have increasingly published "sponsored content" that, much like video news releases, are presented as being editorial content, but are written or heavily influenced by a third-party to promote a certain product or business.

[[folder: Live Action TV]]

* Fashion and lifestyle magazines published in the United States (like Lucky, Cosmo, Seventeen, etc...) freely run advertisements that at first glace appear to be one-page features. These advertorials have titles like "10 Essential Items for Your Summer Wardrobe," "Fall In Love With Your Hair This Holiday Season," or "5 Dieting Tricks That Will Blow Your Mind." Some even take the form of interviews with average women (mothers, beauty bloggers, etc...) who only want to talk about the product in question. This "branded content" is required to have a text disclaimed somewhere on the page declaring that it's not an unbiased editorial, usually something along the lines of "This is a Paid Advertisement" or "Promotional Feature" (but only in tiny print at the very bottom of the page.)

* One radio advertisement presented itself initially as a weather report, except that with increasing frequency throughout the "report" about an upcoming summer heat wave, the announcer kept muttering the name of a local HVAC service, until at the end it finally outright directed listeners to the company website.

* Taboola is a service that provides links at the end of pages on news websites, ranging from actual links to other articles, to nonsensical clickbait such as "Wardrobe Malfunctions That Actually Made It Into Films" (real example) to outright advertising, all mixed together in one big stew.

* This is the modus operandi of the locally-produced, daytime lifestyle shows seen on some TV stations in the U.S., in which local businesses pay to have their employees or spokesperson appear as "guests" to plug their products in barely-disguised {{Infomercial}} segments. These shows are almost always produced by a station's creative services or sales department and kept separated from their actual news departments. Examples include the UrExample that is literally called ''[[CaptainObvious Daytime]]'' (produced by Tampa's Nexstar-owned NBC affiliate WFLA. Some of their other stations, especially those owned by predecessors Media General and LIN, air similar shows), ''The Morning Blend'' (used by the now Scripps-owned Journal Broadcast Group stations; Scripps' ABC station WFTS in Tampa recently launched its own version to [[DuelingShows compete]] with ''Daytime''), WKBW's ''AM Buffalo'' (they're also owned by Scripps, but this program was carried over from its Granite ownership), and Meredith's syndicated ''Better'', which could have local cut-ins and co-brandings of this nature, a la ''Evening Magazine''.

* The closest equivalent in music radio is the practice of "payola", where record labels had radio stations give airplay to specific songs in exchange for some sort of compensation. Payola was a controversial practice, and U.S. broadcast laws require radio stations to disclaim any furnished programming on-air.

* The Philippine magazine programme ''Rated K'' is infamous for this, shoehorning advertorials for dietary supplements of questionable efficacy, or beauty products, into episodes pertaining to a specific theme, complete with liberal use of adverbs "umano" (Tagalog for "allegedly") or "daw" (apparently), along with the usual testimonials from people who, ''umano'', benefited from the products. Don't be surprised if an advert for the supplement shows up immediately during the commercial break.

* This is the modus operandi of the locally-produced, daytime lifestyle shows seen on some TV stations in the U.S. and Australia, in which local businesses pay to have their employees or spokesperson appear as "guests" to plug their products in barely-disguised {{Infomercial}} segments. These shows are almost always produced by a station's creative services or sales department and kept separated from their actual news departments. Examples include the UrExample that is literally called ''[[CaptainObvious Daytime]]'' (produced by Tampa's Nexstar-owned NBC affiliate WFLA. Some of their other stations, especially those owned by predecessors Media General and LIN, air similar shows), ''The Morning Blend'' (used by the now Scripps-owned Journal Broadcast Group stations; Scripps' ABC station WFTS in Tampa recently launched its own version to [[DuelingShows compete]] with ''Daytime''), WKBW's ''AM Buffalo'' (they're also owned by Scripps, but this program was carried over from its Granite ownership), and Meredith's syndicated ''Better'', which could have local cut-ins and co-brandings of this nature, a la ''Evening Magazine''.
* This one for [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIIM8rw0au8 OnStar's remote vehicle slowdown feature]] carries all the hallmarks of a video news release

* The Las Vegas version of the aforementioned ''Morning Blend'' was notably duped in 2015, when it aired a bizarre paid interview with the creator of a new exercise program book called "The Movement", which involves moving boxes. It was inspired by his volunteer work with jungle children, which, for the record, are [[ShapedLikeItself children who live in the jungle]]. It was actually part of a ''Series/NathanForYou'' stunt.

There is an innovative new method advertisers are using to get their message across. Rather than placing promotional material in the commercial breaks of a show, they are integrating it directly into the show itself, through a new process known as Advertising Disguised As News by TropeCo. We talked to its CEO to learn more; "In this process, we have multiple ways of doing it. We can produce promotional content that looks and feels exactly like something you would see on a local newscast, or we can provide scripts and other materials to be used by the broadcaster that gets an advertiser's message across without disrupting the format of the program. Or, we can simply send a representative from the brand to appear on the show, so they can interact with hosts and other personalities." It is expected that this revolutionary process will become more popular as advertisers realize that they can now present a more "in-depth" portrayal of their product or service than what can be done through a traditional commercial.

* Brand Power is a marketing group that runs ads that have the feel of news-bytes, completely with a newsy-sounding musical opening.
** Similar to Brand Power is [=MediFacts=], which does the same thing, except they advertise medical products.

* This is the modus operandi of the locally-produced, daytime lifestyle shows seen on some TV stations in the U.S., in which local businesses pay to have their employees or spokesperson appear as "guests" to plug their products in barely-disguised {{Infomercial}} segments. These shows are almost always produced by a station's creative services or sales department and kept separated from their actual news departments. Examples include the UrExample that is literally called ''[[CaptainObvious Daytime]]'' (produced by Tampa's Nexstar-owned NBC affiliate WFLA. Some of their other stations, especially those owned by predecessors Media General and LIN, air similar shows), ''The Morning Blend'' (used by the now Scripps-owned Journal Broadcast Group stations; Scripps' ABC station WFTS in Tampa recently launched its own version to [[DuelingShows compete]] with ''Daytime''), WKBW's ''AM Buffalo'' (they're also owned by Scripps, but this program was carried over from its Granite ownership), and Meredith's syndicated ''Better'', which could have local cut-ins and co-brandings of this nature, a la ''Evening Magazine''.
** The networks in Australia also like these.

* The Las Vegas version of the aforementioned ''Morning Blend'' was notably duped in 2015, when it aired a bizarre paid interview with the creator of a new exercise program book called "The Movement", which involves moving boxes (inspired by his volunteer work with jungle children, which are [[ShapedLikeItself children who live in the jungle]]). Yes, this was actually a ''Series/NathanForYou'' stunt.

* The Las Vegas version of the aforementioned ''Morning Blend'' was notably duped in 2015, when it aired a bizarre paid interview with the creator of a new exercise program book called "The Movement", which involves moving boxes (inspired by his volunteer work with jungle children, which are [[ShapedLikeItself children who live in the jungle]]). Yes, this was actually part of a ''Series/NathanForYou'' stunt.