As someone falling on the old end of the millennial spectrum, it's quite a thing to have seen the evolution of media in a variety of industries; from the spread of news and critical information to more entertaining content. Take food and restaurant-related content for example...it's pretty commonplace to get a reasonably thorough synopsis on an eatery, meal, or the food meme of the moment on YouTube, TikTok, or some other social media platform. This was not always the case. Even 10-15 years ago as the sands of media influence were beginning to change, food critique was much more centralized and institutionalized such that getting a curated review and info on that new local joint down the street was almost exclusively obtained through the local newspaper. In these formats, a dedicated 'foodie' under the employ of a print publication would write up periodic articles on whatever made sense at the time. It's in this structure that I'm aiming to share a story that passed down through word-of-mouth in the hallowed halls of a regional newspaper office.
The major players in this shenanigan of a tale include an owner of a struggling restaurant, a newspaper advertising executive, and a reporter/critic reporting for the same newspaper's lifestyle section. The restaurant owner held an account to advertise with the newspaper and had somewhat regular contact with the account executive. The cycle of print ads was somewhat regular and for the most part, things were pretty status quo for the industry.
From this point, the story details become muddled. Whether or not advance notice of an article about the restaurant was given to the owner is unclear and really depends on which side of the story you're getting, but be that as it may a big 'ol turd of a review for the restaurant was published. Some will say that the account executive was blindsided, some will criticize the food writer/critic for placing his own ego over the need of the newspaper to make money, and some will say that the restaurant had it coming for the sake of bad food. Regardless of the inside newspaper perspective, it's fair to say that the owner was pretty upset at the whole situation...and honestly who wouldn't be? Paying money to advertise only to have that same publication take a figurative dump on their professional endeavor would definitely leave some animosity at the very least.
Fast forward to modern day. The restaurant is no longer in business, though another eatery currently inhabits the building. While the fates of the account executive and reporter have faded into the fabric of time, the newspaper, overall is a fraction of the organization it once was...a result shared by many print outlets nowadays due to many factors. Nonetheless, this tale leaves a good set of lessons learned, even for the casual observer.
To Bite or Not To Bite (The Hand That Feeds)
Based on my personal understanding and experience in navigating relationships between media organizations and business entities, this scenario raises a couple of questions around disclosure of relationships and potential conflicts of interest. While not trying to be overtly biased against the media side of things, a negative review which could be viewed as subjective to the individual content creator's food preferences and tastes has, at best, a questionable role in the public interest that media outlets like newspapers serve...so for such an organization to collect a premium to allow a business to advertise on such a platform, only for that organization to present its readership a piece of 'journalism' that presents that business in a bad light seems awfully suspect.
While it would be in the public interest to report situations which a dining experience presents a legitimate safety concern or is objectively bad by a lot of common standards, it also seems appropriate, regardless of the quality of an individual critic's single dining experience, to explicitly state that a business has a relationship with the organization. In that thought, it's interesting that from a regulatory standpoint, social media platform's advertising policies were a lot quicker to implement compared to the decades of dominance traditional media shared amongst each other...but that's a different topic altogether...🤷
What Is The Way to Promote a Business?
In perfect scenarios, food establishments with disciplined staff, serving product at or near best-in-class, with dedicated patron following which sings the praises of the establishment, will develop and flourish simply on reputation alone. Though not entirely out-of-possibility, this unicorn situation is much more difficult to achieve, especially in areas where staffing becomes complex, consumer preferences are more fickle, and market conditions create a tough environment to consistently develop a consumer base without the assistance of effective advertising.
(...and...here comes a touch of advertising on our side)
Our site can assist with the promotion of new and existing establishments though the use of digital media advertising through our applications, incentive marketing and advertising platform integrations. We have a deep appreciation of all aspects of the industry and are willing to share our insight, research, and experience to evolve and mature your business. Feel free to reach out to us using the 'Send us a Message' link at the bottom of the page, and we'll get in contact to learn more about your business need!