This article discusses the concept of brandcasting in the particular case of a controversial advertorial (ADL) - paid messages in the media sponsored by organized interests to create and sustain a favorable environment to pursue their respective goals. An advertorial is an advertisement masquerading as a journalistic article, blurring the dividing line between editorial content and advertorials.
Based on the content analysis technique of 284 advertorials of Newsweek, Polityka and Time, the most widely circulated and read weekly newsmagazine in Poland and the United States of America, the author documents the placement of ADL: proportions of commercial and non-commercial content, detailed typologies, brand positioning, sponsor disclosures, the degree of similarity with journalistic texts and corporate and non-corporate interests.
The newspaper advertorial borrows, or just steals editorial credibility from the newspaper and pollutes reliable information. There, of course, might be a place for such kind of advertisements, but they should be more thoroughly distinguished form editorial content than is currently the case. As shown in the article, media do not place sponsor disclosures prominently.