The headline, written in a rather breathless first-person style, said it all: “How I fell for the diet of the stars; Zone Delivery offers healthy meals that taste terrific too.”
It topped a 950-word article by TV critic Rob Salem about a local firm that delivers nutritious meals overnight to your door for $29.99 a day.
Salem’s piece, appearing in the Body & Soul pages last Oct. 21, amounted to a glowing testimonial for the company. Indeed, the writer boasted that The Zone Diet helped him shed 10 pounds in a month, without the bother of counting calories, shopping or cooking.
The “diet-of-the-stars” reference was to numerous Hollywood celebrities, from Madonna to Paul Newman, who reportedly have tried the diet by Dr. Barry Sears, and endorse it.
In the article, Salem noted the delivery service charges customers in the GTA much less than similar services in Los Angeles, where the monthly minimum is $44 (U.S.) daily.
So far, so good. Critics are allowed to dish out rave reviews, not just raspberries.
The trouble began when Salem’s article made a second debut in The Star last Sunday, this time as a paid advertisement.
The piece appeared once again on the Body & Soul pages, with the same headline and mugshot of Salem.
The only difference was that this time, the piece carried an “Advertisement” label.
Salem was mortified that his article had been republished in an ad designed to look like real news copy.
“I just think it looks tacky and dishonest,” he said, “and therefore makes me look tacky and dishonest by association.”
For the record, Salem, a Star staff member, didn’t collect a freelance fee for the story. Nor was he paid when his work appeared, uncut, in the ad.
He explained that The Star’s advertising department had phoned him to approve the ad. “Maybe I wasn’t paying close enough attention, but I just assumed it would be another one of those quote blurbs, and thought nothing of it,” Salem said.
Jonathan Burnside, a partner at In The Zone Delivery, said when Salem’s story ran last fall, it generated a positive response. “We thought we’d see if we could run it again, as an ad.”
Burnside acknowledged he was a little surprised when a Star ad sales representative accepted the ad.
He saw the potential for an ad of this sort to confuse readers. “It looks as if editorial (material) is paid for, essentially, by the advertiser.”
Wayne Clifton, vice-president of advertising, agreed the ad breached the paper’s advertising standards and won’t run again. He noted it’s acceptable for an advertisement to include brief quotes from a story in The Star but not the whole article.
Managing editor Mary Deanne Shears agreed that it blurred the line between editorial and advertising.
“With many new and exciting things in the marketplace,” she said, “we will from time to time assign someone to test the product or service. Our intention is not to endorse, but to examine.
“It crosses the line when a story of this kind becomes an ad,” the managing editor explained.
To this corner, the incident is a reminder of how easily editorial credibility can be dented. The Star needs to be vigilant in keeping distinctions clear between news and advertising.
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