1 Revisiting the Blurring Practices between Editorials and Advertising Stephen Dix, Ian Phau, Curtin University of Technology Abstract This study aims to compare the perceptions of agencies, advertisers and media consumers on the blurring practices commonly used to confuse editorial and advertising. The findings did not substantiate the concerns that the blurring content is misleading to the players in the industry. Advertisers and agencies showed significantly positive attitudes towards blurring practices. It is also revealed that there are little significant differences for the attitudes towards regulation of blurring practices between the three sample groups. However, there are differences in perception across sample groups towards the specific blurring practices. Further managerial implications were provided to better allow advertisers and agencies a guide to shifts in the perceived role of blurring practices in advertising across a fifteen year period. Introduction With the proliferation of advertising and new technologies, advertisers and media professionals have been challenged to cut through the clutter to emerge with innovative and economical ways to communicate messages to their target audience (e.g. Dahlen and Edenius, 2007; van Reijmersdal et al., 2005; Roessler and Bacher, 2001; Gupta et al., 2000). However some innovations in advertising and creative adaptations of some advertising formats may blur the distinction between advertising and editorial (Ellerbach, 2004; Agee and Martin, 2001; Kim et al., 2001; Wilkinson et al., 1995; Sandler and Secunda, 1993). In fact, Dahlen and Edenius (2007) suggest that these new advertising formats are more effective than traditional advertising. For example, blurring can occur when advertorials masquerade as editorial items in newspapers through purposefully incorporating brands in the article (van Reijmersdal and de Vos, 2002; Cameron and Ju-Pak, 2000). More commonly, print ads are disguised as editorial material in magazines (Dahlen and Edenius, 2007; Prounis, 2004; Kim et al., 2001). It is feared that the rise in blurring may dilute the impact of both editorial and advertising effectiveness. For advertisers, the problem lies in the message. If it is too cleverly interwoven into the editorial content, it may lose its attention and positive reactions and subsequently fail its potential as an effective marketing tool (van Reijmersdal et al., 2005). For editors, the problem lies with the potential adverse reactions from readers if they feel that they have been misled by the information (advertising content) in the editorial (Angus, 2000; Kim et al., 2001; Cameron and Curtin, 1995). Cameron and Ju-Pak (2000, p. 65) have made it clear that “newspapers should safeguard editorial credibility by making advertorials distinct from editorial content”.