I love Wednesdays. WWeek does so much of my job for me. This time they're tsk-ing at Portland Monthly for what one doctor called a "misleading" advertorial in their current issue:
"I think they're trying to dupe the reading public," says Dr. George Waldman, a family practitioner who was the state medical-association president in 1995-96. ...
But the placement of advertising in and around the list of top doctors did cause Waldman to grind his teeth.
The article begins with profiles of five top practitioners and then on page 57, moves into lists of various specialists. Where page 58 should be, however, is a full page describing the "extraordinary therapy" provided by a doctor named Jennifer Casey.
At the top of Page 58 is a banner that reads "PM Medical Professionals," and in smaller type at the bottom of the page is the word "Advertisement."
Waldman says the average reader thumbing through Portland Monthly could easily get the impression that Casey is one of Portland's top doctors: The type in the ad is similar to the type in the article about the top docs and it is designed similarly with a "pull-quote" embedded in a black box next to the doctor's picture.
Portland Monthly's editor tells WWeek that this is the first complaint he's heard, and that the advertorial design is the same as it's always been.
is for californians who moved here. and they treat their writers like dirt.