EDITORIAL – April 1996 (“Advertising and Ethics?”)

testing, testing . . . 1, 2, 3… is this thing on? I was at the spring resurrection party at cuzin’ joes’ & a 2l plastic PEPSI BOTTLE rolled toward me, like in an ad, a plug for the PEPSI GENERATION and all that plasticity, wild party and all. Then one night we were playin’ darts and decided that we should do ads for things. I mean what is advertising anyway? Aren’t most music videos just ads for the band’s latest album? What about drinkin’ quarts of beer on wing nite at the County Line or at Jitter’s? That’s like an ad isn’t it? A plug for quarts of beer, for cheap wings and for the bars named. Isn’t an ad similar to publicity in that they both get the word out. Is it still true that there’s no such thing as bad publicity?Is word of mouth worth it? What about gossip? Not long ago I had the pleasure of discussing this magazine with someone who knows better. We talked about how it is run and how I should be careful about what I say or how I say things. Does that fall under truth in advertising or personal opinion? Apparently there is a code of ethics concerning pissing people off. Does that make sense? What if it sucks? Advertising & Ethics…what’s the deal?

“We’ll let you in free and feed you drinks and you’ll have a great time and write a great review, O.K.?” It’s tempting and easy and, I would assume, profitable. But ethical? How much is a plug worth, anyway? I got a bunch of calls recently on my 55 cent a minute cell phone mt&t mobility plug asking questions that made no sense to me. “Hello? Is this What’s Goin On?”magazine plug “Yeah.” “Where is John Allan Cameron from? Is he from Sydney?” “No. Glencoe Station.” album plug “What about Ashley MacIsaac? ashley plug Is he from Sydney?” “Nope. Creignish. Who is this?” “I’m trying to find someone famous from Sydney. Where’s Natalie MacMaster from?” “Troy.” “Where’s that?” “It’s on the west side of the island…Inverness County. Uhh, I have work to do. What do you want anyway?” “Oh, that’s OK.” Guess who’s laughing, right? shameless cjcb plug It wasn’t me. I had no idea what was going on because I don’t listen to CJCB plug…or no? but obviously some of the people who read this magazine do what’s goin on plug. I was gonna go through this issue and put the plug in wherever appropriate, but I didn’t have time because I had to go out and find enough advertising $ to pay the printer princess printing plug. You can add them in yourself though. You see, I’m learning that the bottom line with advertising is selling the product, making the money. In the case of this magazine that hasn’t applied yet. The contributors haven’t been paid (I can give you a plug for now though and a Thank You!) nor has the editor me plug. What’s Goin On obviously isn’t a get rich quick scheme. It’s about the vitality of life as WE know it. Is “Guess Who’s Laughing” cjcb plug designed to recognize local celebrities or to generate income? Did they really think they could save the Oilers Cape Breton Post plug or did they see a great advertising opportunity? Fair enough. I only read the paper for the typos and the ads anyway.

Let us know what you think.