Time Inc. Editors Must Write Advertorial Content, Too

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Time Inc. is the latest publishing company to announce that it is now requiring magazine editors to write branded content for advertisers. AdAge reports that editors at 11 Time Inc. magazines include InStyle and Time wrote content for ads for a Google campaign last fall. The print ads ran between September and December, and featured Google-able questions written by editors to go along with magazine articles.

AdAge provides examples of the ad content written by editors: "In a Time magazine article about flags, for instance, the Google ad asked, 'OK, Google, how many American flags are there on the moon?' An InStyle story on "The Scandal" collection at clothing store The Limited included the question, 'OK, Google, who is the person Olivia Pope is based on?'"

A spokesperson for Time Inc. didn't respond immediately to questions from AdAge on which editors contributed to the project and the editorial context for the ads. Time Inc.'s firewall between editorial and business operations was demolished in October 2013, AdAge reports, when magazine editors began to report to the business operations. Last month, Condé Nast announced a new venture that tasks magazine editors with writing advertorials.