The Black Mamba and Kobe Bryant. Comment written by Student #5

 

Michelangelo Buonarroti. The Brazen Serpent. 1511. Fresco, 585 x 985 cm.
Cappella Sistina, Vatican. Downloaded with express permission from the Web Gallery of Art at www.wga.hu  Many thanks to its site admin Emil Kren, Ph.D

        Advertorial. Written by  Student #5. unedited by blog admin.

        Quote “Yesteday, Business Mirror published an advertorial on page D1 (right on the first page of the sports section). The title was ‘Zoom Kobe III: Inspired by the Black Mamba. ‘The deadly beauty that is black mamba can strike with keen accuracy at maximum speed and in rapid succession..’ it began. It went on to compare the pair of shoes to Kobe Bryant’s kind of game and his competitiveness. There was no doubt about the promotional nature of the article, as there was a lone shot (without journalistic significance) of the newly launched pair of rubber shoes.

     Quote “If they wanted to advertise the shoes, they should have put it (the article) somewhere else, or have labeled the article for what it was, and not pass it off as legitimate news. These days nobody complains about seeing ads on the newspaper or television. The media outfits have to survive and we’re not depriving them of this right. But with that right comes the obligation to “not suppress essential facts nor distort the truth by omission or improper emphasis,” as the Journalist’s Code of Ethics puts it. So it’s up to them to pay it forward and advertise clean. 2008/01/11 at 7:20 PM” closed-quote.