Product Placement in Print

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"As TV and movies embrace a Madison & Vine ethos of blending entertainment with marketers' products and messages, magazine editors and publishers find themselves trying to pull off a tricky balancing act of maintaining the 'church and state' wall between editorial and advertising," writes Jon Fine. Recent examples include: a cover photo of Angelina Jolie on Rolling Stone that opened to a three-page ad featuring the sexy Ms. Jolie shilling for Jeep; and an editorial supplement in Prevention magazine that promoted "Pfizer's Alzheimer's medication Aricept, which was the sole advertiser of that section." According to Rolling Stone's Rob Gregory, "marketers expect more from magazines in general now. And magazines have to give them more."