Stormin' Morgan Joins Ad Bullies' League

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"Morgan Stanley, whose battle with unhappy shareholders has played out on the business pages, is warning prominent newspapers that it could pull its advertising if it objects to articles." Morgan Stanley's new ad policy says the company "must be notified" of any "objectionable editorial coverage," so that a "last-minute change" in its advertising can be made. If notification is impossible, the policy directs all ads to be canceled, "for a minimum of 48 hours," reports Advertising Age. Morgan Stanley discussed the policy with the Wall Street Journal, USA Today and other major publications. The Journal's publisher called it impractical, since "the ad department has no knowledge of what stories are running." An anonymous "high-ranking editor" told AdAge, "There's a fairly lengthy list of companies that have instructions like this." Last month, General Motors pulled its ads from the Los Angeles Times, due to negative coverage.