How news went guerrilla marketing: a history,logic,and critique of brand journalism

Abstract

For decades, product placement and branded content have invaded more entertainment-oriented media forms; today, the rise of brand journalism (i.e. native advertising and content marketing) suggests that advertisers are now targeting news as a genre for commercial schemes. This article examines that practice through a critical analysis of advertising industry discourse including 28 in-depth interviews with brand journalism practitioners in the United States along with a decade of trade press coverage. It sketches the first historical trajectory of brand journalism and contextualizes the media industry factors that motivate participants’ exploration of it as a promotional vehicle. Drawing upon guerrilla marketing theory, this article further documents how brand journalism evinces a fundamental commercial self-effacement at its core – in mimicking journalistic style and substance – and thus portends a redefinition of advertising as a visible mass communication form.