Relations with the media: Who are the main actors in an advertorial production process in Slovenia?

Abstract

The aim of this article is to reveal the production process behind unethical and illegal advertorials — to uncover its main actors, their motives, and responses to this practice. The study combines participant observation and interviews with the main participants in the production of texts which appear in an identical form to journalistic text, yet are commercial messages. The analysis showed that the key actors are advertisers, as they are the initiators of the practice; they define the content and the form of publication to achieve commercial benefit. Both marketing agents and journalists/editors are more or less subordinate to them at all stages of the production. The analysis also revealed that relations between the main actors in the advertorial production process are predominately negative, even antagonistic, although members of a specific group, especially journalists and editors, do not share a homogenous view towards other actors or the advertorial practice itself.