Christmas spam hits the inboxes of journalists. This thin the line between journalism and advs turns the publishing industry into marketers. A Xmas inquiry with intellectual irony
A gallery in the midst of the environmental crisis: Christmas by publishing industry. About Christmas spamming and phishing
If you’re a journalist these days, you’ll be inundated with emails from the brands or products that will be on the shelves ready to be given as gifts. Christmas spamming and phishing that spans every sphere and results in the number of emails sent and received at a rapid pace. Whether you’re in technology or beauty or fashion, any self-respecting press office will ask the fateful question, «Can you fit that into a gallery about Christmas presents?».
That’s how the industry works now, and it can appear as cultural humor. But in the face of hyper-consumerism that has led us to the annihilation of the environment around us, for production and as a result of the constant disposability that goes on with products, can a gallery be the journalistic solution? To appeal to readers to entice them to consume even when it is not necessary. Even as we struggle at COP28 to find concrete answers for the reversibility of the climate and environmental condition in which the world finds itself?
For a number of years now, clicks and SEO have been replacing content, often completely. Providing a snapshot of a press that is listless and unable to get to the bottom of any issue, whether it is the preparation of the crocodile before the next demise or contemporary issues such as sustainable evolutions in textiles or the issue of climate refugees. Beyond the intellectual irony, let’s reflect on how the publishing industry has evolved over time. And how it is dealing with Christmas spamming and phishing.
All I want for Christmas is a piece into your magazine. Phenomenology of Christmas spam
In addition to the monetary investments that will be explored further, another activity of the period, in addition to the Christmas spamming of emails, is Christmas seeding. Perhaps in the hope that an article may be published or to strengthen relationships with players in the publishing industry, press offices seem to feel compelled to wrap ad hoc Christmas presents.
Even on the press office side, there are difficulties. The criticism shared with respect to the industry, especially when it comes to luxury and fashion, relates to publications, which are possible and encouraged through direct knowledge and networking in the field. The ultimate goal is not to bribe the journalist in order to receive an article. But often the prominent people in magazines, those most followed even on social media, are delighted with these initiatives.
Companies get to collaborate frequently with these journalists and the magazines they represent. Panettoni, gifts, and trips to Courmayeur then follow the jobs. Journalists should think about what and how they receive. Above all by not being influenced in agenda setting of the magazine they are curating or writing for.
Christmas presents: have an editor to pick your choice
If on paper there are mood boards with the different items arranged almost as if they were in a shop window, online the Christmas sections are swarming. From the perfect Christmas presents, as an unconventional gift for mom, to the look that will hit the spot for Christmas dinner to jewelry and then the gift for dad, for sister, for aunt, for grandpa. Plus, the most fun games to play and how to decorate the tree, iconic movies to watch, and sweets to bake for the occasion, just with products from that brand.
The Christmas spamming also continues through the journalists’ voices: readers are bombarded with what editors choose and want them to choose too. With some intellectual irony, it is possible to question whether the audience’s personal and individual tastes are actually present if so many articles are needed to enable them to get through Christmas with all the reassuring suggestions provided.
Intellectual irony: how publishing industry groups turned into marketers
Funding through the sale of print advertising space, which has also reached online, continues to be essential for maintaining newspaper operations. Magazines defined as commercials that are part of large publishing industry groups have also included in-house figures to deal precisely with the type of sponsored content. This evolution has markedly changed the system not only with respect to the organizational chart of the newspapers, but also with respect to the decision on what content to publish.
In the same way that editors the key figures defined as editorial coordinators enter into the choice and selection of newspaper topics, as well as the arrangement of certain pages in magazines. In fact, often the economic interests taken care of by the business department also influence the decision whether or not to publish certain brands or certain news about them or about the industry.
Although some manage to mediate on different types of content, others dwell on Christmas galleries, the coolest boots for winter and little else that goes beyond Christmas spamming and phishing. Writing critical pieces without displeasing the amount of investors behind the magazine is complex. If in the fashion sphere I have to talk about the harms of fast fashion, I cannot have Inditex as an investor for consistency.
Cultural humor: what does it mean to write for the market? Christmas phishing and spamming
It is customary today to find within newspapers or magazines pages with sponsored content that resemble articles. Indeed, there is an opportunity for brands to rely on the creative and writing talents of an editorial team to devise ad hoc content placed in the newspaper. In the interest of intellectual honesty, this content is signaled with a different layout or by carrying the words sponsored. Each magazine chooses how to make the reader understand that it has been paid to write and publish that piece.
Based on the marketability of the name of the newspaper or magazine, in particular with respect to online analytics data, the content tends to vary little with a tendency to cover the same news, if you can call it that. Speed is another determining factor in these types of publications, which, through online versions of magazines, try to be on a news story before everyone else in order to receive more visibility.
The result is journalism that becomes a copy-and-paste of press releases, instantaneous and made up of as few characters as necessary to keep the reader’s attention. So journalists, employed to delve into interesting news, connect dots and elevate themselves as intellectuals of their time are reduced to machines for writing pre-set pieces, what a cultural humor. In the few lines that due to the short time available report the facts in little depth there are other rules to be respected.
Following SEO is a must by sometimes distorting the writing, as well as the directions dictated by the business sector itself, for example, the names of some brands cannot be reported in the same sentence, or those who do not sponsor are not published.
Independent publishing industry, a glimmer of light amid the blinding glittering
Independent magazines are part of another bubble, as it can be defined with cultural humor, within the publishing industry itself. These are not inserted into large publishing groups and, more importantly, do not fit into the commercial logic highlighted.
Certainly, they also support themselves with advertising pages and sponsorships, they devise external projects in collaboration with companies that require the expertise of editorial staff to draft different types of content, and sometimes they make use of their own online space that they sell to brands. What makes them truly independent is content management.
Topics expand by having the ability to turn to more extended forms of writing that can be likened to longforms even online. The timing of articles, although they have set deadlines and sometimes refer to news, allows for further exploration of the topic beyond the breaking news. Hence the possibility of being able to consult different sources, do one or more interviews to complete the pieces and add a comprehensive, objective and critical view to the piece together with consistent data.
With respect to what is written, there is little control other than that of the editors and the chief editor who set the guidelines with respect to themes and vertical insights in the articles. It is possible to express objective criticism with respect to the topics one approaches, even trying to analyze them from different angles than in other media.
Wrapping up: how is publishing this Christmas? A reflection and critique of the current system of publishing with a cultural humor
A generalization cannot be made. This piece is meant to be a reflection and critique of the current system of publishing with a cultural humor. Addressing hot topics and adhering to annual and seasonal appointments is a chance for everyone to stick to the reader’s daily. And on the other hand, in terms of agenda setting, it also makes sense to observe the timing of publication with respect to facts that have emerged in the contemporary world.
This cannot limit magazines and journalists to focus on certain issues only, leaving out others and never going back to them in the case of breadth of the same matter. It can be seen as intellectual irony, but to be able to have the time to devote to a journalistic story can be a privilege, to consult different sources, to go beyond 400 characters, and to be able to delve into a simple news story.
Reconnecting those dots in the larger social and political picture, giving a frame for the reader to build on. Also providing possible critical readings can be an interesting point on which the publishing industry can meet the needs of the audience, far beyond Christmas presents recommendations.
