Where is the line when determining acceptable advertising content? A few years back the concept of front-page advertising was sacrilegous, yet today even the venerable New York Times has picked it up. As newspaper revenue slipped, and then tumbled away, we’ve all asked ourselves, what’s next?

Well, today we found out. The Daily Bruin, our sister paper down at UCLA, ran a full-page ad for Haagen-Dazs on their front page. Their entire front page. The ad was designed to look like the front page of the Bruin and included their masthead, articles and photos, except that each instance of the letter “b” had been removed. On page two, Haagen-Daaz ran a full-page ad calling on readers to buy vanilla honey-bee ice cream to support the company’s bee-friendly garden. (We’re happy that at least they didn’t remove the letter from the masthead. They might never live down “The Daily ‘Ruin.”) For more, see the post over at Innovation in College Media, aptly headlined “Not the sort of innovation we need.”

A couple months back, Haagen-Dazs approached us about the same ad. Knowing that given our finanical condition we shouldn’t turn down any revenue outright, I took the proposal to the Senior Editorial Board. Much to my delight, I was laughed out of the room. This is clearly a step too far. And apparently, the Daily Bruin editors agree. In an editorial they released today, the editors called the decision to run the ad “distasteful at best – and dishonest and unethical at worst.” We know the editors down there, and know they are neither dishonest or unethical. But it does seem they let threats about thousands of dollars worth of budget cuts get the best of them. (Click here to read more…)