It's an Ad, Ad, Ad, Ad World XXV
The Boston.com logo is adorned with jewelry today. Clicking on it gets you a pop up advertising a "diamond happening" at Long's today through Saturday. The Poynter Institute's Steve Outing expresses concern about the media ethics of selling your masthead and logo.

To tell the truth, I probably wouldn't have even noticed if it hadn't been brought to my attention. (Not that I read Boston.com regularly.) And I probably wouldn't have clicked on it even if I had. But the ethics questions are valid. Would McDonald's adorn its golden arches with someone else's logo? Would the Boston Globe change its masthead in the print edition to advertise a business partner? Seems like a bad branding move to me.

Also, given that I wouldn't have noticed or sought to learn more anyway, it seems like a silly move on behalf of the advertiser. Maybe it's true that bad PR is good PR and the fact that folks are talking about this means it worked. But an ad on the home page may have made more of an impression -- and probably would've cost a heck of a lot less.

Thanks to Lost Remote.