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Intel Web Advertising Program Affects
Content
by Brian McWilliams, PC World News Radio
January 16, 1998
Intel's new marketing plan is drawing fire because it may hurt users of
slower computers and could jeopardize the editorial independence of Web
sites.
In September, Intel announced its "Optimized Content" program, calling it a
way to showcase the benefits of the Pentium II processor. Under the
cooperative advertising campaign, Intel will pay greater subsidies to PC
makers that run processor-intensive ads on the Web. To get a 75 percent
subsidy on an ad buy, rather than the usual 50 percent, PC makers must
have their ads certified by Intel as suitably CPU-hungry. What's more,
Web-site publishers displaying the ads are being asked to post a message
that reads, "Content on this page benefits from the performance of the Intel
Pentium II processor."
Some major Web sites, including CNN and Ziff-Davis, are reportedly
going along with the Optimized Content plan. CNN's site, for example,
features a VRML display called the 3-D Globe, which is supposed to show
you areas of political or military unrest around the world. The page includes
a disclaimer that says, "The globe will work best with a Pentium II
processor."
PC World Editorial Director Phil Lemmons was quoted in The Wall Street
Journal on Friday as saying, "It's like requiring TV producers to have
programming that only looks good on a 35-inch set." He also told PC
World Online, "I believe the terms of Intel's Optimized Content program
have had an unfortunate consequence that Intel did not intend. Intel is
focused, like any marketer, on selling its products. Intel reimburses other
companies through its co-op ad programs for ads that meet Intel's
requirements, such as advertising products based on Intel's processors,
using Intel's logo, and so on. Since Intel is paying the advertisers, it is very
reasonable of Intel to impose those requirements for the content of the
advertisements subsidized. In the Optimized Content program, however,
Intel extended the requirements to editorial content."
Lemmons continued, "In my seven years at PC World, and in years as chief
editor of other publications, I have never had a request from Intel to change
editorial content on the cover or on an internal page of a magazine. I have
had complaints when Intel believed our coverage was wrong, but Intel has
never said, 'Include content that meets these criteria or we will give
companies that choose to advertise in your magazine much less money.' I
do not believe Intel has ever operated that way, and that makes me feel
confident that Intel doesn't intend its Optimized Content program on the
Web to infringe on editorial independence.
"Unfortunately, there are terms of the Optimized Content program that do
have that effect. I believe when Intel reflects fully on this matter, it will alter
the terms of the Optimized Content program so that it doesn't require
editors to compromise long established journalistic principles in order to
keep their employers eligible for all the benefits of the program. Editors will
never find it acceptable to accept money, directly or indirectly, in exchange
for creating editorial content specifically to make one vendor's product look
good. Ethical editors will never find it acceptable to reference this content
on the home page, or on the cover of a magazine, because an ad program
demands it. And editors will never find it acceptable to include a line next to
the embedded product demo that says, 'This would look better if you
bought company X's latest product.' "
Said Lemmons, "Even though Intel didn't intend it, that is what the
Optimized Content requires. It's a shame the story broke publicly when it
did because I believe Intel would have found it easier to change the
program if approached in private. Now that it is public, however, and Intel
has defended the program without adequately reflecting on all its
ramifications, editors must make it clear that they object for fundamental
ethical reasons. I must say I have been extremely disappointed to discover
so many editors express vehement opposition in private yet refuse to go on
the record about it when contacted by news organizations. A reporter from
one media publication told me this morning that she had not been able to
find a single editor outside IDG who will express opposition. This makes it
quite clear just how much money is at stake, and just how much pressure
many editors are under to comply with the Optimized Content program by
creating, in editorial content, favorable demos of the Pentium II, with
messages saying the content would run better on a Pentium II, without
revealing that all this is happening because an Intel ad campaign requires it
and because their publishers believe they must get the money to make their
Web operations successful, even at the explicit price of injecting product
demonstrations and implied endorsements into editorial content.
"When asked about the program by the Journal, I said what I thought. I
knew IDG wouldn't fire me over the matter. Many other editors don't seem
to believe that their employers will take the same view."
PC World Online's editor in chief, Russell Glitman, says the Optimized
Content campaign could hurt the Web experience for millions of users.
"The message is that you need an Intel Pentium II processor to view the
material, which may or may not be true. There may be processors from
other manufacturers that work as well. ... Intel is attempting to incent
editors through the deals they have made with OEMs ... or to get people ...
to buy new systems."
Intel's marketing executives were not available to comment on the
optimized content program.
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