Another type of advertising that often comes under criticism is the use of advertorials. An advertorial is half advertisement and half editorial. It is advertisement written in the form of a news story or an article – using the format and language of newspapers. These are mostly placed as part of the editorial content of a newspaper or magazine. Although the word advertorial is used, it is usually put in an obscure corner and set in very small type size making it almost invisible. Advertorials are used to promote goods, services and also institutions.
Advertorials are highly controversial. These aim to win public opinion rather than sell products. Another form of advertorials is the infomercial. It is the audio-visual media counterpart of advertorials. When an advertisement is disguised as a piece of information on radio or television, it is called an infomercial. An infomercial is half information and half commercial or advertisement.
