NONE: Boston Globe refusal to run ad
Boston Globe refusal to run ad
Cliff Kurtzman (cliff.kurtzman_at_tenagra.com)
Thu, 22 Aug 1996 08:30:53 -0500
I've lightly edited the information below from a release (from PrimeNetiX)
that ran yesterday on PR Newswire. I don't know what (if any) response the
Boston Globe has had to these assertions. I thought it would be of
interest to the list. --Cliff
PrimeNetiX Corp., a Wakefield, Massachusetts company that has established
an auto-shopping site on the Internet (http://www.cablecars.com), today
stated that the Boston Globe's recent refusal to run an advertisement
featuring the site's address in their auto classified section, even as they
promote their own "boston.com" site, appears to constitute an unfair
restraint of trade and is a "roadblock on the information superhighway."
PrimeNetiX has complained to the Federal Trade Commission and the
Massachusetts Attorney General's office regarding the Globe's actions, and
is exploring other possible remedies.
The issue evolved when PrimeNetiX, which also produces the "Cable Cars"
television show aired in the Boston area, placed an advertisement in the
Globe's automotive section on Saturday, August 10, on behalf of one of its
client auto dealers. The ad prominently featured the cablecars.com web site
address, where Internet users can search through the dealer's inventory of
used and new vehicles as well as those offered by more than 20 other
dealerships.
In reaction to the ad, on August 13 the Globe faxed a letter to PrimeNetiX
stating that the paper's new policy for auto classified ads including an
Internet address -- whether the address is the advertiser's or a third
party's -- is that the address can take up only 10 percent or less of the
total advertising space; otherwise, the ad will be forced to run in other
sections of the paper where advertising rates are significantly higher. The
Globe letter also stated that it was changing its policy "to protect the
integrity of [its] Automotive section as a primary and direct source of
information" on car sales and leases.
PrimeNetiX subsequently complied with the new policy and attempted to place
a second advertisement in the Globe auto section for the following Saturday
(August 17), with the Internet address scaled down to 10 percent of the ad.
The Globe, however, refused to run the ad.
According to PrimeNetiX President Neal Bocian, the Globe's restriction on
advertisers' web addresses while they promote boston.com in their
classified advertising section shows that the paper "is afraid of
competition from other Internet advertisers for their classified
advertising dollars." He noted that the Globe's chief competitor, the
Boston Herald, ran the ad in its auto section in its original form on
Saturday, August 17.
Bocian said that the Globe's new policy "makes auto dealers pay a high
'toll' to advertise that they are on the information superhighway, by
forcing them out of the auto classified section to do so. Auto dealers do
not want to be in another section of the paper any more than real estate
agents or employers, for example, would want to advertise outside of the
real estate or help wanted sections."
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