The Mad Hatter has taken over the front page of my newspaper, and I don’t know what’s more unsettling—the kabuki-faced Johnny Depp staring at me before I’ve had coffee or the Los Angeles Times orchestrating another six-figure sell-out. Today’s ad for Disney’s 3-D Alice in Wonderland is superimposed over real news copy under the paper’s iconic masthead, taking ad sales a step further than the in-bankruptcy company has ever done before. (And that’s saying something.) A closer look shows the "advertisement" tag over the picture of Depp’s colorful character. The four-page Alice ad wraps around the outside of the regular paper. The Times has found itself in ethical hot water on numerous occasions recently as it tries to cater to Hollywood studios that want clutter-busting ad opportunities. For instance, HBO’s True Blood bought its own front-page wraparound this summer, also under the Times logo, but its vampire images weren’t mingled with news copy. And last spring, an ad for NBC’s cop show Southland appeared as a faux story on the front page. The latter example caused a staff furor and an executive shakeup. Each time, the line gets blurrier between content and commercial. That’s by design. And readers have to be on their toes to separate the two because the Times, as a spokesman tells The Wrap, is just getting started. Caffeine, please!
—Posted by T.L. Stanley