'L.A. Times' keeps its streak of questionable ad placements alive

Expecting to see a giant photo of resplendent three-point-shooter Derek Fisher on the cover of my Los Angeles Times on Friday morning, I was shocked to find instead a moody full-page shot of a vampire with a streak of blood dripping from his mouth. Has the town been taken over by the undead, and can that possibly be more important than the NBA Finals? No, it's just our paper of record selling its soul again.
  Bill the hunky vampire is part of a four-page spread touting Sunday's return of the HBO cult fave True Blood. The ad has the venerable L.A. Times logo stamped on top, making it look like the real front page, and it's wrapped around the paper, so it's the first image that readers see. The word "advertisement" is printed in tiny type below the masthead. (Fisher, in fact, is on the real front page for his stellar run in Thursday night's win over the Orlando Magic). This is the third time lately, for those keeping count, that the Times has charged into ethically suspect territory with its advertisers. Readers protested this spring over a fake news story on page one for the NBC cop drama Southland and a Paramount Pictures-sponsored ad supplement for the three-hankie movie The Soloist that carried the well-known Times logo and "editorial" content.
  At least this time the ad-sales team stuck its neck out for a quality project. Even so, it'll probably come back to bite them. Photo by i_hate_my_screen_name on Flickr.

—Posted by T.L. Stanley