In June, The New York Times published what many considered the “Snow Fall” of native ads. The post, sponsored by Netflix to promote the second season of Orange is the New Black, was an in-depth examination of the need to reform women’s prisons. The story reverberated around Twitter and Facebook, and it was widely praised as potentially being the future of branded content.
All brand-sponsored journalism does not suck. Witness this peach by @mdeziel on women in prison. From Netflix, natch. http://t.co/Jljr6MvzpP
— david carr (@carr2n) June 13, 2014
"This might just be the tipping point for brand sponsored native content"- @shaneoleary1 on the NYT #OITNB native ad: http://t.co/iuKFvwkpKz
— AMS (@AMStrategy) June 22, 2014
The New York Times just published what is probably the best piece of sponsored content you will find. http://t.co/uomKqGdVAY
— Sam Petulla (@spetulla) June 13, 2014
But John Oliver isn’t having it.
In an 11-minute segment on his HBO show Last Week Tonight, the comedian took on the concept of native advertising. While he admitted that the Times’ Orange is the New Black piece was well done, he argued that the point of all native ads is simply to trick readers since they won’t click on traditional banner ads.“As far as native advertising goes, that’s about as good as it gets,” Oliver said of the Orange is the New Black ad. “The reporting is real, and the sponsored branding is minimal, but it is still an ad. It’s like hearing the one Katy Perry song that you like. You think, sure this is the best possible iteration of Katy Perry, but it still feels wrong to be listening to this.”
The entire segment, which is quite funny, is below:
