The magazine industry is playing the "trust" card in a new ad campaign.
The Association of Magazine Media has begun a campaign in print and online running through March with the tagline, "Magazine media. Better. Believe It."
The campaign "addresses magazine media's unmatched ability across platforms to produce professional, credible, trusted and brand-safe content," the print industry group said in its release, announcing the new ads.
The association is running ads using space provided gratis by its members' properties in print and online, and the space is donated, according to a spokeswoman for the group. The association estimates that 75% of U.S. adults will see the ads by the time the campaign ends. Some ad placements will be paid for in publications including Ad Age and The New York Times.
Hearst's creative team developed the campaign.
The magazine association—whose members include Hearst, Time Inc., Condé Nast, Meredith and Forbes—are pursuing a common theme among tradtional media companies this past year: That the fake news and disinformation that plagued public discourse during the U.S. presidential campaign is an affliction of digital media.
The New York Times, The Washington Post and other newspapers have also run campaigns emphasizing their thorough reporting and histories of credibility, to distance their work from the taint of the online world.
In the past month, Facebook, Twitter and Google have been under public pressure and Congressional scrutiny to reveal whether and how bad actors used their platforms to sow discord and misleading propaganda.
