![]() ![]() “Travel and expenses for the author and photographer were provided by Express for the purpose of writing this story,” it reads. Louis to fete Karlie Kloss’s Express collaboration. Like Fashionista, PopSugar provides disclosure when any story-related trips are paid for, as in a recent post by author Sarah Wasilak about her trip to St. “We make sure there is a substantial amount of content we can produce, unique angles on a topic or opportunities for original content, exclusives and/or access to someone or something that we don’t typically have access to.”Īn image from a Karlie Kloss x Express press trip in St. “All trips are thoughtfully considered by our editorial content directors, and the editor invited is required to make a list of story pitches, which the directors use to determine whether or not the trip is worthwhile,” she said. PopSugar founder and president Lisa Sugar said that editors of the brand’s fashion vertical are also allowed to go on press trips, but they must meet a long list of criteria to be approved. The same goes for travel journalism, for instance. But fashion reporting has always played by looser rules when it comes to accepting free trips. ![]() You are not going to see a writer for The New Yorker going on a trip to Tibet paid for by the Chinese government. These are standards that would be far outside the bounds of traditional journalism. The Patagonia story, for example, ends with this disclosure: “Patagonia paid for my travel and accommodations to visit the brand’s headquarters.” Past examples include a lengthy feature on the unique brand positioning of Patagonia, spurred by a writer’s trip to their headquarters in California, and an inside look at Lululemon’s reliance on a giant influencer network after a writer attended their “Immersion Summit” in Canada.īoth posts reflect the “strict disclosure policy” Vingan said Fashionista maintains, which requires that any story inspired by or sourced from a press trip explicitly state, at the bottom of the post, who provided travel and accommodations for the writer. “We try to avoid trips that are too brand-specific if there’s not at least one big picture feature angle that we could get out of it,” she said. They’re less keen on trips that are overly branded, especially if they lack an identifiable hook. “For example, is it something we’d cover anyway, like the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show? Or does it present an opportunity for reporting that we wouldn’t otherwise have the budget for, like an international fashion week?” In those cases, her team is happy to take advantage. ![]() “Our editors are able to go on press trips, but we are very selective on which invitations we accept, as they must be of strong interest to our readers,” she said. We reached out to numerous women’s and fashion media brands to find out how they all tackle the matter, and quickly found that it’s a touchy subject: The Cut, Racked, Clique Media Group, The Coveteur and Refinery29 all refused to comment, while Man Repeller and Into the Gloss failed to respond.Įditors from Harper’s Bazaar and Who What Wear in Miami with Matches FashionĪlyssa Vingan, the editor-in-chief of Fashionista, had no qualms - but also, seemingly, nothing to hide. Of course, how each publication defines “a financial or material connection” is likely to differ. While the FTC didn’t mention junkets specifically, the head of its advertising practices division told WWD that “if are promoting a particular brand or product, and if they have a financial or material connection to the brand, that should be disclosed.” The rules for how media companies handle press trip–inspired stories are less clear. The Federal Trade Commission released guidelines for native advertising in 2015 that insisted all sponsored content be identified accordingly. Other times, city- or state-based groups, like the Nashville Fashion Alliance, will work to boost their sartorial reputation by inviting editors along to explore the local fashion scene. Though larger companies are more likely to take part, given the funds required, brands as diverse as Jimmy Choo, Swarovski, Lilly Pulitzer and Revolve have been known to put them on. Oh, and shown some stuff in the hope they’ll write about it.” As one anonymous Guardian writer aptly put it in 2014: “It’s essentially a PR-organized outing, where journalists are plied with booze to varying degrees (ranging from “light lunchtime tipple” to “hospital”), timetabled into various fun activities, often only exposed to food and sleep in miniature portions and endorsed, if not downright encouraged, to behave outwith the normal conventions of society. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |