Will he? Or Won't he?
A dilemma for a media supervisor
Charles Mcmellon, Hofstra University

In December 1971 a new woman’s magazine, Ms magazine, was introduced to consumers. This magazine positioned itself as one of the voices of the new feminism rising in our culture. Gloria Steinem was the editor and Patricia Carbine was the publisher. To introduce a magazine, advertisers are needed to provide the revenue to make it a success. Thus, Ms. Steinem and Carbine visited many advertisers to pitch the magazine and to ask for advertising. Fortunately for them, many advertisers responded in a positive manner including the Clairol hair care and hair coloring products division of Bristol-Myers Corporation. Clairol agreed to be one of their first advertisers. This was a break though for Clairol, which had been somewhat typecast as old fashioned and male dominated. Clairol thought it advantageous to be associated with the feminist cause. Ms also saw it as advantageous because Clairol was a national advertiser that could add prestige and credibility to their new magazine. Thus, Clairol in conjunction with their advertising agency, Foote, Cone, and Belding, entered into an agreement with Ms magazine for a specified number of hair care and hair coloring product advertisements. Clairol also asked that a full page of compatible editorial be placed next to their advertising. The word “compatible” was never defined exactly but both sides understood what was meant.

Peter Ardol is the print media coordinator at Foote, Cone, and Belding. His responsibilities are varied and include relationships with all the magazines where Clairol places advertising.
Peter’s client has just called to tell you they have heard that Ms is going to do a major article on the harmful effects of hair coloring. Since Clairol places about $500M in advertising with Ms, they feel Ms should not run this kind of editorial. They are adamant in their desire to stop this kind of editorial, which will be harmful to their products. They ask Peter to call the publisher to convince them not to run the story. Clairol even suggests that they might pull their advertising if Ms does not drop the story.

Questions:
1. Should Peter call? Or should Peter try to convince Clairol that interfering with editorial is not a wise thing to do? Explain your answer.
2. Is this a case of biting the hand that feeds you?
3. What issue is at the center of Peter’s dilemma?
4. And what about Ms magazine? Should they publish articles like this?

What really happened: The story was changed for pedagogical reasons. In reality, Ms magazine published a pro-gray hair article without warning Clairol and Clairol pulled its advertising for 6 months. Then they published an article on the chemicals used in hair dyes and how they were suspected of being carcinogenic. Again they did not tell Clairol. This outraged the executives at Clairol. Pat Carbine made a number of trips to Clairol to explain their editorial position. It was rumored she said they would never do it again. Clairol pulled all advertising, never to advertise again in Ms magazine.

Ms magazine eventually went advertising free and survived on subscriptions. Under new ownership, they are again taking advertising. You can visit them online: http://www.msmagazine.com/