Outdoor Articles Becoming Nothing More Than A Advertisement

[Chad]

There are a lot more products out there today then there were 10-20 years ago. Back then all you had was mono line. Now we have mono, no strech, minimall strech, red, yellow, green, and god knows what else they will come up with. How do anglers learn to use all these new products? It is because someone wrote an article. They may have provided the brand they used but I dont see a problem.

I dont read any motor head magazines, but I bet they mention what products they use. Not all products are made the same.

I write a weekly outdoor column for our local paper.

Yes, I mention the names of the lures I use when writing fishing articles and I think the writer should give the name of the lure. I also mention the live bait I am using, but not many companies, other than the bait shops, care if I mention that. But, I don't say I was using minnows when I was using night crawlers just to promote minnows.
When I read fishing articles, I would be upset if the writer didn't tell me the brand name of the lure they use.

In my hunting articles, I don't believe I need to mention my shotgun name, even if I shot a Remington 870 12 gauge. The size of shot I use may be important. For grouse I use 7 1/2 shot and pheasants I my use 5 shot if I can find it or four shot. I think that is important for my readers to know. I would not like to see my readers using 4 shot on grouse, for example.

Yes, I have been to seminars and read articles where the writer even mentioned the name of the jeans they wear. (Well maybe not) But it seem like it sometimes.

[Ed]

"I was catching good walleye numbers using crankbaits. I used a Rapala Shad Rap, but a Berkley Frenzy or Reef Runner would probably work also."

Is a lot different then:

"I grabbed my Berkley Lightning 6-foot graphite rod, model 147, loaded with Trilene XL 6 lb. line, set up with a Roach Rig and Lindy No-Snag sinker, and attached a Berkley Power Bait. I glanced at my Lowrance X-15 fish finder, grabbed the handle of my Minnkota Maxxum trolling motor (mounted next to my 115 4-stroke Yamaha outboard), and positioned my Lund ProV 1775 with ISP hull on the reef my Garmin 76 GPS found for me. I had my Frabil landing net near my Plano tackle box just in case I got lucky and latched onto a walleye."

[Snowman]

Bingo, you've got it!

reddog

You have a point. If I write that I caught my fish on a certain jig name it is only for information not that you have to use the same type jig. But I bet if my readers see that I caught my fish in 25 feet on a certain jig, they will try that first right. Mentioning the name of the jig and the depth where I caught the fish give my readers a starting point. If they like another jig so-be-it. Go ahead and use that jig. But if it doesn't catch the fish maybe they should try the one I used. And by the way, all jig are not alike. I use different type jigs for different type conditions.

Good luck fishing

[BlackSilver]

Some publications are good, some are horrible, and Midwest Outdoors is the worst of them all. EVERY SINGLE article is a blatant advertisement!

SET the hook!!!

Hans/MN

I personally, like the way In Fish does it. At the end of most of their articles ther is contact information for just about every type of lure mentioned. I think that it is also interesting that a person does not have to advertise with In Fish to get a product mention. I am friends with a gentleman that makes great spinnerbaits and has had his baits mentioned in several articles and has never spent a dime advertising with them.

What I don't see with any of Bob's work is the mention of competitors to the products that sponsor him. That to me, is unfortunate.

I am also the editor of a fishing publication and it is something that I am on the lookout for. Eventually, I hope to have a database of companies so that when a product is mentioned, I can include that company, plus their competitors as contact info at the end of the article. To me, that minimizes the "advertising" slant of an article.

Tom B

[Backwater Eddy]

I have read some great points and I would certainly admit that once you acquire some sponsorship relationships, a refined eye gets cast upon your written text rather quickly.

In the not so distant past, I wrote an article that I thought posed a comprehensive look at a spring fishing pattern. I was pretty pleased with it, the response was good, and I was a happy camper.

Unfortunately a well respected and highly valued sponsor thought all the extra "focus" on "peripheral products" in the article was a bit distracting from their product, they were.....Ah....not too pleased.

My response was, “I was writing to cover a series of options I use and find productive and listed the products I felt worked best for me, I give credit were credit is due, that is my style of writing, I guess.”

They were not too impressed with that answer, a clarification was requested.

So I bit my lip & reluctantly pulled out a few stops and said exactly what I felt, let the chips land were they may.

This time around my unpadded response was, “I fell anglers are getting especially wary and generally tiered of over hyped text on anything and everything period! Readers can smell it in the first few lines, go all starry eyed, loose all interest, dismiss any credibility the text may contain, and any useful information you wished to share with them gets lost in a fog if they bother to read the whole text.”

I honestly thought I was now short one VERY valued sponsorship relationship!

Three days went bye, then a week, still no response; I was now completely certain I blew it.

Now for the big shocker, they responded, OK "Cool", we see your point and we can work with that, we appreciate the honesty.

:O

We still work together; I try to keep product reviews and comprehensive tactics articles separate. I feel the two are separate information venues and have distinctly different purposes.

I am not knocking everyone else’s style of writing that may use product reviews internally in their text, it is generally just not my way of doing things is all. To each there own and I still read them all.

My point is I don’t think marketing is the only concern advertisers/sponsors have in mind, sharing your views often can produce change.

Anglers buy tons & tons of stuff & we always will, I think it is in our nature. So being over specific often backfires on advertisers is how I see it.

Backwater Eddy.....><sUMo>

This is the very reason I love the ESPN BASS tournament coverage. You see these guys using the tactics that will catch fish for the conditions on that day. You know going in that VanDam will use a Quantum reel and Yamamoto will be fishing his own plastics, but if they want to do well they have to fish like the rest of us.

Contrast that with a recent episode of Roland Martin's show. (A personality that I happen to like and a show that I have learned much from) He was throwing a piece of plastic at bass that were obviously so active that they would have hit anything. He must have mentioned the name of the lure 20 times. These XXXX are the best. The Bass just inhale this XXXX. The only things more annoying are the half hour long shows about canadian resorts, shot entirely on hand held video.

Thanks,

Rage

At that time I had to cave in as I was hungry for exposure. Human nature I guess.