2 Magazines’ War Editions Lack Japanese, German Ads
Advertisements from Japanese and West German companies are almost entirely absent from recent issues of Time magazine and U.S. News & World Report, which feature cover stories on the 50th anniversary of the outbreak of World War II.
Newsweek magazine, whose special World War II coverage was limited to slightly more than two pages of book reviews in its Sept. 4 issue, had a normal amount of advertising from Japanese companies in the issue.
West German companies do not advertise every week in any of the three news weeklies, so it was difficult to tell whether any had pulled ads because of the cover stories in Time and U.S. News.
Loss of Business
But Time and U.S. News confirmed that some Japanese advertisers, which they did not identify, had pulled ads from their World War II issues, in some cases switching them to other issues.
“The net of it was that we did lose some business,” Time spokesman Brian Brown said.
Calls to some of the Japanese companies that frequently advertise in the news weeklies--including auto makers Nissan, Toyota and Honda--were not immediately returned Tuesday.
News weeklies often notify advertisers when they plan articles that might embarrass them, such as a cover story on alcoholism that would spoil ads by liquor companies.
“We make it very clear that the story is going to run in any case, and I think that speaks well for editorial integrity,” Time’s Brown said.
U.S. News has a similar policy, spokeswoman Beth Kseniak said.
U.S. News has no ads from Japanese or West German companies in its Aug. 28-Sept. 4 double issue featuring stories on World War II. Time’s Aug. 28 issue on World War II carries a single Japanese ad, a two-page spread from Japan’s Pioneer Electronics (USA) Inc.
Japanese and West German advertisers are entirely absent from Time’s Sept. 4 issue, which has 17 pages about World War II and a small headline about the special section on the top of the cover.
Newsweek’s Aug. 28 issue has 10 pages of advertising from Japanese companies and some small ads from West German companies, which are in an advertising supplement by the nation of Nigeria. Its Sept. 4 issue, which contains the World War II book reviews, has 10 pages of Japanese advertising.
(A senior advertising manager for The Times said Tuesday that no Japanese or West German companies had withdrawn or delayed advertising in response to the paper’s current series of Page 1 stories on World War II.)
Infiniti Ads
Volkswagen USA ran a one-page ad in the Aug. 21 issue of Time but did not have anything scheduled for the Aug. 28 issues of Time or U.S. News, regardless of the contents of those issues, said marketing director William Gelgota.
Nissan’s Infiniti division, which is gearing up for the launch of its new luxury car, ran no ads in Time and U.S. News but had a four-page spread in the Aug. 28 Newsweek.
Honda’s Acura division placed three-page ads in the Aug. 21 issues of Time and U.S. News but nothing in the World War II issues. It has a two-page ad in the Aug. 28 Newsweek.
Toyota ran a one-page ad in the Aug. 21 Time and had the back cover of the Aug. 21 U.S. News, but was absent from the World War II issues.
World War II began Sept. 1, 1939, when Germany invaded Poland. Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The United States entered the war after being attacked by Japan on Dec. 7, 1941.
