Wraparound: a profit motive under attack
Mohammed Haruna, a veteran journalist and former publisher, said the term, wraparound, suggests something sinister. Politicians, for example, wrap the flags of their nations around themselves, speaking metaphorically, of course, when they know there is little or no merit in their positions. He argued that, “The wraparound advert is like using pretence to persuade the […]
Mohammed Haruna, a veteran journalist and former publisher, said the term, wraparound, suggests something sinister. Politicians, for example, wrap the flags of their nations around themselves, speaking metaphorically, of course, when they know there is little or no merit in their positions.
He argued that, “The wraparound advert is like using pretence to persuade the reader; the advertiser tries to hide under the authority of a newspaper’s logo to make their story about what they are selling look like an objective narration on the subject. This must be why newspapers charge a premium to accept it. They charge an average of N10 million for half a wraparound, i.e. front and back pages as a spread. For full wraparound, i.e. front page plus inside front page and the back page plus inside back page, some newspapers charge as much as N25 million. All this is of course subject to negotiations,” he said.
Comparing these rates with an average of N400,000.00 for full page colour advert for other pages, it is as if the newspapers are saying if we are going to eat a toad we might as well make it fat and juicy. He pointed out that newspapers must have a second thought about wraparound. “Are newspapers wrong to accept wraparound? In principle, yes. The logo of a newspaper is simply priceless. In practice, it’s difficult to reject a lucrative advert in an age of dwindling newspaper circulation, especially when you can make it clear to your readers that a wraparound does not mean you are endorsing the product or service or image you are advertising. The problem is that very often newspapers don’t bother to make the distinction.”
Mohammed Haruna said however, that since wraparound has become a fait accompli and since advertising is a legitimate way to sell one’s product or service, newspapers must treat wrap around like cigarettes; publish them but with disclaimers.
According to Baba Halilu Dantiye, the Director of Communication and Public Relations Strategist to the Kano State Governor, Dr Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso, private media is a private business and they look at ways to make profit, so accepting wraparound is not actually a bad thing so far as the owners don’t compromise ethics.
“It depends on the subject matter, banks do it and people hardly complain, though on popular issues, people find it disgusting ,” he said.
A media consultant, Mr Ayo Atette, argued that there is nothing bad for a newspaper to accept wraparound because it means good business for a newspaper. Atette said, “The mainstay of a newspaper is advertisement. A newspaper that cannot get advert placement can hardly survive because it will be difficult for it to remain afloat, pay its staff salary, and meet other obligations. So, if we are talking about the survival, regular circulation of a newspaper and its ability to pay its staff salary, a wraparound may not be a bad business for it. You don’t know that a wraparound is worth N10 million to N15 million? It even depends. Newspapers like The Punch and ThisDay sometimes could charge N20 to N25 million”.
He argued further that the issue being raised in respect of wraparound taking over both the front and back pages of the newspaper does not hold waters considering the huge amount that a singular advert will bring in for the newspapers just in one day.
He contended, “Look, let me tell you, no newspaper survives on whatever it makes from cover price. A page of colour advert in papers may cover the amount realized from the sales of about 5,000 copies of the newspaper. What I want you to know is that only newspapers with names reputed for wider circulation gets wraparound from the advertisers. So, even if the entire front and back pages of the newspaper are covered with wraparound it will not be a problem to its readers because that is the paper they have always preferred to read and that is why the advertisers choose to place the advert in the newspaper in the first place. Sometime ago, TELL magazine was given N10 million to do a wraparound for NICON Luxury Hotel owned by Barrister Jimoh Ibrahim. The same magazine, according to sources, collected N50 million from Governor Rotimi Amaechi for another wraparound advert . In that edition, only his interview was published. Tell me, how many copies of the magazine would they have sold and for how many months to make that amount?”
He observed that advertisers like MTN, Airtel and other network providers, banks and other corporate bodies will not give wraparound to newspapers that are not known, “so the issue of whether it devalues the cover of a newspaper does not arise at all”.
He added, “We were all witnesses to how politicians were pressurizing The Punch for the placement of wraparound during the Third Term campaign for former President Olusegun Obasanjo. They were willing to pay over 30 million to The Punch if it had accepted to run the advert for them at that time.”