Ads, Classifieds, and Culture

Readership alone is not enough for a newspaper to thrive. That’s why newspapers designate a significant amount of pages to ads. Advertisements allow most media outlets to flourish, they provide the funding to allow the exploits of both television, newspapers and films. However, Print Media allows for both Corporate and small businesses to advertise within their outlets, and newspapers are most known for that. Classifieds are one of the oldest forms of advertising, they range from asking for special services (i.e housekeeper or a roommate needed), advertising special services (i.e, massage therapist, real estate)  Although they approach their classifieds differently the The New York Times, The New York Carib News, and American Oggi, they all use advertisements, this they have in common.

The New York Times is one of the best selling newspapers on the globe, with a readership of approximately 31 million people a day. It publishes multiple editions, a New York Edition, a U.S. national edition, A european edition, an Asian edition, as well as an international edition. This will be discussing the New York Edition of the paper. New York is home to a various number of ethnic groups, and the advertisements and classifieds in this paper reflect the variety of the readers of the New York Times.  Their classifieds are numerous and diverse consisting and general as well as multiple corporate advertisements. Their classifieds include lists of job openings, both commercial and residential real estate. A corporate ad that  was featured very prominently was a Macy’s ad for athletic wear that featured the same model found in a Macy’s ad in The New York Carib News. You can see the diversity of the readership through the ads, with an even representation of women, men and people of color and a range of subject matter from cars to exercise.

The New York Carib News serves the Caribbean Diaspora located in New York, reporting on things relevant to Caribbean immigrants and they’re descendants. They do not have a designated section for the classifieds as their They have a number of corporate ads. One particular ad from Macy’s is specifically designed to the racial make-up of the NY Carib News’ readership.  It features a black couple smiling. Another is the for the New York Lottery, which would target the lower middle class and their aspirations of a better life. They also have a number of small business ads that range from hair salons to health drinks. Another notable ad is for the Boston Shipping Enterprise, that specially caters in shipping containers to the Caribbean, this is one of the more targeted ads geared toward Caribbeans in New York. Often Caribbean migrants tend to ship down various necessities down to the caribbean via a barrel.  The New York Carib News has no real classifieds due in part to the lack of need.  Which is surprising due to the substantial size of Caribbean Americans located in New York.  However, those that wish to advertise with the paper simply get a small section in the paper for their ad. However they should consider getting a classified section much like the American Oggi, where Caribbean Americans can benefit from a sense of community, buying and selling from each other.

The American Oggi is an Italian-American newspaper printed in the Italian language, dedicated to the Italian Americans within the New York City Metropolitan area, as well as New Jersey.  Looking through their pages you see an extensive classifieds section that switches to and from Italian and English. It also features advertisements throughout the paper highlighting Italian-American run businesses around the NYC area, much like the same local ads the The New York Carib News displays.  The classified ads much like the New York Times are based on real estate, job openings, etc. Although American Oggi is in Italian, it’s classifieds are a mix of both the Italian and English languages. They are also very culturally specific bordering the stereotypical, the majority of the classifieds ads for help for skilled pizza workers, pizzerias for sale, and restaurants.  There also many advertisements for small italian-american businesses located in both the classifieds and throughout the paper. The paper illustrates just how close knit of a community italian-americans truly are. The classifieds show how they choose to give jobs to their own and keep italian-american run businesses, italian-american run. 

In order to finance newspapers fully, the newspaper company has to seek advertisements. The New York Times, The New York Carib News and American Oggi all utilize specific corporate  advertisements targeted at their specific demographics. The use of classifieds and advertisements  become more specific and targeted in cultural newspapers, creating a streamlined audience for corporate ads to reach their target demographics. This creates a more efficient form of advertising and newspapers can boast their efficacy of advertising. 

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