Ads on the front page

My paper just lost this battle. Our EE emailed the staff with the bad news, obviously not happy with it himself. It is like everyone else's (except Detroit), a banner ad across the bottom.

A few years ago, I might have been outraged. Now, if it helps me keep my job, I'm in total support.

 

I don't like em, either.

 

My local paper, which pays me for lots of freelance work, often uses 1-by-2 stickers on the front. They're below the fold. You have to peel them off. I don't know what sort of adhesive they use, but they come off without much trouble.

I don't mind the banner across the bottom. But that example from the Free Press is shocking. It's a big, clunky thing that just sucks away all the focus. Not much you can do to lure people away from that ad. Well, I guess you could run your headline in hunter orange with 72-point.

 

Small bug: "Banner" is synonymous with top. Carry on.

 

So what do you call an ad that runs across the bottom?

 

Technically? In our case it would be a five-column, one-and-a-half-inch ad.

 

Stripped across the bottom?

 

"rennab" obviously.

 

Our paper jumped this shark a long time ago. We have one-inch ads stripped across the bottom on all section fronts. They've never been intrusive or flashy, so I don't even notice them anymore.

 

An old paper of mine did this for a month-long period before the Super Bowl, right across the bottom. It was an ugly add, and it took up more space than I wanted to give up. And when you've only got a three-page section some days, like in life, every inch counts.

 

An ad that runs across the bottom of the page.

No. Strip ad. I know you can argue that a strip can go at the top of the page. There is even a vernacular for it. And you're right. But, generally speaking, a strip ad is one that travels the width of that page at the bottom. Where is get confusing? If your section allows men's club ads. Then you have strip stripper ads stripping across the bottom strip.