Shocking spelling error in SI ad

Who cares where the mistake came from? It's inexcusable. Doesn't matter which department screwed up, it reflects on the magazine.

How many people do you suppose looked at that ad before it ran? Plenty. And everyone of them assumed it was right, because the last guy assumed it was right.

 

Spelling isn't a priority in the composition department. A lot of those ads, though, are designed by third-party folks. In some cases, they're designed by the magazines in which they run. Probably not in the case of a magazine like SI, but in most cases. A lot of those magazine pages also are sent as PDFs. According to an ad designer who's a good friend, fixing a spelling error in a PDF is a pain in the ass.

 

What happens in ad production isn't editorial's responsibility, problem or worry. The magazine's editorial side shouldn't be blamed for the mistakes their ad guys are making, they're making their own.

 

Misspelling Ali's name? Bad, but not shocking.

Seeing "short-sleeve shits" on sale in an ad in your paper? Now THAT's shocking.

 

Now appearing at Sesame Street on Ice ... Big Bird, Grover, The Count (without the O)...

 

muhammAD misspelled by AD people. ... that's bAD.
My paper once had Angels misspelled in a display ad. "Angles." Jim Rome continually ragged us for that. We found that it came in as a camera-ready ad from ....... the Angels.

 

If it was a Nike ad in SI, that'd be one thing. But since it's an SI ad, it's incumbant upon editors to ensure the ad side doesn't make mistakes.

 

Really? Do you proof your newspaper's house ads?

 

Yes, when they're on the page, I do.

 

At least they spelled Ali right. Sheeesh.

 

Vhat is dis? Velvet?

 

Of course I do. Or somebody on my team does. As an editor for a large publication, it's incumbant on me and my colleagues to ensure something like that doesn't go to print. No matter if it was edit or the ad team who wrote the copy. Somebody on edit at SI should be approving that ad for many reasons, only one of which is to ensure there's no type-os.