# If You're Not Paying For The Product, You Are The Product

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-not-paying-for-the-product-you-are-the-product/645950>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [January 3, 2013, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-not-paying-for-the-product-you-are-the-product/645950 "2013-01-03T14:46:32Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\
**Post date:** [January 4, 2013, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-not-paying-for-the-product-you-are-the-product/645950/21 "2013-01-04T21:15:10Z")

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> [@TriPolar](#):
>
> It’s not much of a wall. Generally the ads are pulled for companies that may be embarassed by current news. So if there’s an airline crash, the airline ads will be pulled for a few days. The news coverage goes on, the advertiser avoids embarassment. It isn’t a perfect system though, I read a blurb about a Connecticut newspaper advertising a gun show next to a Sandy Hook story the other day.

The wall is on the side of the paper, not the advertisers. The whole purpose is to not pressure the news side to not run stories which will cause advertisers to pull their ads, not to try to keep advertisers from doing so. That’s a given. And nothing about the wall keeps the layout people from trying to prevent the kind of blunder you mentioned.  
The advertisers come back once the storm is over. Every so often Broadway producers threaten to pull ads in the Times due to bad reviews or bad coverage - it never lasts very long.

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**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\
**Post date:** [January 4, 2013, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-not-paying-for-the-product-you-are-the-product/645950/22 "2013-01-04T21:28:54Z")

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> [@Voyager](#):
>
> The wall is on the side of the paper, not the advertisers. The whole purpose is to not pressure the news side to not run stories which will cause advertisers to pull their ads, not to try to keep advertisers from doing so. That’s a given. And nothing about the wall keeps the layout people from trying to prevent the kind of blunder you mentioned.  
> The advertisers come back once the storm is over. Every so often Broadway producers threaten to pull ads in the Times due to bad reviews or bad coverage - it never lasts very long.

That’s a fair description. Yes it is a wall to prevent influence from advertisers, but they know the game, they’re better off pulling their ads for a while instead of trying to cover something up.

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