Question: .

Hi Greg,

First of all, thanks for all your effort and faithfulness - the Plain Truth continues to be a major source of challenge and inspiration.

One question I have however, relates to the advertising. I think that some of your advertisers are the type that play upon some rather unsound precepts and nudge the boundary of good taste in terms of preying upon peoples' fears and uncertainties in times of health and economic trials.

And secondly, I find your ads are visually distracting from the messages. I'm not against advertising as a form of supporting the magazine.

Thanks for the opportunity to express this.

-Grant

Answer:

Dear Grant,

Thanks for the comments! Advertising is something most serious magazines would rather do without - but it helps to pay the bills! If Plain Truth Ministries could pay the bills with only donations and subscriptions, we would not carry advertising - or limit it severely. But we do have an outreach ministry which entails providing free subscriptions to many, which entails free literature to many, and which entails the production costs of both the magazine, videos, and other literature (over and beyond that which can be met by donations, subscriptions, sales of products, and advertising revenue).

We do have advertising criteria. We turn down advertisers - both in regard to their product, as well as in regard to the claims that are made about their product. We do our best to check out products and advertisers - but we have only one person who does all of our circulation, promotion, print buying and coordination, as well as ad sales. He communicates with our advertising representative who sells ads (all approvals are given by a committee at Plain Truth Ministries - no one person approves or disapproves). So we do not have a laboratory, etc. that can give consumer ratings to products.

We cancel ads when we find out that they are not creditable (we just did so this morning). We edit ads, and often tell advertisers that we will not print what they submitted, but we will with edits. Several companies have told us that they have been in business for decades, that we were the first magazine to edit their ads, but they permitted it nonetheless (and paid for the ad).

We do not have a quota. We have a budget, and we look for a certain annual revenue. But this $$ figure will not compromise us.

Most of us prefer cable TV, movies, and advertising - free reading and viewing. The Plain Truth used to be advertising free - but economic necessity does not allow us to do that any longer. In order to keep the Plain Truth alive, we have taken advertising. We will not accept immoral or suggestive material, no tobacco, no alcohol, etc. So we are already looking at a limited client pool.

But our readers buy clothing, purchase books, buy food and vitamins, etc. The act of printing an ad is not a guarantee or an endorsement on our part - but we do try to do our homework.

I hope this helps give you some background. May God bless.

In Christ,

Greg Albrecht