Alaska ads slide after oil spill

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, Sept, 1989 by Margaret Hunter

Alaska ads slide after oil spill

Anchorage--On March 24, as the ship Exxon Valdez went aground around midnight and began to spill 11 million gallons of oil into Alaska's Prince William Sound, the May issue of Alaska was coming off the presses with its first eight-page advertorial from the Alaska Oil & Gas Association.

For a circulation-driven magazine like Alaska, with 25 percent of gross revenues coming from advertising, the timing of an advertorial guaranteed to enrage readers couldn't have been worse.

The accident and advertorial set off a chain of events that eventually cost Yankee Publishing's monthly several advertisers. But Alaska's controversial coverage of the accident ultimately strengthened its relationship with its 235,000 readers, editor Ron Dalby concludes.

The day after the spill, Dalby and two others drove to Valdez, camping out in the local newspaper's parking lot since all hotel rooms were taken by Exxon employees. Over half the June issue's editorial, about 18 pages of the 78-page book, had to be scrapped to make room for a special feature on the spill--no small feat for a magazine whose entire masthead lists fewer than 20 people.

Outraged readers

Meanwhile, mail was pouring in from readers, angered by the May issue's oil association advertorial. Dalby, who doesn't have a secretary, resorted to a former letter, spelling out the difference between editorial and advertorial.

The June issue's cover, emblazoned "Paradise Lost," sold out all 18,000 newsstand copies, an unprecedented event. One Arizona reader wrote that he drove 40 miles to pick up a copy, only to find the issue had sold out there as well.

While readers were plenty, Alaska's powerful tourism industry, a major advertiser, was not pleased. Two cruise lines and several smaller accounts cancelled their ad schedules, costing the magazine $35,000 for fiscal year 1990, or about 2 percent of projected advertising income, according to Dalby. Moreover, $2 million spent by Exxon for apology ads went to out-of-state newspapers--not a penny was spent in Alaska.

But the story of Alaska's woes quickly spread throughout the state. A speech Dalby gave before the Alaska Tourism Marketing Council, which is still considering cancelling its own ad schedule, was picked up by a local reporter. Word of the threats and pullouts eventually ran in the Fairbanks Daily News Minor, on the AP wire, television stations across the state, and in the Anchorage Daily News, the state's largest newspaper. As a result, Dalby suddenly found himself a popular radio talk show guest, with most of the callers supportive. "I didn't get to have any fun with you. Can we have a rematch?" complained one talk show host, hoping for more controversy.

Tourism up

The sell-out coverage and pulled ads have vindicated the magazine in readers' eyes, concludes Dalby. While the oil companies may not return any time soon as advertisers, the tourism industry, he says, may actually grow stronger in the long term because of the attention the accident focused on the state. Registration at Kenai State Park, located not far from the spill, nearly quadrupled to 7,000 visitors in May, Dalby notes, up from 2,000 visitors a year ago.

Meanwhile, Alaska is still drilling for stories on the sound. Dalby recently returned from a second trip to the sound to take pictures that will be reshot in a year's time, documenting the area's hoped-for recovery. "The big lesson, which every editor occasionally needs to be reminded of," he says, "is that we really do work for readers."