GO AWAY GATEFOLDS IN NEWSPAPERS !!!!!

Gatefolds. They're those advertising 'wrap' things that encase your newspaper. You know the thing; cuts off half your front or other section page.

If it's on a magazine, usually, unless you are very careful, ripping off the gatefold also affects the stapling of the magazine and before you know it you've got a loose-leaf page product instead of a bound magazine.

Annoying as all hell.

Sometimes, the printing process is mindless and when you discard the gatefold, you find you've also lost the back page of the paper that had actual stories on it. Nice. And talk to a page layout person sometime. They have to factor in the gatefold when doing their work; it affects their artistry, how they display photos, etc.

I'm in the newspaper/media industry, am concerned about its future, am searching for solutions. And I know one thing - the more you tick people off the less they'll buy you. You have to be user friendly. I realize these (allegedly) make $ but can't imagine whatever revenue is being generated justifies the aggravation factor.

It might seem like a small thing, but, well, actually, it's big. 

Comments

[Eric]

Oops! I should have written 'You're NOT alone in using them.' And yes, I can't stand the damn things on the National Post either!

[Karlo Berkovich]

Eric, obviously I hear you. But The Record isn't the only newspaper that uses them. The Toronto Star does (and yes, they're in our corporate family Torstar) but so does The National Post. Didn't you have your, er, fill of Corona beer ads wrapping the Post and other papers last week? Haven't seen gatefolds on The Globe and Mail . . . yet.

Cheers,

Karlo

[Eric]

I can't stand the damn things! So much so that I make a point of NOT looking at the ad (sometimes physically turn my head) as I rip it off and crumple it into a tight wad.
Why would any newspaper (you're alone in using them) want to upset their customers even more than the editorial pages do.