Does House & Home ad track across the ad:edit line?

[This post has been updated] The March issue of Canadian House and Home contains an example of uncomfortably close alignment between editorial content and advertising.

A regular makeover features a spread about a kitchen, one in which muddy footprints are tracked across the floor. The next spread shows virtually the same right hand page with the footprints cleaned up, a Swiffer mop leaning against the counter and a copy line "Swiffer gives cleaning a whole new meaning".

This treatment would seem to contravene several provisions of the Canadian magazine advertising-editorial guidelines.

• An advertiser's name or logo may not be used to suggest advertising sponsorship of any regularly appearing editorial.
• No advertiser may purchase product placement or mention in editorial pages, photographs or illustrations.
• Any advertisement that contains text or design elements that have an editorial appearance must be conspicuously identified with the word "advertising'’ or "advertisement."
  

Ironically, one member of the task force that drew up those guidelines was Kirby Miller, vice-president of sales and operations at House & Home Media, publishers of Canadian House & Home. [Disclosure: I was also a member of that task force.]

[UPDATE: In an e-mail exchange with Mastheadonline, Miller said:

We are proud of the creativity and partnership we have with Starcom and Procter & Gamble's Swiffer and Febreze in our March Issue. In large part it is our key advertisers to thank in this market for our continuing ability to affordably deliver great decorating content to our Canadian subscribers and newsstand purchasers.

House & Home along with the rest of the magazine industry is working hard to remain economically viable in this market. As for the question of our editorial integrity, I humbly reply that I sleep very well at night knowing that our continuing commercial success allows our company to fund Magazines Canada and MagNet which both provide services to smaller publishers across Canada. Also House & Home Media has recently launched a new French title, Maison & Demeure, hired nearly 11 new people and hasn't had a single staff layoff. From the ads are appearing on Mr. Scott's blog it appears that both publishing employment (recruitment ad) and MagNet are important for him as well. It is good to know that we share some common ground on these fronts.]

Marketing magazine reported that the ad was a collaboration between the magazine and the advertising agency.

“What we love about it is that it’s a surprise for the clever reader,” said Christine Saunders, senior vice-president, group media director for P&G agency Starcom MediaVest Group. “You literally do a double take.”

The ad is the result of extensive collaboration between House & Home Media, parent company of Canadian House & Home, and Starcom. Both the advertising and editorial components were photographed by Canadian House & Home’s editorial team.

“Canadian House & Home was the perfect partner for this because it’s the most prestigious home decor magazine in Canada,” said Saunders. “[House & Home Media president] Lynda Reeves is the one to look for style trends. We thought if we could pull this off in Canadian House & Home, we could make an impact.”

In November, Transcontinental's Style at Home ( a House & Home competitor) made a similar arrangement with the same advertising agency in which a stitched in acetate overlay allowed a coffee machine to be placed on the counter of one of its kitchen editorial pages.