When adverts clash with copy

Breaking news that on occasions clashes with booked advertising can cause real juxtaposition problems for a newspaper.

Today's front page in the Birmingham Mail tells of the horrible M5 crash that killed five people last night.

The editor of the day called me at home to ask whether or not we should take off the front page ad. for reasons of taste. The advert in question was for a taxi service, and it potentially sat very badly with the dramatic but severe picture of motorway carnage.

In the end, we kept this advert on. We made sure the story and picture were boxed in with a 5-point line (a heavy border), therefore making it clear it had nothing to do with the car pictures and graphics on the advert.

At other times, we have dropped the advert. Accident insurance claims would, for instance, have been offensive to readers on a front page telling of a fatal accident.

The worst I remember was a toothpaste advert clashing with a front page that told of a man who'd choked to death on his dentures.