The Economist will launch a new ad campaign that challenges the public to take a stance on controversial issues, reports The Guardian. The issues that the ad campaign will address include the legalization of drugs, the exchange of human organs, and prisoner voting rights. Yvonne Ossman, publisher of UK Economist, said she hopes that the new ad campaign will "create a connection between our magazine and this new audience" by "sparking engagement and debate" though the posters.

Indeed, The Economist's new ad campaign is a clever way to draw in more readers. In addressing controversial topics, The Economist can hit on subjects that readers will most likely be inclined to respond to. Moreover, the campaign, which will primarily be communicated in the London tube, will be supplemented with newspaper inserts and mail campaigns, thus going directly into the homes of potential consumers. While the public advertisements may create an initial buzz around the publication, the in-home advertisements could allow for potential consumers to immediately engage their thoughts through the Economist's online media (and who knows, maybe even subscribe to get past The Economist's paywall) and perhaps also ultimately subscribe to the print format.

The Economist's ad campaign is an interesting move by the publication. In directly addressing controversial content, The Economist may be able to create must-see material that would draw in a greater number of subscribers and create a buzz around its publication. If this strategy proves to be successful, perhaps other publications will follow suite and try to use advertising to stimulate public debate.

The only element that seems to be missing is a tangible arena in which the public can discuss these controversies. Online comments sections have recently become the manifestation of public debate (although editors are considering limiting those), however the Economist's ad campaign does not mention any development of a public debate forum other than their normal online comment sections. Though, this could be yet another smart move by The Economist. Perhaps print subscribers (or online subscribers, for that matter), drawn in by the controversy-centered advertising, will gravitate toward the Economist's website for a place to share their opinions, thus generating more traffic for the website and contributing to buzz around the publication. And perhaps The Economist's previous social media campaign and their conversation cloud will now lend themselves toward encouraging online debate.

At any rate, the publication's new advertising campaign is certainly an interesting one. While only time will tell if the public reacts in the way Ossman hopes, The Economist's new take on publicity could change the way the newspaper industry looks at advertising.

Sources:The Guardian, Paid Content