OUR CAMPAIGN ABOUT CHANGE IS ALREADY GETTING REACTION

September 6, 1997

OUR CAMPAIGN ABOUT CHANGE IS ALREADY GETTING REACTION

BEGINNING MONDAY, THE FREE PRESS TAKES ON A NEW LOOK, PARTLY TO ATTRACT THOSE WHO READ THE NEWSPAPER ONLY OCCASIONALLY.

By Philip McLeod
London Free Press DEPARTURE:
For some readers, the campaign itself represented too much of a departure from the more staid Free Press promotions of the past. One of the ads featured large pictures of two women, taken from the back. In the picture at left, one woman is dressed in tight-laced Victorian style. At right, the other woman appears to be topless. A large headline notes: "Change can be liberating."
Typical of reader comments was this E-mail from Ori Chmura: "I was looking forward to the changes in The Free Press. However, I am revolted by the advertisement featured in (last week's) paper. If you wanted to get a reaction from me as a reader, you've succeeded!"
Well, we are trying to get some reaction.
Says John Muszak, our director of marketing: "The campaign was designed to be provocative and to get a reaction.
"Focusing on important news issues, such as homelessness, and controversial societal topics, such as the right of women to go topless, we wanted to make The Free Press a subject of conversation in the community. The calls we've had since the campaign began prove that this is working."