Newspaper readers are driven to distraction

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade/2013/jan/10/newspapers-marketingandpr

Version 0 of 1.

Here's an amusing experiment carried out by an advertising agency on behalf of Belgian newspaper publishers to show how intensely people read their papers.

Three advertisers were each given a paper and a chauffeur-driven car to enable them to read in peace and quiet. They became so absorbed they didn't notice half a dozen exterior distractions. Supposedly.

Note that winning final slogan: "To catch people's attention and hold on to it? That's what newspapers do."

It was spotted by Norman Lebrecht, one of my former Sunday Times colleagues, who points out a flaw: if the "distractions" had been videoed they would have appeared online and newsprint newspapers would have been reduced, many hours later, to commenting on what millions had already seen.

And here's another thought: wouldn't they have been just as engrossed if they were reading tablets?

<em>Sources:</em> Norman Lebrecht/YouTube <em>Hat tip:</em> Poynter