The Economist under fire over Egypt advertorial

If reports that Pearson will soon sell their stake in the Economist magazine are to be believed, Mr S hopes that the publication’s latest ‘cover’ won’t dent the brand’s value. Steerpike understands that the usually independent-minded magazine has received a number of complaints from readers after they ran a cover on Egypt’s Suez Canal project with the title ‘Egypt’s gift to the world’:

Cover of The Economist refers to the new #Suez Canal project as "#Egypt's gift to the World" pic.twitter.com/VCQIWtUV29

— Alwasat Libya (@alwasatengnews) August 6, 2015

This left some readers puzzled as to why the magazine had taken such an overwhelmingly positive stance on the government development, which has made the news after an Egyptian economist claimed the project’s financial predictions are ‘totally impossible’.

https://twitter.com/Egypt_Speaks/status/628612386233057280

Buried at the bottom of the cover is a disclaimer from the magazine, in which they explain that this is a ‘promotional cover wrap’ and ‘no endorsement is implied’.

They could have fooled Mr S.