The Canadian Newspaper Association is planning a media campaign to remind people who read newspapers that they should be reading newspapers.

Aside from the redundant stupidity of putting ads promoting newspapers in newspapers, is this really necessary? Newspapers aren’t like toilet paper, you don’t go into a grocery store and pick out a newspaper subscription because you recognize the brand. People subscribe or unsubscribe based on the quality over a long period of time.

Instead of spending money to advertise in your own papers, maybe you should spend it hiring journalists to find good stories and editors to collect them and present them without all those glaring typos.

UPDATE (Oct. 9): Transmission Marketing agrees with me that this is preaching to the converted.