Magazines using identical content!

[Susievintage]

On my hols last week, I treated myself to a couple of magazines - the July 2018 issues of both "Good Housekeeping" and "Prima". Not cheap - about £4 each. So you can imagine my surprise to find that the "Travel Extra" section in both of them is IDENTICAL - a whole 25 pages of each mag is word-for-word, ad-for-ad identical. Turns out they're from the same publishing house - Hearst - so I guess they share content. But I still had to pay twice for it! I ask you, AIBU?

No! I bought a Reveal and Heat pack and they have the EXACT same stories. I know they’re the same publishers but really. Ridiculous!

(It was Closer actually not reveal but same point!)

That's awful!

And this is why print media is dying... You won't buy those again, will you? And certainly not both!

Absolutely - and if you bought two books by the same author and several chapters were the same, you'd be outraged, wouldn't you!

After all, 25 pages is an eighth of the content of these magazines - not just one or two pages.

It's to do with syndication rights. Journalists love it, it seems. I personally think it makes content as dull as ditch water and will kill off the profession who have ties to international journalism (I admit, I don't fully understand the rights, or why it's allowed).

They were probably what is known as 'advertorials'. So they're supposed to look like 'editorial' content, but they're actually ads. There may be some small print somewhere saying 'advertorial'. It's been common practise for a number of years.

Ah no, I know about advertorials - and there are some of those as well! These 25 pages are definitely intended as standard content. But I've learned my lesson, as TwoGinScentedTears said: I won't be buying them again. Common practice can still be sharp practice, and I thought other people should know about it.