Perseus Defends 'Cathy's Book'

by Rachel Deahl, PW Daily -- Publishers Weekly, 6/14/2006

Some people think it's not only distasteful, but wrong, to promote consumer products in a novel, as the Perseus Book Group found out yesterday. After a story appeared in Monday's New York Times about a product placement plug in Running Press's inventive new YA novel Cathy's Book, a non-profit group called Commercial Alert reacted by urging book reviewers to boycott the title. As Mokoto Rich's Times piece laid out, the book—an interactive adventure tale complete with live Web site URLs and phone numbers in the text for readers to log onto and call—pushes Cover Girl makeup products, in return for advertising on a Web site owned by the company. The deal was struck between the authors' agent and Proctor & Gamble (the corporation which owns the makeup giant).

Commercial Alert, a 16-year-old non-profit which aims to "protect children and communities from commercialism," responded to the story by sending an e-mail to 305 book reviewers yesterday telling them the marketing effort in the book defiles it as a work of fiction. In the note the organization writes: "There is a difference between a novel and an ad; and if you do not uphold the distinction, then who will?"

This is not the first time Commercial Alert has dealt with what it perceives as transgressions within the publishing industry. The group also rallied against The Bulgari Connection, a 2001 book also mentioned in the Times piece. As noted in the paper, that book's author, Fay Weldon, was commissioned by Bulgari to write the novel. And, according to Commercial Alert's executive director, Gary Ruskin, the organization responded in much the same way to Bulgari Connection as it has to Cathy's Book, by contacting book reviewers and urging them not to cover the title.

David Steinberger, president of Perseus, said that although he wasn't overly concerned by Commercial Alert's actions, he was nonetheless saddened by them. "It's always disappointing when people feel the appropriate response is to suggest that a book be banned, boycotted, or not read," he told PW. For its part, Perseus has issued its own press release, also sent to book reviewers, stating its displeasure about the situation. Echoing Steinberger's sentiments, the release reiterates the quality of the book and calls it "a terrific cutting-edge YA novel that deserves to be read and judged on its own merits."

This article originally appeared in the June 14, 2006 issue of PW Daily. For more information about PW Daily, including a sample and subscription information, click here »

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