(3,200 words) – by Jim Macnamara

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Public relations practitioners worldwide continue to measure the so-called value of editorial publicity using Advertising Value Equivalents (AVEs), also referred to as Equivalent Advertising Values (EAVs). Some go further and apply multipliers to advertising rates based on an assumption that PR is more credible than advertising (called ‘credibility multipliers’). But the method has been widely criticised and shown to be invalid by research. This paper reviews literature, research and arguments on ‘ad equivalency’ and presents a critical analysis.