Tombstone (advertising)

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In advertising, a tombstone is a particular type of print advertisement appearing in a newspaper or magazine. Tombstone ads are typically unadorned text, black on white, often enclosed in a simple box, with a centered headline and a number of lines in the body of the ad, usually also centered. The name originates from their similarity in appearance to the text on a tombstone (headstone) grave marker.

Tombstone ads are most often used in the financial industry, where a particular transaction (such as an offering or placement of stock of a company) is formally announced, in a form that discloses the participants in a specified order according to their role in underwriting or brokering the transaction. (See bulge bracket.) In the United States, securities regulations require that most such advertising be in tombstone form, in order to prevent the advertisement to be perceived as promotion of the particular stock issue involved.

Other advertisers, including fine art dealers and some traditional luxury goods vendors, sometimes also use the tombstone form.

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