Advertising – How Far Will We Go?

Today’s television advertising is incredibly dull, dull, DULL!

Boring, outdated, too long, message forgotten a split-second after the end… It’s incredibly depressing. It’s one of the major reasons I don’t even have cable at home.

You heard right. I’m launching my own digital cable/DTH satellite channel, yet I don’t even have cable at home. It’s like a restaurant owner without a kitchen. Or a plumber without a bathroom.

In an effort to hopefully bring back some entertainment value to the world of television advertising, this channel will not be afraid to push the boundaries a bit, even at the risk of having a few viewers complain to the CRTC. This doesn’t mean however that we’ll dive head first into the world of bad taste. The ads for feminine hygiene and erectile dysfunction products have already reached that level. Instead, we’ll start to accept the type of commercials that are normally played in Europe without any problems whatsoever, but which are never played on North America television usually due to the possibility of a backlash from special interest groups.

Here’s an example of what we’re ready to accept.

And that’s just the generic one. Ansell also has ads for specific products which you can find at their LifeStyles Canada Web site (warning: slightly adult content).

Ignore the ad with the girl. That one just reinforces a few stereotypes that are simply no longer appropriate in today’s society. In fact, we’re more likely to refuse that type of ad even though the vast majority of Canadian television channels would probably air it without hesitation.

Do you have a television commercial that’s a bit off the beaten path and you’re not entirely sure we’ll air it? Send us a link. We’ll let you know if and at what time we’ll put it on the tube.

And the starting rate for a 30 second spot? $10 Canadian. Yes! Ten bucks! One purple Sir John bill!

Plus GST of course. Unfortunately, there’s no escaping that.

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