Television ads in need of 'quality control'

Television ads in need of 'quality control'

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Commercial breaks during television shows generally generate one
of two reactions: viewers will reach for the remote and switch
channels, or they will sit through the ads. That reaction depends
largely on the quality and entertainment value of the ad.

"TV ads can be amusing sometime, especially those with cute
children," said Yesi, a 28-year-old English tutor who spends
about six hours a day watching TV. "But some ads can be
considered insulting to our intelligence."

Yesi said most of the time she automatically switched the
channel during commercial breaks.

In a recent survey by Marketing Research Indonesia (MRI), some
47 percent of respondents said they switched channels during
commercial breaks, while 37 percent said they sat through the
ads.

"The advertising industry needs to look at the quality of its
output because consumers tend to avoid TV ads," said MRI managing
director Harry Puspito.

In the survey of 711 people in Jakarta, Bandung, Semarang,
Surabaya, Medan and Makassar, 83 percent of respondents
suggested that the government strictly regulate the content of TV
ads.

"Actually, some of the TV ads have improved," Yesi said. "But
there are still a lot of advertisers who cut the duration and
repeat their jargon more than three times in one spot."

"OK, we got the message already the first time," she said.
"Those kinds of ads do not stimulate us to buy the products."

There has been a tendency for advertisers to maximize their
money while cutting production costs by repeating the same
commercials three times.

This strategy seems to have failed since the survey found that
67 percent of respondents agreed on the limitations of repeating
TV commercials.

Despite all the criticism, most respondents agreed on the
importance of TV ads to support broadcast programs. Some 80
percent saw the necessity of ads for the survival of TV stations.

"We already have a code of ethics for advertising,"
Indonesian Advertising Companies Association chairman RTS Masli
said, "but the stakeholders in the advertising business are not
only the professionals."

"Besides the advertisers and the advertising industry," he
said, "television stations should also take part in filtering
quality ads to show audiences."

He added that the media, especially television stations,
should take a stand in rejecting advertisements considered to be
of low quality.

Despite an increase in expenditures on TV ads, as reported in
a survey by Nielsen Media Research, Masli said the quality of
advertisements in Indonesia still trailed other countries in the
Asia Pacific.

"In Thailand, for example, the advertising industry always
consider the consumers' insights and local traditions," Masli
said. "Meanwhile, our advertisers are still unaware of the
importance of this kind of cultural communication." (003)