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)