BBC's breathtaking bias against advertising

The Wethey Forecast seldom gets written on a Sunday. I’m normally tucked away from controversy on the golf course. But yesterday I listened to Radio 5 Live instead (for the sports coverage, which is excellent), and caught a remarkable example of the BBC’s mission to discredit advertising.

The programme, called ‘Classroom Commercials’ and presented by Rachel Burden, was broadcast at 11.30. It had been trailed all morning as a news item: ….’The Government has been looking at a major enquiry into the possible harmful effects of advertising on children’. To call the 25 minute feature a mish-mash would be generous.

It started with a reference to the junk food debate and a link to the “Put the fizz into science” promotion by Mentos. In return for repeating the Mentos and cola experiment, schools can receive £2000 of teaching equipment for chemistry lessons. Adidas contribute to physics teaching by allowing teachers to demonstrate the properties of the Predator football boot. Among the other ‘villains’ are apparently BAE and the nuclear industry, who supply teaching materials to schools. Almost unimaginable evil apparently flows from Disney helping with dance teaching in association with High School Musical, and Revlon who offered money off vouchers for a new fragrance. There were no commercials in the classroom (despite the title), but at 11.52 the programme was – hysterically – interrupted by a commercial promoting DAB radio receivers! Also the producers appeared to have forgotten that the Government itself uses advertising to talk to school age children. Kids are also allowed to listen to 5 Live and other radio stations, which don’t hesitate to mix editorial with news content – like the trail for this programme. It is hard to imagine a feature which was more contrived, more biased, more trivial, or more potty. If Peta Buscombe or Hamish Pringle are interested, I actually taped it, to make it easier to prepare a riposte to this rubbish. Meanwhile an army of thought police are presumably covering up brand names in schools all over Britain, lest the corruption children suffer in the classroom could in any way influence the way they react to the commercial world they encounter the rest of the time.

Be angry. At the very least be concerned

Hundreds of thousands of commuters will have read in this morning’s Metro that Sir Terry Leahy has been branded the godfather of binge-drinking. Who said this? A hitherto unknown Labour MP called John Grogan, the leader of a Select Committee studying the health consequences of drinking alcohol. He sits for Selby in Yorkshire, but probably not for long as his majority is only 467. Health Minister Ben Bradshaw (remember him from his days saving us from Foot and Mouth, BSE and Bird Flu at DEFRA?) backed Mr Grogan by revealing that he and other ministers are planning to change the law to ban price discounting on alcohol. Let’s suspend the anger for a second to ask why it’s Tesco’s fault that some people drink too much. Has the Select Committee done an econometric analysis to measure price elasticity of demand among head bangers? Have they established that inebriated people outside pubs and clubs buy the stuff at Tesco and then pay corkage to take it inside? Claire Beale’s editorial in yesterday’s Campaign says that the ad industry has to grab the initiative next year. She says that consumers won’t put up with having their intelligence insulted by lobbyists or ministers. She is completely right. But where’s the evidence that planners are using their understanding of the consumer to inform the fight back? Are our best PR and digital conversation experts engaged in the debate? Are the most talented creatives sharpening their pencils? Are the most articulate agency bosses honing their soundbite skills for the benefit of Action for Ads (A4A)? I see no evidence whatever. Be concerned. And if you have to get angry to get involved, for God’s sake get angry - and encourage your friends to get mad too.

How to increase profits by 13%

The Wethey Forecast doesn’t normally give away free business ideas, but ‘tis the season to be generous. Here’s an infallible way for agency chiefs to start the year with a built in hike in profit.When you re-open for business on 2^nd January, start the working day at 8.30. Allow an hour for lunch (quite generous nowadays) and let them go at 6.00. At a stroke the official working day becomes eight and a half hours instead of seven and a half. That’s a 13.3% increase, and you can sell all that extra time at the normal multiplier of 2.4 or whatever. So profit can rise at the same rate as revenue. It’s crazy that agencies don’t get properly going till 9.30 or even 10. Equally crazy that middle and junior level staff are bullied into staying well into the evening, largely because of the aforementioned late start, and because most agencies aren’t efficiently managed. At the dawn of time (well…the late sixties) there was an agency called KMP (later KMPH) where all the staff had to clock in and out. A few years later I worked in Kuala Lumpur for three years, where we started at 8.00 and worked Saturday mornings. Simple ideas are the best. Your guys and gals might actually enjoy the better travelling conditions, and when they get in, they’ll be able to chat to their continental cousins, who will already be well into their morning. And just think how pleased the clients will be.