The Ad Business Is Eye Popping

Michael Hedges September 28, 2010 Follow on Twitter

Advertising people are used to taking knocks. Their ads are too loud or too long. Some are too rude, more than a few just dumb. Mostly media people complain that ad people aren’t spending enough.

Italians, of course, love their media. They love their TV, love their radio and, it seems, love their advertising. Figures recently released by Nielsen (September 14) show advertisers flocking to Italian media in the first half 2010. Ad spending during the first seven months was about €5 billion, a 4.9% increase over the same period in 2009.

Ad spending in Italy suffered a bleak 2009, “the worst year” said UPA(Utenti pubblicità associati) Lorenzo Sassoli de Bianchi, falling 13% over 2008.

Ad spending on television increased 7.7% to €2.8 billion, though Nielsen noted TV audiences through the seven month period increased only 1.9%. Radio and internet ad spending increased 13.3% and 17.8%, respectively. Ads for automobiles accounted for nearly a quarter of all ad spending on radio. Internet ad spending by media increased 60%. July ad spending increased 8.4%, like period year on year, much of it from the “World Cup effect”.

Only magazines and free newspapers saw a decline in ad spending. National newspapers got a 3.8% boost, outdoor 9.2% and direct mail 4.9%. Overall, Nielsen found just under 1% more advertisers spending on Italian media over the same period in 2009.

Most ad spending through the first part of this year, said Nielsen, came from the food sector, automobiles and telecoms. Being Italian advertising there are many mixed metaphors.

In Italian advertising sex is one of the great toys. A recent outdoor campaign for the French cosmetics company Sisley featured a very attractive young woman with many, many cucumbers and provoked complaints. This particular ad, provocative at the very least, was called “detrimental to the dignity of women” by Lazio Regional Council member Isabella Rauti, who referred her complaint to the Advertising Self-regulation Institute (Istituto Autodisciplina Pubblicitaria - IAP).

In mid-September the IAP decided a billboard campaign for a solar power company illustrated by a semi-nude model in a provocative pose was too much and had to go away. “Vulgar and sexist advertising,” Italian Minister of Equal Opportunity Mara Carfagna called the ad, which had an equally provocative headline. “The Ministry will always be at the forefront against advertising disrespectful of dignity.” Italian President Silvio Berlusconi appointed Ms Carfagna Minister of Equal Opportunity in 2008 after her career with television broadcaster Mediaset, owned by the Berlusconi family, and modeling in various stages of undress.

Not limited to looking at billboards, the IAP banned (September 24) a television ad for Miss Sixty – a jeans company - featuring Argentinean hottie model Belen Rodriguez semi-nude and, well, less. It’s a tough job reviewing all those Italian ads but somebody’s got to do it.

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