Tuning In The Global Village : Commercial Breaks : Glasnost for Advertisers

TV advertising is just beginning to catch on in Russia. And no wonder. Ads exist to create a demand. There’s always been a demand in Russia; it’s the supply that’s been lacking.

Now that imported brand-name goods are making their way into kiosks and newly privatized stores and Russian firms are spreading their wings, advertising is again an option.

But most struggling entrepreneurs find the cost of television advertising prohibitive. One minute on a popular prime-time show costs about 500,000 rubles--less than $2,500, but a lot for start-up Russian firms.

Quebec Clamps Down

The province of Quebec forbids any television advertising aimed at children under 13.

The law against such ads has been challenged by toy manufacturers and upheld by the Canadian Supreme Court. It is resoundingly popular with Quebec parents.

“That kind of freedom we don’t want,” said Pierre Valois, chief lawyer for Quebec’s Office of Consumer Protection. “A child in front of a merchant with millions of (advertising) dollars--that’s like a chicken in front of a fox. It’s not just. It’s not fair. It’s not acceptable.”

Spanish Liberation A humorous, prize-winning ad by a Barcelona agency is a testament to how much Spanish society has changed since the days of Franco and Roman Catholic Church censorship. The spot, for Talens rubber cement, features a convent’s mother superior gluing a stone penis back onto the stone cherub from which it had broken--upside down. After she leaves, another nun reattaches it correctly. SOURCE: Timese Staff Writers and Special Correspondents