I. Answer the following questions.

1. Do you know some other methods similar to BADvertising or poster campaign which try to open people’s eyes on smoking?

2. Who are tobacco ads targeting? What is their message and what methods do they use to communicate that message?

3. We are the third country in the world in tobacco production and usage after China and the USA. What actions are undertaken nowadays by our authorities to reduce the usage of alcohol and tobacco?

4. What's the difference between assisted suicide and tobacco advertising?

5. Why does the government subsidize the tobacco industry with one hand and support tobacco control programs with the other?

6. Do you agree that certain products like cigarettes and alcohol should not be advertised? Are you for or against the Law Act which bans beer ads from radio and television at daytime?

7. Do you agree that people, cartoon characters and animals should be taken away from such kind of ads?

8. Do you know any other cartoon characters except Joe Camel, Budweiser Frogs and Ronald McDonald which are used as brands in advertising? Name the products they advertise.

 

II. Lead a discussion.

Be ready to discuss the topics given below and defend your opinion on them. Be sure to provide facts that will help you to formulate and defend your position. Choose the person who was most persuasive.

1. Is it ethical to place advertisements for cigarettes and alcohol in publications that young people may read?

2. Do companies that promote products that are potentially dangerous bear responsibility for the results of their use? For example, since alcohol is a factor in all leading causes of death for people ages 15 to 24, should alcohol companies be held accountable for those deaths? Similarly, despite the health risks associated with smoking, 90 percent of new smokers are children and teenagers. Should tobacco companies be held accountable for smoke-related illnesses?

3. Are there any advertising campaigns running that you believe go “too far”? What are they? Define what your mean by “too far” (violent, sexually detailed, understated health risks, etc.). If an ad does go “too far”, list multiple suggestions to place limitations on such advertising. List these suggestions from least extreme (do nothing, ignore the ads) to most extreme (governmental censorship, banning the ads).

4. In a country based on the precept of freedom of speech, should the government have any involvement in how or whether a product is advertised? Look at laws or court decisions defining the role of government.

 

 

a Follow-up activities

1. Let’s BADvertise.

Take several magazines and tear out all of the tobacco and alcohol ads. While you're looking for tobacco and alcohol ads, look for pictures that give a more honest impression about what really happens when you use tobacco and alcohol. Tear them out, too. Put these “honest” pictures in a separate pile. Don't forget to look in the medical journals.

Pic. 6.9. B&H. I like your smile

Make up a collage by matching the tobacco or alcohol ads and the honest images that you want to work with. Check out the messages, the colors, and the sizes of the images (pic. 6.9).

Invent an interesting funny slogan for your anti-ad.

 

Write an essay “Targeting of youth by tobacco and alcohol companies”.

The purpose of the essay is to inform individuals about specific advertising techniques used by companies to sell their products. Include useful Web sites for more information. Be sure to address which techniques are at use (i.e., bandwagon, sex appeal, emotional words, transfer, visual imagery, etc.).

 

 

CHAPTER VII. MISCELLANEOUS

 

a Pre-Reading Discussion

Have you ever visited “The Night of the Adeaters”? When was it? Tell about your impressions.

What kinds of ads are shown during the Night?

Who is the owner of the Cinematheque?

How long does one Night of the Adeaters usually last?

What do you know from the history of this Night? (When was the collection created? What country welcomed the first Night of the Adeaters?)

How many countries have already joined the tour of the Night of the Adeaters? What are the names of these countries?

THE NIGHT OF THE ADEATERS

SIMPLY, THE NIGHT BECOMES ADVERTISING, ADVERTISING BECOMES A SHOW...

 

Created in 1981 by Jean-Marie Boursicot, “The Night of the Adeaters®” is a real worldwide institution.

“The Night of the Adeaters®” is a cocktail festival of the finest, the most surprising, funniest, most artistic, most creative and most unexpected TV commercials from around the world, during a 7 hour show of non-stop action in an uncomparable atmosphere! It shows 500 advertising films per night.

The Night of the Adeaters is fun full of surprises for new audiences who participate in a party-like atmosphere.

From its birthplace in France, The Night of the Adeaters is already an established and anticipated annual event in 160 cities across 47 countries such as France, Russia, Japan, China, Mexico,... Iraq (!), Mongolia, to name a few... With advertising there is no need for subtitles. The message is short and compact enough to be understood by all, crossing boundaries of language and culture.

Jean-Marie Boursicot’s film library, the Cinematheque, is the only structure in the world to have undertaken the task of preserving advertising films (pic. 7.1). Today it contains some 700.000 spots on film or video. These works represent the production of 65 countries and cover a period from 1898 to the present day. The oldest film in the Cinematheque dates from 1898 and concerns a promotional document for SUNLIGHT soap.

Pic. 7.1. The Night of the Adeaters

The number of contributions to the Cinematheque never stops growing. The Cinematheque is nourished chiefly by advertising agencies, by production houses and by advertisers themselves. Jean Marie Boursicot receives on average 25.000 new advertisements every year from which around 500 films are selected for each new edition of The Night of the Adeaters. A great number of television channels use the resources of the Cinematheque for retrospective programs, as do companies to form past histories of their promotional campaigns. The Night of the Adeaters pays charity money to two humanitarian organizations: Amnesty International and Greenpeace.

The Cinematheque receives no subsidy, however the costs of preservation and restoration of films are high. It was to cover them that Jean Marie Boursicot created The Night of the Adeaters in 1981.

It all started at age 10! As a child fascinated by the cinema, Jean Marie Boursicot haunted the dimly lit halls, sitting in the front rows, where the ticket in Marseille cost 3 francs. After having discovered his first treasure, a big poster praising the merits of GERVAIS cream cheese, he decided to become the ALI-BABA of advertising. The operator of the “Ciné Madeleine”, a local cinema, who found this kid nice, gave him films of candies (KREMA sweets, MIKO ices...). The embryo of a collection was born. He rifled the waste cans. Not just any ones. Those of film distributors of the boulevard Longchamps who discarded trailers and advertising films. By accumulating his “treasures” he mixed his passion for posters and advertising with that for the cinema, without imagining, at that time, turning his passion into a business.

After his study years, he appeared in Publicis in 1978. There he discovered that no one keeps advertising films! Neither advertisers, nor agencies nor the producers! They all just discard them! Jean Marie Boursicot decided to create his Cinematheque.

In 1981, this cinema fanatic opened up the gates of the temple and created the first Night called “Friandises” (“Candies”) with two purposes: to have his passion shared and to collect the funds needed for the maintenance, restoration of old films and the payment of trips which allow him to criss-cross the globe in search of the rare pearl. Friandises, took place at the Kinopanorama. Five reels were presented made up of advertising films and trailers, dating from 1935 to 1981. Breakfast was included in the show. This first adventure became a success, The Night of the Adeaters was born.

The menu of the festival is made up of 500 films, 480 of which previously unscreened, is always attractive and surprising,international,exotic (Egyptian, Indonesian panorama), historical (from 1898 to the present day), it reflects the energy and the trends of world-wide advertising (French advertising never represents more than 20% of the cocktail). No censorship is involved: alcohol, tobacco and sex are present. Top actors are involved as well as Top level athletes. The great topics are displayed: Nature protection, Aids, Humanitarian Aid, Euthanasia... The major sponsors of the French tour were Couleurs de Benetton, Perrier and Miko.

The little cinema-loving boy is now the guardian of the temple. His cinémathèque has become the living museum of this special sector of the cinema. Jean Marie Boursicot is a happy collector!

 

a Post-Reading Tasks