Adverts around the World

 

We recently had a chance to get American television for a few days while our Swisscom box was being replaced. Our landlord loaned us his box with over a thousand international channels from countries we'd barely heard of. 

We had a chance to see what CNN stateside said vs. CNN International.

The ads were very different. 

"Americans are really sick," my husband commented after yet another ad for some disease we never heard of appeared.

CNN International repeats its ads so often I can mouth the voice over for the dialog. 

When I visited my daughter in Boston and we watched TV, I thought that the programs interrupted the publicity

Saying that, when watching British stations such as ITV, I see a plethora (love that word and don't often get a chance to use it) of adverts (as the Brits call them) for charities for diseases often supported by lotteries and suffering animals. Requests for donations of £2 or £3 a month follow. Ads for river cruises are equally popular. I like the one with penguins.

When watching an American series on Netflix, we can tell the breaks for an advert from a few seconds of a black screen.

As a writer/journalist/professional communicator, I know advertising is what supports programs. I also know pub, as the French call it, gives me a chance to go to the bathroom or do some chore. 

The French tend to group their pub making them longer but less frequent. I can use the time to do the laundry, make the bed, go to the bathroom and read a chapter or two.

Every now and then I see an ad, advert, pub for a product that might interest me. Now and then? Maybe one or two a year. Since I try not to buy things, ads, adverts, pub are more or less wasted on me. And hopefully, I will never have one of those diseases mentioned in the U.S. ads that say at the end "see your doctor."