COMMENT: Agencies must help clients understand impact on consumer

A bright, sunny autumn morning at 8.40am. The plane turns towards the city, glinting through the early morning haze. Now at only 5,000 feet, and falling fast, we are 30 seconds flying time away from the tallest tower in North America. But this is October, not September, and Chicago, not New York. An everyday moment on a business trip assumes enormous significance for me, after the images of the last few weeks. The impact of September's events has caused those who make a living by communicating with the public to review what it is they are saying. It's easy to see why a Jackie Chan movie due to be set on the top of the World Trade Centre would have to be re-written. But even everyday events, and subtle messages, can affect us in unintended ways now. As a result, a number of advertisers have switched messages to avoid causing distress. TV ads that proclaimed "Finally" when announcing a relaunched detergent are seen to be missing the mood. Brands that tell people how to feel seem insignificant against the devastation. Even "Just do it" could be take on new meaning. The same is true of media buying. Some of the best spots to buy were during the news shows. That, too, has changed. Juxtaposing everyday household items with graphic imagery is not good for business. The capacity for TV networks to dwell on those deeply shocking moments will affect the US audience for years to come. Commercial gain is temporarily seen as unedifying. But how has it affected those not in America? Certainly the TV images penetrated Asia with the same ferocity. In most of Asia, the news broke mid-evening - perhaps sparing us from some of the trauma that comes with watching the same scenes, over and over all day. And then there's also the concept of national grief and how it might be affected by a Confucian view of the world. Certainly it didn't take long for some commentators to observe that the immediate, personal and financial effects were being talked about more in Hong Kong. Yet, as with most generalisations about the region, the image of an unmoved Asia is not correct. Each country and each culture will react in their own ways. In Hong Kong, a cable TV company was censured for using the image of the Twin Towers on fire only days after the event. Cathay Pacific has cancelled the forthcoming ATP Tennis event, seeing it as 'inappropriate'. But the downturn in air travel of the last three weeks was ended abruptly with the usual Mid-Autumn festival crush at the region's airports. With our insatiable curiosity about the human condition, advertising people have a responsibility as well as an opportunity. Being responsible, we owe it to our clients to get to grips with how this global event has impacted upon, and moulded, local consumers. The opportunity is to fashion communications that are more in tune than ever with how people see their lives in the weeks and months after September 11.

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