LEADER: The long and short of clutter in China

<p>Anyone who has watched local television in China will appreciate </p><p>the dilemma that marketers who advertise on mainland TV face. In a </p><p>nation where television penetration is almost complete, TV arguably </p><p>offers the best way to reach the mass market. But clutter, a fact of </p><p>life in most markets today, takes on a whole new dimension on the </p><p>mainland. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Imagine commercial breaks that can sometimes last as long as 20 </p><p>minutes. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>That's not all. A media agency doing a check of what the situation is </p><p>like between 7.30pm and 8.30pm one recent weekday found that viewers </p><p>were inundated with a staggering 368 spots in that hour alone. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>To a large extent, the situation is the result of structural </p><p>deficiences. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>China doesn't permit advertising breaks during programmes, hence the mad </p><p>dash to air spots before and after shows. Which may explain why Chinese </p><p>consumers are showing signs of advertising fatigue this early on. Don't </p><p>expect the situation to improve anytime soon. It was consumer complaints </p><p>- particularly during 1998's nationwide broadcast of the highly popular </p><p>Princess Huan Zhu drama, when commercial breaks were longer than the </p><p>show itself in some cities - that prompted the ban in the first </p><p>place. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Sadly, the ban was introduced without a real understanding of how </p><p>advertising works in a capitalist economy. In such a scenario, there is </p><p>the likelihood that the situation could actually worsen if consumers </p><p>kick up another fuss over unduly long commercial breaks between </p><p>programmes. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Crucially for marketers, the question is what should they be doing in </p><p>the current cluttered environment. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Should they be using the short, fleeting spots favoured by local </p><p>companies or stick with the foreign corporation's preference for longer </p><p>spots of 30 seconds or more? Shorter spots are of course cheaper, but </p><p>what chance has a brand of making an impact amid the 20-minute onslaught </p><p>of ads? It's a dilemma that advertisers and agencies will need to </p><p>quickly resolve. </p><p><BR><BR> </p>