Advertising: And Now, a Word for Cheese

When it comes to advertising, France is an underdeveloped country. It spends about a third of what Britain or Germany do on ads and less than a twentieth as much as the U.S.’s $17 billion yearly. Always afraid of having something put over on him, the Frenchman tends to agree with the late poet Paul Valery: “Advertising is one of the great evils of our time. It insults our eyes, falsifies all description, spoils landscapes, corrupts all quality and all criticism.”

Charles de Gaulle does not agree. Intent on stimulating the French economy, he overrode bitter opposition, notably from the press, and recently ordered the admission of brand-name advertising to the state-controlled television for the first time. French TV has carried some preachy institutional advertising—”Eat Peas,” “Open Bank Accounts” and the like—but not brand ads. When their debut came two weeks ago, most of France’s 30 million TV viewers were tuned in.

Bargain Rates. The only commercials they saw were two minutes of spots sandwiched between a soap opera and the evening weather report. In one, a pajama-clad comedian leaped from bed and dashed after his passion: garlic-flavored Boursin cheese. In another, three puppies tumbled out of a sweater worn by a curvy brunette, ostensibly proving that her “Tricot Bel” pullover snapped right back .into shape. Other commercials touted the virtues of Virlux butter, Schneider TV sets and Regilait powdered milk.

For now, commercials are extremely restricted: they are bunched together in a nightly two-minute package of 15-and 30-second spots, shown in black-and-white on one of the country’s two channels. By U.S. standards, the rates are modest: $7,600 for 15 seconds and $14,000 for 30 seconds. In 1969, advertising time will be doubled to four minutes a day, producing $40 million for the government.

About 40 advertising agencies are likely to do business in the new medium, including U.S.-owned J. Walter Thompson, Young & Rubicam and BBDO. But the two top French advertisers, Publicis and Havas-Conseil, are well in front. Both have had much experience making advertising shorts that are shown in French movie theaters. “U.S. TV commercials are ahead of us by 20 years as far as techniques and methods are concerned,” says Eric Lipmann, a top Publicis adman. “From a creative, artistic point of view, though, we are equals. Besides, we can make our films far more cheaply.” Primarily because of lower wages, the cost of producing a minute of advertising film runs $5,000 to $10,000 v. at least $25,000 in the U.S.

Pour la Patrie. Though bargain rates should put TV within reach of many companies, the number that can exploit the new advertising opportunity is limited by stiff government restrictions. Half the plugs must boost sales of certain food products to help French farmers unload their surpluses. The rest are equally divided between textiles and electric appliances, whose makers have been hurt by foreign competition. For non-French products, the chances of appearing on French TV screens are small. Before letting a commercial go on the air, the government has to be satisfied that its message serves the interests of the French economy.