Friday, February 02, 2007

The Consumption Shot

I watched an ad for 7-11 the other day and the whole time I was fixated on how the characters were drinking beer throughout the commercial.

For one thing, Hong Kong has it figured out in the sense that you can buy cold beer for about 80 cents Canadian at any convenience store, but what really blew my mind was the fact that they were drinking the beer.

In Canada, and I think the States as well, it is illegal to show a consumption shot in alcohol ads. If my memory serves me right, I think it is even forbidden to show someone with an open bottle.

In other briefs I have worked on for soft drink manufacturers, the consumption shot is always mandatory. And it makes sense. If something has proven effective enough to get it banned, then it must make a difference.

The same goes for cigarette advertising. It would be interesting to know how dramatically their sales were affected when they were forced to pull all of their TV advertising in the 80s.

Most recently, China has banned the use of pigs in any TV ads during this coming Year of the Pig, as to not offend any Muslims.