Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, October 23, 1994 TAG: 9411010011
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: F1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JANE M. VON BERGEN AND STEPHEN SEPLOW KNIGHT RIDDER/TRIBUNE
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Ford Motor Co. has discouraged local agencies from expanding their advertising to include the Bronco, which has never gotten much television promotion. But now, there are too many uncomfortable connections to that long, engrossing evening when national television audiences watched a Bronco being chased on Southern California freeways.
Court TV has rejected advertising during the trial for Florida orange juice. ``Inappropriate,'' said spokeswoman Lynn Rosenstrach.
And Madison Avenue is hoping Judge Lance Ito will pull the plug on live coverage. Airing the trial is certain to disrupt advertising plans for what was shaping up as a bumper holiday season for retailers.
The O.J. Simpson case might really live up to its billing as the most sensational murder trial of the century, but, for advertisers, advertising agencies and television executives, it is presenting some very unusual and awkward problems.
Here is a television drama certain to draw large ratings - exactly what any sponsor normally craves.
But not this time, thank you.
Many companies are simply afraid of the environment, afraid to link their products in any way with the brutal double murder of which Simpson is accused.
``A lot of sponsors worry about when a commercial will be shown,'' said Tom DeCabia, vice president of Paul Schulman Co., which buys time slots for advertisers. ``They don't want to be taking a side. And if your commercial runs during a gory part of the trial, that's bad for a lot of clients.''
Added an understating Hertz spokesman: ``I don't think the association would play well.''
Other advertisers, while not rushing to buy O.J. Simpson trial time, have said they are willing to appear during testimony breaks.
Jon Mandel, senior vice president of Grey Advertising Inc. in New York, said his agency handles three toothpaste clients. Two are willing to advertise during the Simpson trial, one isn't. ``You want to tell me why?''
Procter & Gamble Co., whose advertising on daytime dramas helped give birth to the term ``soap opera,'' has decided it wants nothing to do with this trial.
Anytime the Simpson trial pre-empts regular network programming - primarily the soaps - Procter & Gamble has ordered the networks to pull all its scheduled advertising.
Spokesman Greg Rossiter said P&G's advertising strategy is carefully planned, and ``unless the programming is very similar, it wouldn't make sense to put our advertising dollars there.''
This could be a serious blow to revenues of all three networks. Procter & Gamble is the single largest television advertiser in the country, spending $1.1 billion on the medium. Its total advertising budget, also the country's largest, is $2.4 billion, according to Advertising Age, a trade publication.
``I think Procter & Gamble's concern is environment,'' said Gene Lothery, vice president and general manager of WCAU-TV in Philadelphia. ``If you interrupt `The Young and the Restless,' they don't want to be in that environment. Interesting. Because if you watch soaps, it's daytime sex. So I don't understand their concern about environment.''
Of course, anytime the networks decide to pre-empt regular programming for the Simpson trial, they will lose a lot of advertising time and money. Some commercials may appear during the trial, but certainly not as many as usual.
That is one reason the networks are not planning gavel-to-gavel coverage. The three major networks expect to present live coverage only of opening and closing arguments and key testimony.
Only three cable stations plan complete coverage: Court-TV, CNN and ESPN2.
As for the advertising community, the trial looms as a nightmare of lost revenues and missed opportunities. Executives all along Madison Avenue are rooting for Ito to reject live coverage following a hearing on the issue Nov. 7.
``I think the judge would be doing everybody a favor in our business if he said, `No television cameras,''' said William Melnick, senior vice president at Earle Palmer Brown & Shapiro, a Philadelphia ad agency.
The problem the case poses for the advertising world can be reduced to two words: time and taste.
For the first time in a long time, advertising time is at a premium. The economy is up and Christmas is coming.
``This is the craziest fourth quarter I've seen in 20 years,'' Melnick said.
To advertisers, the combined wallop of the baseball strike and hockey lockout means a frantic scramble for other shows to make their pitches, especially to young men.
Said Melnick: ``I've never seen the political money that is coming out of the woodwork. At the same time, you have all the sports problems in the marketplace. You have a lot of new car launches.''
While the elections will be over before the trial begins, federal law requires broadcast stations to run every political ad, even if it means pushing a commercial advertiser to a later date.
And advertisers bumped by earlier Simpson coverage also are entitled to make up for the lost time during this calendar quarter, further tightening the market and jacking up the price.
``Time is all sold out,'' said Mandel. ``You can't even replace your time if you lose it.''
And then there's the issue of taste.
''The overriding question is do you want to be associated with this [the trial]? I'd like to have the eyeballs,'' said Michael Colleran, general sales manager for KYW-TV, employing television lingo for viewers. ``But I don't know if I want the eyeballs to associate me with something so horrifying.''
by CNB