On Media, Society and Mauritius
Here are the slides that I used today for the Round Table on Gender Equality (Egalite Zom-Fam) which was organised by the Ministy of Gender at the Paul Octave Wiehe Auditorium:
RoundTable-Gender-Media-7March2015-chan-meetoo
Also a gallery of images which I showed during the session:
The ‘Live Chat’ show on ‘Advertising’ turned out to be a quite light programme. As the name indicates, we chat live on air 😉
The starting point for the discussion was in fact the decision of the govt to ban all adverts on billboards for alcoholic drinks as from 7th July.
As I explained to host Sadhna Teeluckdharry there are no studies that prove there’s a direct and strong impact of ads for alcohol upon people’s behaviour (in terms of buying and consumption) just like for any other type of product or service for that matter. Of course, we must acknowledge that ads have some form of influence on people (otherwise firms wouldn’t spend so much money on ad campaigns) but their influence cannot be isolated. There are a host of many other factors that are intermingling to produce the kind of society we have. We can’t put all of the blame on ads.
Will this ban on ads for alcohol help reduce drastically the consumption of alcohol? Not so sure… The approach should be more holistic (e.g. provide information and educate youngsters, provide people with the necessary cultural, social and educational framework, ensure the provision of healthy activities for all…)
La question est: ki alternative pe propose banne zom ki all boire dan bar pou passe passe zot le temps ek gagne ene kick?
Sex again…
We also talked about shocking ads, for instance using sexual allusions and the female body in ads. This seemed to preoccupy many of the callers who were quite confused about the ideas they wanted to express… Personally, I do not see that many shocking ads on the local scene in terms of the sexual overtones but I do see some ugly ads though as well as some vulgar media creations here and there. This can most probably be explained by advertisers’ lack of ‘finesse’ and money to invest in good intelligent creation.
All ads and all agencies cannot be put in the same bag. Some creations are quite interesting and do win awards on the regional scene, which is a sign of some progress in the mauritian adscape!
For those who might be interested, I will be on the MBC Radio’s “Live Chat” programme tonight from 5.15 to 6 p.m. The theme of the show is ‘La publicité: pour ou contre”. Sadhna Teeluckdharry is hosting the show which is meant to be interactive with questions from listeners over the phone or via chat.