Generally, in civilized countries, it is normal to see commercials that draw their attention to the issues facing society, including social, health, ecological and religious issues.
The classic example of those programs is the advertisements about social issues, which have an influence on a person’s sub-consciousness and senses. Those advertisements are non-profit and are aimed towards creating a cleaner and healthier environment, as well as exchanging moral values and ideas. The concept is the compressed version of a film-in the beginning, you get a picture of the issue and the plot. The consequences are hidden in the context and in the end, you find out one of the ways that the issue can be solved. The advertisement needs to include ideas, characters, solutions and meaning; in addition to that, the conclusion must be perceptive. These clips help discipline society, improve the system of values and help the person change his ways.
Recently, Armenian intellectuals and celebrities are speaking out about the degradation of Armenian society, how people are forgetting about values, but despite all that, they are not coming up with a solution to the problem. In order to talk about the abovementioned issues, it is necessary to put in a lot of potential to make the social advertisement. In Armenia, there are no social advertisements broadcasted on television besides the distasteful commercials about the “Zokanch” and “Nanar” wines, commercials that are shown only to gain profit. The reason for this is that no matter how much television networks feel that it is their responsibility to educate the next generation, they aren’t ready to produce commercials about society “free of charge”. However, at the same time, they are circumventing the so-called state policy, not to mention breaking the law. In order to make my point, allow me to make a reference to the first subtext of the 13th article of the “Law on Advertisements”.
“Anyone producing advertisements must provide no less than 5% of yearly airtime to non-profit commercials about the health of society, ecology and social protection.”
The people producing social advertisements claim that television networks don’t accept their offers to broadcast their commercials because that doesn’t benefit them financially. Meanwhile, as stated in the law, they are required to do that.
There is no institution for social advertisements
“168 Hours” tried to find out some information from director and head of the “Audiovisual Journalists’ Association” Arzuman Harutyunyan, who has produced more than 30 social advertisements from 2003-2005. The three commercials-“Volunteer”, “Trafficking” and “AIDS”-produced by the “Audiovisual Journalists’ Association” were chosen in the top ten of the 2005 international advertisement festival held in Kiev. The clip with the slogan “Your future is in your hands” was the OSCE’s third prize-winner, while the “Volunteer” series was nominated and won best director’s work during the “I Am” international advertisement festival.
“Social advertisements serve as a means of bringing social issues into the light. They solve two problems- help society talk about its problems, which then become clear for the authorities. In fact, the authorities can do the same to present their problems to society. In other words, this is the shortest route for solving problems. The social advertisement solves concrete issues, such as the issue of beggar children or unemployed people who need a helping hand. Trafficking must be stopped, a civil society must be constructed and there are solutions to all the issues.”
According to Arzuman Harutyunyan, if the social advertisement doesn’t suggest a solution, then it simply turns into a declaration. So, it has to suggest solutions and this works with the individual. The director says that Armenia is in a transition, many things are being re-evaluated and there are many institutions that are not formed. Society doesn’t have stable institutions, including the institutions of social advertisements.
“It’s not stable because we don’t see those commercials frequently; people don’t know the role they play. We haven’t filled the field so that people can understand that this or that issue will be brought into the light through the means of television. The social advertisement is not re-evaluated as a means of expression, but it is still important just like other programs and articles,” says A. Harutyunyan. He assures that other countries place high emphasis on social advertisements because they help people improve. It is worth mentioning that in Armenia, social advertisements are produced on the account of different funds and the grants received from abroad. This proves that Armenian society doesn’t realize the significance of those commercials and Armenian clients don’t appear in this field.
“Brother, television reflects social life”
According to A. Harutyunyan, the lack of social advertisements is also from the lack of financing because it costs a lot to produce one commercial.
“The government isn’t lending a helping hand, although there has been some action-the president has provided an anti-smoking commercial grant. But this is just one of the few cases and there is no serious policy.”
Harutyunyan says that international organizations are simply solving their issues through the means of broadcasting commercials in Armenia; issues such as civil society, corruption, fight against epidemics, etc. In order to stabilize the institution, the supervising parties must follow up on the amount of social advertisements given to television networks. However, television networks are interested in neither showing the advertisements nor producing them. They don’t even propagandize the social advertisements, so Armenia doesn’t have festivals where there can be a nomination. As a rule, there is high emphasis on those commercials during international festivals. It is worth mentioning that there are many spots for advertisement nominations in the Cannes festival.
“Last year, I was a member of the Kiev festival jury. I got all the commercials that I had to view and rate. I had received nearly 270 commercials; this means that the world pays special attention to social advertisements and rates them,” says Harutyunyan and points out the part of the “Law on Advertisements”, where it is stated that television networks are required to provide 5% of airtime to social advertisements.
“The people providing airtime should let those television networks know that television reflects social life. I was flipping through the channels on June 1 and asking myself-isn’t there one television network that will show our commercials in light of International Children’s Day? We had given our commercials on DVD to all networks, but I didn’t see it on any network,” says the director in disappointment and says that those commercials are only 1 minute long. The same thing happened during the discussions about the trafficking report prepared by the U.S. State Department. The press and/or television programs talking about the report didn’t show any social advertisements, which I must say are impressive and would please the TV viewer. Those commercials could have at least been broadcasted to show the international community that Armenia is actually doing something about trafficking.
“The commercial also provides more material. Currently, there are three television networks preparing programs about commercials. None of them asks where the social advertisement producer is and how come he isn’t researching the field. They have to lend a helping hand too so that there can be some stimulus and strengthen social advertisement production,” says A. Harutyunyan.
What kind of advertisments will functionaries request?
The parliamentary elections are coming up and this means that MP candidates will start asking for advertisements to make their reputation go up. In response to the question as to whether or not MPs will ask for social advertisements, A. Harutyunyan says:
“Political parties will not benefit much from presenting the work they have done to the people, saying “Vote for me”, rather, they will benefit by presenting the issues, coming up with solutions and appear in the public eye by, let’s say, stating the name of this or that party. In that case, more people will cast their votes for that party, rather than the people focusing on self-advertisement. If the party representative is calling on people to be moral, then his reputation goes up; besides that, he feels obligated to be moral and keep his word.”