Postcards from the end of the world: TV trouble

Stock PhotoDown in the Southern Hemisphere we’re finally heading into summer. The sun has been out and we’ve put our clocks forward so now we’ll have more time to play outside and spend less time sitting in front of the TV. To me, this can only be a good thing, but, not for the reasons you may think.

Most businesses here in New Zealand are small as even the bigger chains are franchises which means that my big local supermarket is really owned by one person rather than a Corporation. This is great for those overcome with the spirit of entrepreneurship, but, it has its downside for the rest of us.

As I work in Marketing I find one of the worst parts of this spirit of entrepreneurship is the advertising. It seems that everyone wants to be in their own adverts whether they’re on TV or radio. We get adverts for home improvement stores where the store owner is walking through a house talking to the camera. We have Clive telling us to go to his brand new Appliance showroom that has "plenty of parking" even though the store been open for three or four years. The cast of characters is endless, there’s Linda the jeweler, then we have Bob the owner of the leather couch store, and whatever-his-name-is from the rug shop.

It would seem like their sole purpose in having a business is to get themselves on TV. As a somewhat expert, I plead, stop. It was amusing at first but it's slowly lost its luster. We all know they're excited to tell their friends that they're in a new advert when it comes on TV, but please, just employ some actors and get yourself off camera.

Maybe I'm going stir crazy and have a dose of island fever, who knows. I think I might see if I can construct a home-made satellite dish on my building roof, which even if it doesn't work, at least it'll get me outside for a while.