Hello World!
Here I am, straight from Italy (straight from the boat, I should say!) trying to live the American Dream! I have a passion for advertising, fashion, and rock climbing. But these are just three of my many interests, and, as you can tell, they are very eclectic! Don’t worry, though, I’m not going to bore you with a long list — I want your attention, not to make you fall asleep! If you care to know what the other interests are, just ask.
Right now I’m getting my MBA at Boston University while working full time.. man, it’s tough! But it’s so worth it.
My goal for this blog is to share my opinions on the advertising world (from an outsider perspective) to try starting a discussion and, hopefully, learn from insiders!
Lastly, you might be wondering why I put the “Welcome to Las Vegas” picture as my header. Well, Las Vegas is the land of “big, loud, and romanced” (not a quote, just my words!). I love advertising, but I leave you with this question: “Isn’t advertising a bit like Vegas?”
Ciao,
Novi
The Advertising Diary 
Nice blog post. Could you comment on the differences in Italian and American advertising?
Hi David,
Thank you for your very interesting question. I warn you, though, you might get quite a long answer, so try to stay awake!
I’ve been living in the US for almost 7 years now, and when I get to go home, there’s never enough time to just sit down and watch TV. So I can tell you what the main differences in Italian and American advertising were as of 7 years ago — but keep in mind that things might have changed.
First of all, in Italy we ONLY have 6 main TV channels (we are not as advanced as the US is, but cable might be mandatory now.) 3 channels are public (owned by RAI), and you have to pay an annual fee to get them, and 3 are private (owned by Mediaset), and they are free. It’s pretty intuitive that Mediaset gets its revenue by selling ads only. This means that there are more ads during a regular TV show on Mediaset than during the Superbowl! Ok, maybe I’m exaggerating a bit, but you get the picture. There are so many commercials on all day long that it becomes overwhelming — they all turn into background noise. It’s pretty sad for someone like me who loves watching a good/bad ad and praise/trash it! And RAI isn’t any better: even though it’s free, the time dedicated to advertising is still pretty high.
Moreover, we have a lot of product placements in variety shows. The good thing about Italy is that the law says that consumer must be aware that it’s advertising, so there’s a little logo on the screen that says “paid ad”. But, at the same time, the actors in these ads are usually so bad that it would be better for the companies to just avoid them.. most of them are purely ridiculous! Keep in mind that this is just my opinion, but I think I’m right on this one.
This said, one main difference back in 2005 was that in Italy comparative ads were prohibited by law. This law was changed a few yeas ago, but I haven’t had the chance to see such type of ads over there yet, and I’m quite happy about it! The first thing I noticed when I moved to the US was that companies could just denigrate each other as a way to promote themselves. But is this real advertising? Isn’t advertising the art of being creative? Merely say: “my products is better than yours cause yours stinks” is all but creative: it’s just a lazy and sleazy way to sell! In my opinion, if the claim is true, I guess it’s ok to flaunt such a competitive advantage – as long as it’s done tastefully and creatively -, but how can you instill trust in your customers if what you say is not true? I’m thinking about the AT&T Vs Verizon case. It was funny to me to see how desperately AT&T was trying to convince people that they had better coverage.. don’t they know that we can test these claims?! And weren’t they aware of all the people complaining about the percentage of dropped calls? If you don’t have strong evidence for your statement, please avoid comparative ads, or you’re going down!
Sorry, I got a bit off track!
Another main difference, and this is still true, is the use (or abuse) of the female naked body. In Italy they use nudity to promote anything: from body wash (acceptable, I guess) to dog food (not acceptable!) Again, the dog food example is probably not true (yet), but you get the point. I actually find this fact very interesting: Italy is still a highly conservative country, but nudity is accepted by society, while in such a liberal country as the US, nudity on TV is still so controversial (Janet Jackson’s stunt at the Superbowl says it all!) Fascinating! But to go back to my main point, the use of the woman body to allure viewers has affected the ads creativity level. When I was in college and took advertising classes, all the examples of the most remarkable Italian campaigns came from the 80s and 90s. After that period, for as far as I can remember, creativity has considerably declined (but things might have changed lately) while here in the US there are quite a few brands that come up with witty and hysterically funny commercials (except for the automobile industry. I wanna cry every time I see the same ads over and over, year after year, for all the different brands! What’s up with that? Someone has to explain to me why they cannot be more creative, please!)
In Italy we can also advertise products that here in the US are prohibited. The best example is cigarettes. And endorsement, at least back in 2005, wasn’t as popular as it is in the US, where, if you ask me, it’s almost as abused as nudity is in Italy.
I hope this helps answering your question. I’m sure I could find other differences, but I might have already lost you a few paragraphs ago, so I’ll stop here.
Do you have any comments on what I wrote?
Thanks again for your question and keep on following me!
Ciao
Novi