Government Hardsell
- Those in the advertising trade estimate the government spent Rs 6,000 crore last year on advertising
- It has already spent Rs 50 crore on TV ads, Rs 10 crore on print ads in the last two months, and has set aside another Rs 150 crore till the election code kicks in
- Among the big spenders are the HRD ministry which has spent close to Rs 45 crore; the civil aviation ministry has set aside Rs 40 crore while the rural development ministry has already spent Rs 25 crore and has booked ads on credit
- A corporate company's annual ad budget ranges from Rs 100-200 crore.
In a note to his cabinet colleagues on June 5, 2008, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had conveyed to them that it was their "moral duty to cut out wasteful expenditure". However, 10 days ago, an informal communication from the steering committee overseeing government publicity--comprising the media advisor to the PM; a joint secretary in the PMO; secretary, information and broadcasting; head of the Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity (DAVP); and a finance ministry official--asked all ministries to publicise their achievements individually. The result: a veritable deluge of advertisments in leading dailies. The cost? The centralised publicity agency--the DAVP--pays Rs 5 lakh for a page and Rs 2,70,000 for a half-page in mainstream newspapers. Not just that, ad rates which were hiked by 20 per cent are going to be pushed up by another 10 per cent. Those in the business estimate that Rs 6,000 crore has been spent on advertising in the last one year.
At a time when corporate advertising has become thin due to the economic downturn, the government's ad spree is only welcome. Till the government let loose its ad blitz, hoardings at Marine Drive in Mumbai (which command a premium rate of Rs 7 lakh a month) were going abegging with 'To Let' signs. Not any more. The government's achievements--from the Delhi Metro to the moon mission--are splashed all across.
The media certainly isn't complaining; it is also being deemed as positive psychology for the aam admi, with not a single day in the last two months going by without an advertisement screaming progress. So, be it foundation stone-laying ceremonies, universal education, announcements of new airport terminal buildings, it's all there in bold type, with even the ministry of food processing bombarding readers about its onward march. The underlying message to all this is of course: Want the pace of progress to sustain, vote for the government.
Source: Outlook In Self-Praise
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