Cricket eats into ad time

A troubling new study has found that instances of live cricket telecasts interrupting and cutting short advertisements on television are on the rise. According to the report, viewers in India especially are having their growth as passive consumers compromised as more and more advertisements continue to be thwarted by the sudden and gratuitous resumption of play, often during breaks between overs.

In what the report describes as a form of exploitation and greed not seen since the days of the gold rush, increasing numbers of products being promoted by hideously catchy jingles that forcibly enter and then fester in your head are being forced to take a back seat to the market-driven demands of cricket broadcasting.

"People just want to come back home from a hard day's work, be able to kick their feet up and watch the latest male-fairness-cream ad being promoted by Shah Rukh Khan," said a spokesman for the Advertising Rights Commission, which conducted the report and describes itself as a body set up to investigate, promote and protect the rights of exploited advertisers.

"So when the images suddenly cut from SRK's beautiful, bleached-out face (before one even gets to see the digitally manipulated before-and-after shots) to live footage of some match or the other going down to the wire, you can well imagine the frustration," he added.

The Rights Commission further stated that it will take up the matter with the newly appointed Broadcast Content Complaints Council (BCCC), which has for long been inundated with complaints about unscrupulous cricket broadcasters cutting every available corner to squeeze in as much live coverage as possible between advertisements.

"Just how much cricket do we need to watch, anyway?" concurred the creative director of a well-known ad agency. "How many times can one endure the same thing over and over again? There's always one team beating another. If not that, then it's a draw.

"At least SRK, to use just one example, is providing a valuable service to society. I mean, to think that there are still some kids out there who haven't seen our ads yet and who don't even know that their skin is too dark, or that it is something that can and should be remedied… and people want to talk cricket?

"Yes, we all know that without the cricket, we wouldn't be able to advertise," he added in a more measured tone. "That's just the reality, the catch-22. Like anyone else, we'd like to see a continuous stream of ads on TV all day if possible, but we can't, can we? We have to pay our bills somehow. All we ask is that the viewers be respected and the integrity of the noble television advertisement be acknowledged."

Noted media analyst and writer Klaus Muckenfuss, whose book Live Cricket Telecasts and Society: Controversies and Consequences was funded in part by a well-known coffee-shop franchise, conceded that while it has been an open secret that cricket broadcasters use subliminal messages in their attempt to influence the masses, there has been an increasing trend towards more aggressive and blatant techniques in recent times.

"Once upon a time, you would only have to contend with subtle things like product placement," Muckenfuss said. "You might see a cricket bat being wielded about as an ironic choice of weapon in a film like The Big Lebowski or Shaun of the Dead, for example. The shadowy people behind the drive to popularise cricket around the world whose idea this was were hoping that the image of the cricket bat, while cute on the big screen, would leach into the psyche of the viewers and influence their decision-making behaviour as consumers in picking what sports to watch. As devious as that sounds, these were arguably gentler and less brutally direct methods of mental coercion than what we see going on today."

The BCCI has been rumored to be linking up with the BCCC to counter such tactics, and together they are expected to bring about much-needed changes to the way matches are broadcast.

Among the changes being discussed is the introduction of a stipulated time zone into the field of play, which determines when the action can or cannot commence, to ensure it doesn't intrude upon time allotted to television advertisements. Those players who do not comply with the rule or accidentally bowl a ball too soon or too late will be fined. In extreme cases an entire team or board may be fined.

A further penalty for repeat offenders will be to have to strip off their playing kit and don sandwich boards bearing the name of as many sponsors as possible. "But bowlers may remove them and drape them over an umpire, if they feel too encumbered while running in," said a spokesman.

"It's not all about the game, you know," he added philosophically. "Sometimes, one has to make allowances for the things in life that have real value - money, for instance."