Come Ramzan each year and the advertising industry takes a fresh start. Most products gear up for Ramzan-specific advertisements, indicating that along with businesses, advertising itself has become a booming business in Pakistan.
This week we have tried to focus on the highs and lows of advertising in Pakistan. Despite the seemingly local flavour, most Pakistani ads have, as Sanaa Ahmed digs in her piece, a significant ‘foreign’ component. This is especially true of the technical side. The local talent is costly and perhaps not properly trained for the job. And that is why the producers have to look towards locations outside the country, foreign actors, and post production facilities. Thailand became a "hub for post production" starting from late 1990s.
For all the seeming practicality involved in the selling of a product, creativity remains a key element of advertising business. The profession does attract some of the most creative minds in its fold but by and large, as an industry, Pakistani ads suffer from hackneyed and repetitive themes. There are occasional flashes of brilliance; these happen when, as Mariam Mushtaq writes, one idea stands out and sticks as part of your collective memory.
Despite all its booming business, the industry does not seem to have refined itself in the face of stiff competition, especially from the Indian advertisement industry, which has experimented a lot and continues to do so.
One reason could be the absence of specialised teaching and professional degrees to be offered by colleges and universities. It is about time we separated advertising from Media Studies and teach it as a specialised subject.
The ethics of advertising and its economic potential are also discussed in today’s Special Report.