Ad council still has black eye from moves in juice dispute
Zywnosc filed a lawsuit in Warsaw's Provincial Court against Alima-Gerber for airing an allegedly misleading radio spot that it claimed suggested the Polish-made Kubus juice is not healthy for children under age 3. (See WBJ, April 20-26, 1998).
The court, however, is only one of two bodies that was supposed to look at the advertisements. Zywnosc had originally asked an independent regulatory body, the Polish Advertising Council, to look at the spot and make a ruling. Alima-Gerber had also agreed to abide by the council's decision. When the company filed the lawsuit, however, the council decided to drop the case.
Industry observers said that the council was afraid of making another controversial ruling, particularly after its first effort, a decision to ask TV stations to drop allegedly "untruthful" advertisements run by margarine-maker Raisio Polska Foods, went unheeded and was eventually met with a lawsuit filed by the defendant.
"They totally freaked out," said a marketing director of one fast-moving consumer goods company based in Warsaw, who did not want to be named. "After Raisio totally ignored their ruling, and took them to the court, they were afraid they would also fuck up this time."
Raisio decided in February to sue the council for defamation, claiming that the ruling on its margarine spots damaged its reputation. Raisio also claimed that the council has no legal authority to ask TV stations, or any other medium, to pull advertisements.
But the council denied that it dropped the juice case because it was intimidated. It was scheduled to hear the case Friday, April 17 at 2 p.m. Twenty-four hours prior, however, it announced that it would leave the issue to the courts.
"Nobody got scared," Jaroslaw Piatkowski, general manager of the council, said last week. "Our decision was just a direct consequence of one of the parties taking the case to the court of law."
While the council's charter does not prevent the body from hearing cases that have also become legal disputes, Piatkowski said the council's managing board unanimously decided it should not rule on an issue that has already gone to court.
The decision came as a surprise to both Alima-Gerber and Polska Zywnosc. "Alima-Gerber motioned the Advertising Council to hold a session of the arbitration panel as scheduled, regardless the move of Polska Zywnosc," read a letter signed by Alima-Gerber's president of the managing board, Ryszard Wojtkowski.
"The council just washed its hands of the case," said Krzysztof Pawinski, president of Zywnosc.
"We never thought about the legal case as the one that would exclude the arbitration procedures," he said. "On the contrary, we thought the two were complementary."
In its lawsuit, Polska Zywnosc is asking Alima-Gerber and the advertising agency that created the spot, Grey Warszawa, to pay zl. 300,000 in damages. The zl. 24,000 court fee represents 8% of that amount. The company also demands that both defendants publish public apologies in three national newspapers, Rzeczpospolita, Gazeta Wyborcza and Zycie.
How much are we worth?
An April survey by market research company SMG/KRC Poland Media showed that Poles have no idea how much advertisers spend to air their spots during prime viewing hours.
A third of survey respondents said they don't know how much advertisers shell out for air time. Out of those who thought they knew, 16% of respondents said they thought a single 30-second, prime-time spot - such as placement between news program Wiadomosci and the weather forecast - costs zl. 5,000-zl. 10,000. Another 15% said such placement would cost zl. 10,000-zl. 50,000.
The audiences didn't realize their viewing time is really worth up to zl. 100,000.
A vast majority of those polled (86.4%), or 23 million adult Poles, said that they watch television almost every day. According to the research, approximately half of those watch TV for more than two hours in a row. Only every 10th person surveyed said they spend less than an hour in front of the TV per day.
Out of those TV junkies, approximately 27% claim they carefully watch commercial breaks. More than half of those who choose not to watch commercials said they usually channel surf during commercial breaks. Another group of respondents said they fix themselves something to eat during the breaks.
And the third most popular activity conducted during commercial breaks was going to the bathroom (23%). The bathroom breaks, however, depend largely on whether the viewer lives in the countryside or in the city. About 19% of respondents in the countryside said they use the time to powder their noses, while 23% of city viewers do.
The poll also notes that the accumulated work done by 5 million people to press one button on a remote control is enough to lift 100 tons 1 centimeter in height.
New head at RTL7
Jerzy Kuczkiewicz, head of IP Polska media house with exclusive rights for selling the commercial time of RTL7 television station, expanded his focus last month by taking over the presidency of the station itself.
Kuczkiewicz replaced Piotr Fromowitz, who stepped down after media holding company CLT-UFA bought the global IP group, including the media house's Polish branch. CLT-UFA is also a shareholder of RTL7.
Raised and educated in Belgium, Kuczkiewicz worked in journalism for several years, and even spent some time at Belgian daily Le Soir. He began his career on "the other side" in 1991, when he became information and development director with IP Belgium. Four years later he moved to Poland to head the local office of the IP group.
According to market research company AGB Polska, RTL7 had 3.6% of the viewing market last month, while public broadcaster Telewizja Polska (TVP) had 29.4%.
The court, however, is only one of two bodies that was supposed to look at the advertisements. Zywnosc had originally asked an independent regulatory body, the Polish Advertising Council, to look at the spot and make a ruling. Alima-Gerber had also agreed to abide by the council's decision. When the company filed the lawsuit, however, the council decided to drop the case.
Industry observers said that the council was afraid of making another controversial ruling, particularly after its first effort, a decision to ask TV stations to drop allegedly "untruthful" advertisements run by margarine-maker Raisio Polska Foods, went unheeded and was eventually met with a lawsuit filed by the defendant.
"They totally freaked out," said a marketing director of one fast-moving consumer goods company based in Warsaw, who did not want to be named. "After Raisio totally ignored their ruling, and took them to the court, they were afraid they would also fuck up this time."
Raisio decided in February to sue the council for defamation, claiming that the ruling on its margarine spots damaged its reputation. Raisio also claimed that the council has no legal authority to ask TV stations, or any other medium, to pull advertisements.
But the council denied that it dropped the juice case because it was intimidated. It was scheduled to hear the case Friday, April 17 at 2 p.m. Twenty-four hours prior, however, it announced that it would leave the issue to the courts.
"Nobody got scared," Jaroslaw Piatkowski, general manager of the council, said last week. "Our decision was just a direct consequence of one of the parties taking the case to the court of law."
While the council's charter does not prevent the body from hearing cases that have also become legal disputes, Piatkowski said the council's managing board unanimously decided it should not rule on an issue that has already gone to court.
The decision came as a surprise to both Alima-Gerber and Polska Zywnosc. "Alima-Gerber motioned the Advertising Council to hold a session of the arbitration panel as scheduled, regardless the move of Polska Zywnosc," read a letter signed by Alima-Gerber's president of the managing board, Ryszard Wojtkowski.
"The council just washed its hands of the case," said Krzysztof Pawinski, president of Zywnosc.
"We never thought about the legal case as the one that would exclude the arbitration procedures," he said. "On the contrary, we thought the two were complementary."
In its lawsuit, Polska Zywnosc is asking Alima-Gerber and the advertising agency that created the spot, Grey Warszawa, to pay zl. 300,000 in damages. The zl. 24,000 court fee represents 8% of that amount. The company also demands that both defendants publish public apologies in three national newspapers, Rzeczpospolita, Gazeta Wyborcza and Zycie.
How much are we worth?
An April survey by market research company SMG/KRC Poland Media showed that Poles have no idea how much advertisers spend to air their spots during prime viewing hours.
A third of survey respondents said they don't know how much advertisers shell out for air time. Out of those who thought they knew, 16% of respondents said they thought a single 30-second, prime-time spot - such as placement between news program Wiadomosci and the weather forecast - costs zl. 5,000-zl. 10,000. Another 15% said such placement would cost zl. 10,000-zl. 50,000.
The audiences didn't realize their viewing time is really worth up to zl. 100,000.
A vast majority of those polled (86.4%), or 23 million adult Poles, said that they watch television almost every day. According to the research, approximately half of those watch TV for more than two hours in a row. Only every 10th person surveyed said they spend less than an hour in front of the TV per day.
Out of those TV junkies, approximately 27% claim they carefully watch commercial breaks. More than half of those who choose not to watch commercials said they usually channel surf during commercial breaks. Another group of respondents said they fix themselves something to eat during the breaks.
And the third most popular activity conducted during commercial breaks was going to the bathroom (23%). The bathroom breaks, however, depend largely on whether the viewer lives in the countryside or in the city. About 19% of respondents in the countryside said they use the time to powder their noses, while 23% of city viewers do.
The poll also notes that the accumulated work done by 5 million people to press one button on a remote control is enough to lift 100 tons 1 centimeter in height.
New head at RTL7
Jerzy Kuczkiewicz, head of IP Polska media house with exclusive rights for selling the commercial time of RTL7 television station, expanded his focus last month by taking over the presidency of the station itself.
Kuczkiewicz replaced Piotr Fromowitz, who stepped down after media holding company CLT-UFA bought the global IP group, including the media house's Polish branch. CLT-UFA is also a shareholder of RTL7.
Raised and educated in Belgium, Kuczkiewicz worked in journalism for several years, and even spent some time at Belgian daily Le Soir. He began his career on "the other side" in 1991, when he became information and development director with IP Belgium. Four years later he moved to Poland to head the local office of the IP group.
According to market research company AGB Polska, RTL7 had 3.6% of the viewing market last month, while public broadcaster Telewizja Polska (TVP) had 29.4%.
