Over the past three weeks I have made informal studies of
television advertising for food products. I noted what types of food ads I saw
while watching World Cup soccer games on an Arabic language channel, and while
watching “Ramadan Series” – sitcoms lasting the thirty days of Ramadan.
During the World Cup games (played on a field surrounded by
Coca-Cola and McDonald’s logos), I saw ads for Lay’s potato chips, Boom Boom
and Power Horse brand energy drinks, and Pepsi, which featured Argentine
superstar Lionel Messi. These foods all fall, obviously, into the junk
food/highly processed category.
This was an interesting contrast to the types of ads I
observed during the Ramadan series, which I watched for four nights consecutively
from approximately 8 to 9pm, just after the break fast meal. The most heavily
advertised product was actually flour, including three major brands ( Nor’Dar,
Moony, and May Mouna) running ads at least twice. The second most heavily
advertised product was processed cheese, including four brands (La Vache Qui
Rit, Kiri, Or Blanc, and Jebli) running ads once or twice during the one hour
time period. The third most heavily advertised type of product was tea,
including two brands each running multiple ads. Less-processed dairy, including
two brands of yogurt (Danone and Activia) and a ready-to-eat strawberry
smoothie (intended for serving at home) were also promoted. Other frequent ads
were for bouillon cubes (two brands), Lio cooking oil, jarred tomato sauce,
C-Bon energy drink mix, Valencia brand bottled juices, Dari dry pasta, and Ain
Ifrane bottled water.
Overall, I saw ads for twenty different brands. Out of these
twenty brands, half also have print ads on buildings or billboards in the city
of Tangier: May Mouna flour, La Vache Qui Rit and Jebli cheese, both yogurt
brands, the strawberry smoothie mix, one brand of tea, Valencia juice, Dari dry
pasta, and Ain Ifrane bottled water. In the case of Jebli, May Mouna, Activia,
and the smoothie mix, there were similarities between the television and print
ads – same actors, motifs, etc. – indicating that advertising campaigns for
these products are broad and include multiple types of media.
In the next few weeks, I will be analyzing print ads for
food products on buildings and billboards in the city of Tangier.
