I've just seen the new BBC news advert, and it has forced me to open up my brain again, remember my blog password, and spank out a wordy vent, in an attempt to pacify my churned up stomach, twisted into a pointy hate knife, due to this horrible piece of marketing.
The advert mixes shots of peaceful domesticity, with coverage of big media events; a smiling housewife places an empty oven dish by the sink, as she is confronted by the cheery sight of the tsunami, her chirpy smirk replaced with one of abject horror. Thanks BBC, you ruined my dinner party!
I suppose the BBC is attempting to express the power and authority of their news coverage, but all the advert does is sum up both the exaggerated theatre of rolling news, and the disproportionate fear that this kind of reportage engenders. The whole enterprise turns shocking events such as the tsunami, also featured in the advert, into a bombastic melodrama, played out incessantly and pointlessly.
Congratulations to the BBC news marketing team, for celebrating aimless, pervading, 24/7 news coverage. The final shot of the advert is of a man in a forest, IN THE FUTURE, staring in gob smacked awe at some horror that lurks in wait, possibly the long awaited sequel to 9/11. Anyway, all we need to know, is that the BBC are down with this tech shit, and with us all the way, and the advert asks, "Where will you be?" Unfortunately, this statement doesn't manage to posit the BBC as some sort of unifying, pivotal force, as the ad makers intended, but tells us two things. It hammers home the absurdity of constant news access, (couldn't forest man have found out the news when he got home from his walk?), but also, boldly confesses that the success and strength of BBC news hinges on it's coverage of the next load of humans to explode or get stabbed. Although, as we have recently learnt, if lacking in any decent terrorism, or dead, innocent, British, white holiday-maker related stories, a bawdy phone call will keep this great institution's head above water.
Long live BBC news.
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