advertising
Advertising is a common means used by many organizations or companies all over the world to make their product or service well known, and easier to be sold, but when putting into practices, the ways they use can be varied. Take China and Canada for example, they are different in implementing advertising practices, not only from the various medium they choose in which advertising message is communicated but also from the diverse content they focus on.
Most of mediums both China and Canada adopt for advertising are similar. Both sides regard TV, radio and newspaper as very important media for advertising. The strength of TV is that it can offer some combination of sound and sight, which are easily accepted by audience. As for radio, providing low cost information and attracting large potential audience as with TV are main advantages. Moreover, advertiser can select the stations and time favored by audience they want to reach. The chief merit for newspaper is its broad reach. Reading paper is still most common way to obtain up-to-date message for people. Chinese and Canadian advertisers also have their own particular ways to attract public attention. In China, it is quite often for you to see a group of people walking or riding on the street, wearing same cloth with remarkable color and letter, they are actually flowing billboard, which is impossible in Canada because of expensive labor force. Direct mail, in Canada, is frequently used media by advertisers, but paid little attention by Chinese pitchman.
Different content of advertisement are also can be found between two countries. In China, some newly developed and famous brand is usually associated with celebrities. Because some advertisers believe that it is easier for consumers to get deep impression to a commodity, if it frequently appears in public with visualization of a famous people. In contrast, Canadian advertisers seem not prefer inviting supper stars to participate in their activities for publicity. As for wine or hard drinks, they are the products always advertised in prime time and notable place in China while strict regulations are imposed on spirits advertising in Canada. A particular advertisement category in Canada is the Generic advertising, which attempts to raise demand for a particular product regardless of brand. For instance, one of Canadian association serving for peasants pays for advertising to encourage people drinking their milk without reference to specific brand. However, Chinese advertisers never ignore the brand of a product in their advertisement.
In addition to said similarity and difference, with the development of latest technologies, new features have been added to advertising industries in both countries. Internet, the greatest invention of 20th century, plays an important role in people¡¯s daily life: working, studying and entertainment. Therefore most advertisers regard it as perfect media to spread information on line. By using Internet, advertisement becomes more reachable to audience than before. Maybe a computer can replace all other medias, such as TV, radio and newspaper as only medium for advertising in the future. [next page]