Feature: Media In A Changed World

For many of us, seeing the events of 11 September unfold live across a multi-media landscape will be up there amongst the most profound, world changing moments we have witnessed. Needless to say, the face of the media changed in the aftermath. But, some months on, Denise Turner of Media Planning Group asks, is the new “sensitive” trend set to stay?

There is no doubt that September 11th 2001 will be forever etched on people’s memories. It is for this generation the ‘JFK’ moment – where were you when you found out about it? But it has also made people take stock about what is important in life. There has apparently been an increase in marriage as people reassess priorities.

And it seems that priorities have changed in media and advertising. In the immediate aftermath of the atrocities there were a lot of quick decisions made about programmes and ads that could not be shown as they were deemed insensitive. A lot of ads were also pulled because of the news environment they would appear in.

But as time as moved on and we are now five months past that day, have things got back to normal? Or has media changed forever? Looking at some of the stories that have appeared over the past week it seems that some things are now different. There is undoubtedly a need to achieve a balance in what is broadcast and the tone of advertising used. People do need escapism but they don’t want it to be unrealistic. They want to be taken out of the day to day existence they lead but the don’t want frivolity. They want wholesome and feelgood escapism.

Perhaps this is the reason for the renewed success of Friends in America. Since September 11th it has enjoyed a renaissance, bouncing back from the drubbing it had received form Survivor. And it been announced this week that the stars of the show have signed up for another series. People want to see people being there for each other.

In the UK the latest ABC figures have revealed mixed fortunes for the celebrity gossip magazines. Heat and Now both scored notable successes with circulation increases of 16%, but the magazines that effectively defined the category, Hello! and OK!, fared less well. Hello! managed a small rise of 5% but OK! suffered a major drop in sales of 16%. It is probably too early to tell but it could suggest that people don’t want entertainment and escapism at the expense of realism and that it shouldn’t be ‘naff’.

Also this week, it has been announced that Channel 4 is poised to sign an exclusive “golden handcuffs” deal with the historian and presenter David Starkey to stop him being poached by rival broadcasters. He has fronted some of Channel 4’s most successful factual programmes, helping to rescue history from television’s graveyard slots, achieving significant ratings successes. Perhaps this is yet more evidence that people’s priorities are different now – the events of September 11th demonstrated to at least some people that they didn’t understand enough about what led up to and caused the attack. So it may be that not only do they want serious entertainment but they want to learn some of the lessons history has to teach us.

It may be still too early to say how irrevocably things have changed for media and advertising but it seems that they might never be the same again.

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