Advertising gimmicks

What is happening to my daily newspapers? What used to be a mentally relaxing experience has now become a cerebral obstacle course worthy of the Olympics. Finding where the news starts and the adverts finish has been taken to a new level.

If you believe that Singaporeans are lacking creativity, then think again. In the last couple of months, the pages of the local English press have been transformed into an advertising minefield.

With Singapore's economy powering ahead, one unfortunate side-effect is the related jump in advertising sales. The people at publishers SPH and Mediacorp must be rubbing their hands in glee, as it appears that the adverts in the local newspapers are increasingly taking over the news pages, sometimes in very innovative ways, it has to be said. While adverts used to be confined to specific pages or positioned at the bottom or side, they are now woven into the pages, with news articles squeezed in around them. Some are even spread diagonally, so that you cannot skip them.

This force-feeding must be pleasing to the advertiser, but it is driving me crazy. I keep dismissing news articles, thinking that they are adverts, and vice-versa. I am long used to struggling to differentiate between news articles and advertorials in women's magazines, although nowadays the line is so fine that it takes all my professional capabilities to tell the difference.

At least I will soon be able to enjoy reading the advertorials in Cosmopolitan. It has been more than a year since the announcement, with great fanfare, that the magazine - and the raunchy TV blockbuster Sex in the City would be available here. But while Sex in the City started airing in August (albeit a slightly censored version), Cosmopolitan will only hit the shelves next month. Each copy will be shrink-wrapped and the cover will feature prominently the consumer advice 'unsuitable for the young'. I wonder whether they will also start putting warnings on the very raunchy local female magazine Her World (which is also shrink-wrapped)?

Meanwhile, copywriters for bust-enhancement companies have had to come up with new and imaginative ideas since the Advertising Standards Authority of Singapore gave them a slap on the wrist following numerous complaints from disappointed women (and probably their partners, too). For the gullible, adverts are now claiming 'a sexier bust-line', the fact that 'I achieved my desired cup size' or simply 'firmer breasts', all of which can - apparently - be achieved by massaging in these miraculous creams. It seems that there are still plenty of takers, as Singaporean women remain obsessed with their bust size.