Swiss Media

Walking around in Lausanne I feel like I have seen three main advertisements: the McDonald's Chicken wrap ads, Breast Cancer ads, and H&M ads. This is totally different than the U.S. in that we are constantly being bombarded with 100s of different ads a day. I am tempted to say that I have not seen a lot of media here, but maybe it's not that I haven't seen a lot, it's just I haven't seen ads as diverse or on as large of a scale as at home. I think that because of the quieter ambience of the Swiss, the loud and intrusive advertisements as commonly seen in the U.S. would not be acceptable. Or maybe the point of showing less diverse ads is to increase repetition of viewing the ad so that people remember it more. If repetition is how the advertisers intended to get their customers' attention, then I would say they have succeeded.

different languages, different meanings??

Walking through Lausanne, one can see a variety of advertisements placed on every street corner and bus stop.  These advertisements appear to be just like American advertisements, but I am always left to wonder if advertising campaigns are as successful in Switzerland as they would be in the United States due to having multiple national languages.  Can slogans and advertisements thought to be humorous in one language translate well into another? And accordingly be accepted by each accompanying culture?  I believe that advertising in the United States would be easier because there is one language and for the most part, one culture to appeal to. 

Where is the luxury??

No matter how rich or how poor a country is, there is that, more or less, small percentage of people that have some special needs, for luxury. And knowing that Switzerland is a rich and high society country, or at least that is what they say, you would think that there would be billboards of Vacheron Constantine, Swarovski Jewelry, Dolce&Gabanna and stuff like that; unlike the US the majority of the commercials and billboard ads are simple and to the point, no extra airbrushing, no fancy colors, no futuristic designs. Plain and to the point. Is it really working though?

What language do you speak?

I can honestly say that I check my facebook at least three (or a hundred) times a day. Every time I go to various people's profiles I look to the right and see three or four advertisements every time I refresh the page. After coming to Switzerland I have found it very interesting how sometimes the ad's are in French, or English or sometimes they are in German, or even other languages that I can't even tell you what they are. To be honest I think it is a pretty interesting concept that in Europe the ad's are in multiple languages including English to incorporate people from other countries which I personally see as a major 'pro' unlike America where 98% of our advertisements are in English.

Media Differences

- I have noticed (like others) that the Swiss are more open and clinical than Americans in terms of the human body, as in the body is a body not necessarily a sexual vehicle. (Example: the breast cancer ads). But I have also noticed the absence of violence in Swiss advertisements that is often prevalent in American media. While sexuality is taboo in the U.S., violence is in Switzerland.

-Also, the Swiss do not advertise for film as much as in the United States, where movie advertisements cover almost every billboard.

-Finally I have noticed fewer ad campaigns, as in seeing the same company ad with the same slogan over and over. (In the U.S., for example, everywhere you go, you see Nike: Just Do It ads)

Switzerland McDonalds Ad

So when I think about Swiss Advertisement, the first thing that comes to my mind is the McDonald’s movie ticket deal. You buy a happy meal and get a movie ticket for 17 Swiss francs. The reason why this advertisement came to my mind is that it totally persuaded me. I figured well I get a happy meal AND a movie ticket… I MUST be saving money. To be honest I only saved a couple bucks. In the states, McDonald’s does not usually offer movie tickets with a happy meal (if ever). Usually they only offer toys that are themed around a new movie.

Wha is dat?

As I stroll the barren streets of lively Lausanne, Switzerland, I cannot bare to notice the ammount of bare breasts staring me down. I have tried to stare at my feet, I have tried to sing a tune in my head and close my eyes, but the ever present cancer patient posters will not leave me alone. At first, I asked a few classmates, "How on earth could these be up? If I saw these as a twelve year old while walking to class I would die." But then after weeks and weeks of seeing the same cancer stricken women, I got the message the advertisers were trying to convey. I felt that this type of persuasion was the strongest I have ever felt. The message was clear and concise: cancer takes thousands and thousands of lives every single day and this is what it looks like. The fact that my western eyes could not deter themselves from staring at these grave pictures shows that the advertisers knew exactly what they were doing.

Aww look. . .wait. . .AHHH!!

There are striking differences between advertising here in Lausanne and advertising in America. These differences vary from location to content itself. Something that caught my attention was the Christmas decorations of a hotel close by. Although subtle, the lights are a form of advertising. From experience I would say that subtle forms of advertising, like decorating or associating a product to a season, is an interesting universal form of advertising.

Jimmy Choo

Elle and I walked by a sign advertising Jimmy Choo at H &M for Men but on the poster was the crossed legs, boots, short skirt, and bangled arms of a women. We could not figure out the marketing strategy of this advertisement in relation to the Swiss culture but I thought it was interesting to think about if a poster like that would be as effective in the states- or if it is even effective here in Lausanne.

Show Me the Skin!

Swiss media is a lot different from American media in that a lot of Swiss media, and European media in general, contain a lot more nudity. In American society, this would be considered as offensive, vulgar, and completely illegal. However, for Europeans, nudity does not have the same sexual connotation as it does in America, so for them, it is not as big of a deal. I feel that in European society, this sort of media works for them and is appropriate for their culture, which would not be the same in America. Since the American society is so consumed with sex, nudity would only stimulate that consumption and cause for a more degraded society.

Media in Switzerland

One thing I have noticed in Switzerland is the lack of media convergence, or the use of media to promote other media. I haven’t seen any publicity for TV or radio programs. Back home I feel it’s very common to walk outside and see billboards everywhere promoting different television series, news stations, movies, radio talk shows, etc. Yet billboards here mainly only advertise exhibits, events, and fashion. There's a lot less advertisement for just "stuff." Moreover, advertisements seem to be on a much smaller scale & are slightly more subtle, possibly because they are aimed more toward pedestrians rather than people driving. I like this so much more than hundreds of giant billboards all vying for your attention. Overall I get the impression that Switzerland is less commercial, which is definately a positive aspect. Also I have rarely seen humor or irony employed in ads; they more so rely on the mere design and aesthetic appeal.

Swiss Advertisements

Christine Broyhill
November 11, 2009

Upon arriving at the Geneva airport, there were a few images that I saw repeatedly that informed me about an important product in the Swiss culture: the watch advertisements. They followed one after another down the hallway, each one a different brand, but each advertised the same way. The only thing I remember from seeing these advertisements were the watches themselves. Swiss media foregrounds the importance of images rather than words and images together. I haven’t come across many Swiss slogans that I can remember, but I do remember the way the watch looked because of the way it was presented. The Swiss are able to get their message across effectively by just showing the basics of the product. There is no need to go into the engineering of the watch or describe the detail of its elaborate design. The image itself does this for us. We can immediately get a sense of the quality of the watch from the way the watch is displayed. I also haven’t seen many watch advertisements here that have been endorsed by celebrities, apart from George Clooney and the Omega watch, which is also displayed in the same way back in the States. Swiss media focuses on what is key in what they want to communicate to the viewer by limiting the use of words and symbols in their advertisements, which I believe has made them effective.

Media in Switzerland

Each time I walk to through the city of Lausanne (particularly on my way to Manora) I am bombarded by a mixture of advertisements that represent very different products and issues. One key difference that I have noticed in the advertisements in Lausanne as opposed to America deals with the issue of sexuality. The signs here are much more sexually oriented, from the breast cancer ads to the ads for designers. In America, one would never see an ad for breast cancer that shows a clearly damaged breast of a woman that has been through breast cancer. It would be offensive to many and would probably be taken down. You would probably see something along the lines of a pink breast cancer ribbon with the words "hope" "courage" etc. However, this ad in Lausanne to me, represents power, and is a visual way to show people the breast cancer is real and that it affects many women. To my knowledge, the people in Lausanne are not even fazed by the ad when they pass it. European culture tends to embrace sexuality where as America shuns it and because of this, advertisers feel the need to rise up and over-sexualize the media we are exposed to, in a non-classy fashion. I have also noticed more images that are powerful without words in Lausanne where as in America I have noticed a combination of words and graphics.

The Point of Travel

There is a quote that I can only paraphrase but that basically says that one should never stop exploring until they return to the point they began at, and know the place fully for the first time. I never really understood this quote until this break and, I probably still do not fully understand it, but it hit me one day over break that maybe the knowledge were all after- God's knowledge- is not as much being able to see the big picture of life but to realize the smallest details of the world around us. I was walking and it occurred to me that I could sit and stare at one spot my whole life and it would always be changing from second to second. I used to think the point of travel was to find the universal truths and the overarching knowledge that applies to all peoples and places around the world. However, we as humans can be so distracted may another use of travel is to simply shock our systems into attention so we can realize the beauty and truth that was in front of us all along.