By Yulia Petrova
TV advertising is to be reduced from 18 to 16 minutes. Meanwhile, soon spectators will be able to watch certain films without interruptions to washing powders and speedy cook vermicelli each ten minutes, as the number of commercial breaks has been reduced to four through each hour. The Deputy Minister for Trade, Irina Narkevich, views the move as essential, due to audience complaints of broadcasts being interrupted by as many as 7-8 advertising breaks per hour.
In addition, adverts for medical preparations must not indicate concrete cases of recovery, or state government recommendations for any product. Nor will financial encouragement be allowed. Of course, advertising remains the main source of income for TV companies, paying for programming and the purchase of films and shows from abroad. The fees paid by TV viewers are purely for connection to distributive cabling.
While in Mogilev there are trolley buses which display Belarusian poetry on advertising boards. Initiated by the Budz’ma Belarusians public campaign and Mogilev’s City Executive Committee, classics of Belarusian literature are being displayed in about 90 trolley buses across the regional centre as part of its status as Cultural Capital of Belarus 2013.
Boards usually allotted for advertising are showing poetry by Maxim Bogdanovich, Yanka Kupala, Anatoly Vertinsky and the other Belarusian poets. The literary theme is to continue across other public transport, placing poems by young Mogilev poets.
