All European countries have restrictions on advertising, but the degree to which advertising to children is regulated varies widely from country to country.
In the UK, there are restrictions on adverts that:
There are also restrictions on transmission times for alcohol, medicines and slimming products. [Independent Television Commission, Rules on Advertisements to Children, 1997].
Some countries have slightly different rules. For instance, Greece has a ban on advertising children's toys between 7 am and 10 pm, and a total ban on advertisements for war toys. France, Ireland, the Netherlands and the UK do not consider advertising aimed at children as harmful, and Spain alone sees a ban on advertising as undemocratic.
The ASA regulates the content of advertisements, sales promotions and direct marketing in the UK. They make sure standards are kept high by applying the codes for advertising standards. They can stop misleading, harmful or offensive advertising and can ensure sales promotions are run fairly. They can help reduce unwanted commercial mail – either sent through the post, by email or by text message – and can resolve problems with mail-order purchases.
The ASA investigates complaints made about ads, sales promotions or direct marketing. Anyone can complain, and most complaints are made through the complaints form on the ASA website.
The ASA also monitors ads to spot problems and carries out research, such as people's attitudes towards advertising.
[Adapted from
www.aspects.net/~stephenginns/
education/skills/tenpitch.htm.
Reproduced with the kind permission of Reputation – a commercial consultancy.]
1. Know who you are talking to
If you're going to pitch an idea, make sure you're targeting your pitching patter at the right person.
2. Think attention
You might only get a minute to pitch, so you'll have to make those 60 seconds count. Know how long you've got before you open your mouth.
3. Think hot buttons
Literally, find out what turns them on. If you know what they're into, you'll be in a position to shape your message to meet their needs.
4. Keep it simple
Think single sentence. The Nick Park film, Chicken Run, for example, was pitched to Steven Spielberg as 'The Great Escape for chickens'. If it takes you a week to pitch, you'll never get anywhere.
5. Think benefits
What difference will the idea make to the person you are pitching to? Where are the benefits? Make them clear and unequivocal.
6. Take feedback on board
You'll get a reaction – even if it's silence. Look and listen carefully. If you're getting negative feedback and you're not in listening mode, your pitch will fail.
7. Think long-term
Of course, your idea may not inspire – they don't always. Remember that you may want to pitch again, so keep the relationship open so that you can come back for more.
8. Use their building blocks
If you know what they're up to at the moment, you can use that as a platform to build your idea on. That means research.
9. Think timing
The best ideas in the world will fail if they're pitched at the wrong time. Try to understand the pressures that they're under. Those will impinge on their thinking.
10. Understand how their credibility is built
The person you are pitching to will have to account to someone else for their actions. Understand who those people are, what they're looking for, and what problems they believe they have. The better you understand the context you are pitching into, the more chance you'll have of getting through.
This term relates to any image that has been produced by means of a computer. There are two basic ways in which the computer can do this.
In the first, a picture is drawn on the computer screen using special software called a 'paint program'. The computer helps with such things as filling in areas with easily changed colour or creating and manipulating geometric shapes, but the final result is only as good as the user's drawing skills. Many background images used in computer games are made by artists using paint programs.
The second way involves the computer being given enough information to enable it to draw the scene itself: for example, the layout and dimensions of the scene, and its colours and textures. In addition, the computer must be programmed to be able to draw a perspective view, with shadows, reflections, and highlights. Computer animation is essentially a digital successor to the art of stop-motion animation of 3D models and frame-by-frame animation of 2D illustrations.
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