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Though the United States and the United Kingdom dominate the global television broadcasting industry, each country pursues different program philosophies. While America originally began television broadcasting with a budget provided through advertising, Britain used television as a means to educate its audience as a non-profit organization. America holds an increasing responsibility to satisfy paying advertisers, while Britain finds freedom in the range of material that can be broadcast. Through the close analysis of American and British advertisements, several conclusions can be drawn from the qualitative differences between each structural approach to financing television broadcasting. Furthermore, a close examination of two cellular phone companies, Orange and T-Mobile USA, can unearth the differing marketing strategies of each country. By looking at the larger picture beyond each television commercial, one can begin to understand the relationship between advertising and the interlinking of social, economic, and cultural dependence on technology in the United States and the United Kingdom.

As television broadcasting was beginning in the United States, a conscious decision was made to rely on advertising to provide funding. Advertising is therefore seen as an important characteristic of television programming. In order to generate financial profit, American networks sell an increasing amount of advertisement space. As a result, commercial breaks during television programs are longer and more frequent than those in the United Kingdom. American audiences currently witness an average of 16-18 minutes of commercials per one hour of programming. These numbers have climbed throughout the years, but have always been high when compared to other countries which do not rely on advertising for funding. Due to this heavy involvement of advertisements in the American media, there has been an underlying pressure felt by the networks to please the advertisers and the advertisers’ audiences. By producing quality programming, networks gain a strong audience, and therefore more people to watch the commercials. As a result, American television networks continue to receive the funding.

The United Kingdom, however, began their television broadcast system as a non-profit organization. Instead of treating the media as a business, the first networks were created in the interest of British people. The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), for example, built an empire without the help of advertisements, but instead through a license fee that viewers pay on a regular basis. As time progressed, commercial television was developed in the UK to compete with the two BBC channels that do not provide advertising. Though these channels, ITV and Channel 4, use advertising to provide funding, the advertisements differ greatly from American advertising. In the beginning, primitive ads were seen as slow and harsh to the eye, with a conscious effort to seem “un-American.” British audiences do not encounter as much television advertising as American audiences do. There is currently an average of only twelve minutes of advertising per one hour of programming, which is far less than America. Though a four second difference in advertising may not seem huge, it is statistically significant. Let’s say each commercial is thirty seconds in length. That is approximately eight more commercials shown per hour in the US than in the UK.

Commercials are generally structured differently in the US verses the UK as well. Though commercial breaks are longer in the US, each individual commercial tends to be shorter. Therefore, a large amount of information is strategically placed into a small package by any means possible. American commercials crave the audience’s attention, and will use visually pleasing graphics, aurally stimulating voice-overs, and/or American humor to sell the product. British commercials, however, tend to be lengthier, artistic and thought-provoking.

T-Mobile USA utilizes the visually stimulating Catherine Zeta-Jones as a spokesperson for their products to catch the attention of American audiences. One commercial in particular uses Zeta-Jones, in conjunction with a family of four, to promote a new family plan. The commercial portrays this (white “all-American”) family at a fairly crowded mall as they communicate with one another about their shopping plans. Clearly, the family is trying to go their separate ways and is concerned about meeting up later in the day. They conjure up a plan involving who would be calling who once their respective shopping has been accomplished. Once the scheme is laid out, the family realizes that nobody has a cell phone. Enter T-Mobile to save the day with the new family plan, allowing this particular family to continue their day at the mall while in constant communication with one another. This commercial is selling more than a family plan. It is selling the idea that the dependence on technology is necessary to maintain a communicative relationship with family members.

Advertisers create commercials for the mobile phone company, Orange, which would most likely not air in America. On Channel 4 in London, the screen is black, with a small caption on the bottom which reads “NYC Blackout: August 14, 2003.” A soft light then opens up to reveal a young man walking down the darkened streets of New York City, supposedly on the night of the infamous blackout. There is calm, acoustic music in the background that provides a soft padding to the scenery. The camera shows people sitting on the streets chatting, dancing, little girls playing jump rope, and groups of people sitting in circles and having fun with one another. As the commercial concludes, a voiceover states, “Sometimes things need to switch off for people to switch on. The future is bright.” Just then, the screen fades to black and a small caption reads, “Turn off your mobile phones.”

This concluding line directly opposes the American commercial, in that it does not advertise the need for technology dependence, but a personal connection to communication. Also, it does not take the typical American “in-your-face” approach of blatantly selling the audience a product. The characters seen throughout the advertisement are real. Many different races and ages are represented as the main character walks down the street so as to create a realistic picture in the consumer’s head; one that is honest in its representation of America. The irony of the situation is that this is a British commercial that is so accurately portraying an American event. This shows the cultured mentality of British communication companies. Also, there is an assumption made by Orange that the audience is intelligent enough to recognize a recent historical event from another country — an event that had no immediate impact on the United Kingdom — and process the advertising campaign with little background information about the setting.

As seen through the television commercials, the marketing campaigns of T-Mobile USA and Orange differ greatly. According to the T-Mobile USA website, “’Get More’ is more than a tagline for T-Mobile USA, Inc. The slogan is a business strategy and a commitment to providing customers with more minutes, more features, and more values so they can enjoy the benefits of mobile communications and ‘Get More from Life’ where they live, work and play” (www.t-mobile.com). The key part of this mission is T-Mobile’s commitment to continuously provide endless technology as if it is necessary to truly enjoy life. When analyzing the aforementioned commercial, it becomes apparent that T-Mobile advertisers indicate that telecommunication is the key to familial communication, i.e. the advertised “family plan” can take the place of personal contact. How do the American people feel about this marketing strategy? T-Mobile finished 2005 with record-breaking sales in the fourth quarter, allowing for a successful end to a highly profitable year.

Orange provides an interesting contrast. As seen in the commercial, this company took a more subtle approach to their advertising. According to their website, “Orange does not believe in technology for technology’s sake. Instead it is careful to make sure technology works for people and is "simple, intuitive and as personal as possible” with an interest in pursuing the “customer[‘s] benefit rather than the technical pursuit of a product.” (www.orange.co.uk). The emphasis is on making mobile communication synonymous with everyday life, therefore customers will eventually and subconsciously associate Orange with the concept of “communication”. This marketing campaign has been successful in the United Kingdom, as Orange has achieved 70% brand awareness after two years in business.

Though the aforementioned commercials may suggest otherwise, the American and British publics are both heavily socially dependent on technology — especially mobile communications. In reality, the British population is slightly more reliant than Americans. According to a recent study, 79% of British households own a cellular phone, while America follows closely with 75% of household ownership (www.ipsos-na.com). The BBC reported in 2005 that Britain is “moving towards a real time of dependency, where if we lose our mobile we begin to feel cut off from our network of friends, cut off from our contacts, and absolutely disabled” (www.bbc.co.uk). From my personal experience, I can see why the BBC made this claim. I worked in London for four months, and found that it was socially acceptable for business decisions to be made via text messaging. I could text out of work if I was sick or text other companies to set up meetings. Though the American business world is dependent on mobile technology as well, British businesses seem to take it one step further by truly incorporating it into everyday business practices.

Throughout this analysis thus far, I have looked at the different approaches to advertising by the United States and the United Kingdom, specifically in terms of each country’s dependence on mobile technology. Even though each company takes a drastically different advertising method, the market research proves that both are successful. Why does this seem to be true?

Culturally speaking, the US and the UK are significantly different. America exudes the concept of isolationism because the country is very large and far away from other countries, making it unlikely for Americans to receive a truly diverse cultural education. Most Americans will not interact with international people and policy on an everyday basis. Great Britain, on the other hand, is extremely multicultural. The United Kingdom alone is made up of four countries, and is neighbor to many more as a European country. British people are therefore in constant contact with international cultures, and are inherently aware of global policies. As I have worked with several companies in the United States, I have noticed how uncommon it is to work across state lines; yet through my internship in London, I was able to work with companies from several different countries.

Advertisers capitalize on these ideas for their commercials for both T-Mobile USA and Orange. In America, the image of the “all-American family” consisting of a white family of four was used, because that is what Americans know. The representation is what will entice them to buy a product. British advertisers can take a greater freedom with their product because their audience is accustomed to diverse cultural concepts. Advertisers do not have to limit their setting to British culture because the audience is comfortable with international views. Therefore, it is perfectly acceptable to set the commercial in New York City, while using actors of many different races in the background.

In reality, these television commercial examples prove that advertising is used as a tool which links communication and technical dependency. When the audience superficially looks at each commercial, it seems as though Americans rely upon technology more than any other culture. The American ad gives an “in-your-face” approach, stated very bluntly: if you buy this telephone plan, you will be in contact with one another. You will have more minutes, more games, and more technology on your mobile phone. The British version states otherwise: when you buy our brand, you buy our commitment to personal communication. As previously mentioned, British culture is more dependent on cellular technology. The key factor is the cultural perception of advertising in each country. American and British advertisers analyzed the social, economic and cultural influence of technology and advertising to develop messages they felt their audiences could process accordingly. In the end, two separate companies from two separate countries produced completely different marketing strategies for the same product, though both proved to be successful with the respective audiences.

Monica 17:44, 2 May 2006 (EDT)