Shows or rip-offs?

We live in a society in which we pay to have advertising inflicted upon us.

For decades we purchased our newspaper without understanding that the main economic objective of newspaper publishers is the revenue from advertisements. News and magazine-style articles are the hooks for our purchase, but there would be no financial gain in printing these without advertising. That is the tree on which the money grows (allegedly, in these times!)

Take another form of perceived entertainment - pay television. This is more in the newspaper model; paid entertainment for the subscriber, coupled with lucrative advertising revenue.

Cinema advertising takes a similar position, by charging substantial admission fees then inflicting screen ads on captive audiences.

At least with free-to-air television if we do not wish to watch the ads we can always change channel to the ABC - then be regaled by advertising for ABC Shop products. Or not watch TV at all!

Advertising has been a feature of our capitalist society for a very long time. It is the main way that potential consumers can learn about new products, or services and works best with a high frequency of impacts, coupled with a memorable style.

It can position advertisers very positively in the consumer’s eye.

That is, unless you were a recipient of some of the deliberately irritating and gross television advertising I used to create when working for ad guru, John Singleton. Our strategy was very carefully planned; to make advertising that could not fail to be noticed, and our retail clients’ cash registers showed outstandingly clear proof of its success after airing. Boundaries were there to be stretched, but we never inflicted deceptive costing on the viewers to watch that advertising.

Trends now exist in growing amounts where people are being duped into paying money to attend what are really marketing exhibitions, operated under the pretext of entertainment.

The cost of advertising can be substantial, and is part of the business costs of manufacturers and distributors of products and services. What a clever idea if you can induce the customer to pay to be marketed to!

Businesses create brands to build awareness, positioning, and customer loyalty, often with the aid of slogans.

Let’s say you want to buy a Toyota - you may walk into a dealership thinking “Oh … what a feeling”.

You want to pick up some groceries - you go into Woolies remembering “The Fresh Food People”.

You need clothes or furnishings - in you go to a department store believing, “There’s no other store like David Jones”.

Businesses try to maintain customer attraction through positive brand awareness and trust.

But whether you shop at major stores, or are just visiting the suburban market, all of them have at least one thing in common; there is no charge to come in. If there was, nobody would shop there.

Yet venues such as themed shows and exhibitions, where the prime purpose of the displays is to attract potential customers, trick people into paying to enter. Why?

Advertising and promotional costs are a part of every business, therefore tax deductible. When funds are spent on radio and television, the consumer sees that advertising free of charge. Why not at marketing exhibitions?

Events promoters devise collective displays for themed goods, and sell exhibition space to clients in a similar way to the mass media. But they are double dipping. As well as covering costs, and making a profit by charging exhibitors for display areas, these promoters ask the gullible public to pay for admission as well.

I refuse to attend any product show which involves “fee-to-see”. After all, what does that admission purchase?

I have no problem with entry charges to legitimate entertainment such as concerts, cinemas, sporting events, air shows, and plays. In these, the performers give of their skills in return for money.

The Easter Show is similar, although it has taken a steady marketing shift from the days when it was a Royal Agricultural Show, primarily featuring agricultural produce and livestock, to today’s re-branded Royal Easter Show, focused more on entertainment, and saleable show bags for the masses.

There is at least one leisure venue in Sydney which makes no charge for admission - the iconic Luna Park. Entry is free to a place where one can enjoy, at no cost, the sights and sounds of others having fun and thrills. Visitors only pay for the rides. This venue has been a tradition for Sydney-siders for generations, particularly the young. As teenagers, my friends and I used to spend many a Saturday there at little or no cost.

Why should marketing exhibitions not be free also, and present goods and services in a favourable, themed environment where potential customers can be attracted to a style of product in which they have an interest, and if motivated, buy on the spot?

These exhibitions have the benefits of permanent specialty stores, without their high yearly overheads. They are a good way to let people see and learn about products and services, and usually have the capacity for large numbers of potential buyers to attend.

But payment for entry is also the stopping barrier for many like me. I refuse to pay to go to boat shows, car shows, home shows, book shows, caravan shows, and others whose aim is to display both tangibles, such as products, or intangible services and awareness. These manufacturing and retail advertising displays are staged with one aim - to sell!

Marketing is a legitimate cost for the businesses taking part, but its cost should not flow directly to potential consumers. The role of these shows is to sell product, not sell entry.

The public has been conditioned steadily over the years into believing that marketing exhibitions are entertainment, and that they ought to attend, that it is a normal activity. Were these events free, perhaps that may be so, but if there are admission charges, then they are just a rip-off, and an attempt, by the exhibitors, to defray the cost of advertising.

Just as viewers who record TV programs for later viewing, and fast forward through the ads to exclude them, don’t pay for the “privilege” of being marketed to, then how about we stay away … unless entry is free!

Irving Berlin was right: “There’s no business like show business”. Or should I be thinking more of P.T. Barnum saying: “There’s a sucker born every minute”?