« It's Easy Getting Objects Carried | Main | Socket Plus? »
Larger Small Print
Long queues to clear security checks at Delhi's Indira Gandhi International airport providing plenty of time for looking around and passenger watching. Due to the size of the sign the small print on the advertisement on the left is relatively large and noticeable - *conditions apply and *only in Delhi departure.
Four trends that might affect how this plays out in the future perfect: the increase of advertising across digital medium is not constrained by physical limits and provides greater scope for more small print; more people will carry personal devices capable of accessing related information; an increased quality of search engines to help you track down just what you are looking for; and an aging demographic with poorer eyesight demanding alternatives to today's small print.
Are more informed consumers better off? An opportunity to increase consumer understanding assumes that all parties benefit from having informed consumers - whereas in the real world conflicts abound.
Writing from | April 9, 2006 | Permalink
Comments
Funny you should bring this up, as I've been giving some thought to a similar issue lately.
There must have been some specific act of deregulation around two years ago, because since then the American airwaves are full of Big Pharma ads - "ask your doctor about..." and so on.
But they're really very strange, as advertisements go. American law requires that the potential side effects of a given drug be announced, and so what we think of as "small print" gets transmuted into rapidly spoken bullet points. You'll hear things like "Headachediarrheasleeplessnessdrymouthanxietystrokeandsuddendeath, see our ad in this month's Glamour for more details." It's a bizarre mismatch of content to medium, exacerbated (inevitably) by the advertisers' wish to comply with the letter and not the spirit of the regulation.
Posted by: Adam at April 13, 2006 5:37 AM
> "Headachediarrheasleeplessnessdrymouthanxietystrokeandsuddendeath, see our ad in this month's Glamour for more details."
The Simpsons have helped make this the stereotypical radio ad. I'm wondering whether other cultures will eventually have the same legal pressure to go down the same path?
Posted by: Jan at April 13, 2006 1:41 PM