Design Hochparterre Bücher - this is the name of Zurich's new bookshop. It offers all the important books on architecture and design as well as selected books on art. The store is located at Gasometerstrasse 28 in Kreis 5. The publisher Hochparterre and the bookseller Hanspeter Vogt are thus fulfilling a heartfelt wish for themselves and many people: we once again have a place where we can browse, find treasures, meet friends and order books. There is a well-assorted selection from publishers all over the world in the store and every other book will be available shortly.

 
Circulation figures Wemf is considering a change in practice regarding the publication of circulation figures for Swiss print titles. Circulation is an important tool for evaluating a newspaper, magazine or specialist title. Changes in circulation reflect the biorhythm of print titles in the constant ups and downs of the media industry particularly well. The impatience of media companies to see the figures of their competitors is correspondingly high. The AG für Werbemedienforschung (Wemf) accommodated this impatience and has therefore been publishing a provisional circulation list for several years, even before the two external auditing companies PricewaterhouseCoopers and Ernst & Young have given their OK. Misunderstandings about the preliminary listWith this preliminary list, which Wemf has published to date without any significant difficulties, there have been misunderstandings this year. For example, the Handelszeitungs Group, Jean Frey Verlag and Weltwoche complained that the reporting media had given the impression that the two publishers would not have their titles certified by Wemf this year. The misunderstandings have their origin in the fact that a few publishers only want to appear on the definitive list with the title "certified edition".
The preliminary list, which is the main focus of the Swiss media, already contains the figures for most titles, but the definitive list will not be published until November. By then, the media will no longer be very interested in it because practically all the data will already be known. But why are there two lists? "There are historical reasons," says Roland Achermann, project manager for authentication at Wemf. It has the advantage that Wemf is not bombarded with inquiries from impatient publishers in the trade press and the trade press does not have to painstakingly check the print runs in turn.
Achermann has no explanation for this year's misunderstandings. "Some media probably didn't communicate in the best way." Wemf wants to consider how to communicate the figures in future. So there will probably only be one list.
René Worni

 APG will continue to be responsible for public billposting in Winterthur. As part of a tender process, the city council has decided to renew the contract with the previous concession partner, which was terminated at the end of 2007. The contract covers around 630 permanent poster sites and the option of temporary sites, which are used in particular during elections and referendums. The city council wants to adapt the poster guidelines from 1997 due to innovations such as the large F24 format and megaposters.

 
Football With a firework of ideas, Goldbach Media also wants to offer non-official Uefa sponsors a Euro 08 platform. 
Although it's still quite a while until Euro 08 kicks off, preparations are in full swing. The advertising industry is organizing panel discussions and workshops everywhere until every last advertiser in this country is convinced of the importance of the big football festival, and this week the Goldbach Media Group also brought the industry together to present its special offer. Stefan Halter, head of Euro 08 activities at Goldbach Media, spent two 45-minute sessions presenting the match concept with which the electronic media marketer also wants to offer non-official Uefa sponsors an advertising opportunity. Three pearls have emerged which, according to Halter, have the potential to become highlights. Halter is convinced that the Euro 08 train has by no means left the station, even for non-official Uefa sponsors.
According to Halter, the number one pearl is a third public viewing concept. Since the World Cup in Germany at the latest, a major football event without these public parties is unthinkable. Similar to the UBS arenas, Goldbach Media offers advertisers the opportunity to showcase their brands at a total of 14 "provincial" locations. The marketer from Küsnacht was able to secure 7 of the 14 planned locations by contract. The big difference to the Uefa public viewings is that the brands can appear individually. This means, for example, that an Ikea Arena in Zug and a Swiss Arena in Baden could provide a festive atmosphere. According to the presentation, 1.9 million fans are expected at the planned locations.
The second gem presented by Stefan Halter is called WLAN City. During the football festival, wireless internet will be installed in the seven major German-speaking cities in Switzerland. Lucerne already has the first comprehensive WLAN city network in Switzerland, allowing wireless Internet access throughout the city. The specific marketing idea: with a special Internet card, which is handed out on arrival or with the purchase of a product, for example, fans can go online with laptops or cell phones. The brand would be showcased on the entry page.
The third pearl of the presentation is a radio concept whose name has not yet been decided, but will be communicated at the latest after the participating national teams have been announced. As Stefan Halter explained, the European Championship radio station sees itself as a temporary addition to the public stations and private broadcasters. For 30 days, the radio will report non-stop on the European Championships under the motto "The Rhythm of Football".
Christian Lüscher

 
Joe Philport, president of the Traffic Audit Bureau (TAB), explains how to measure whether pedestrians pay more or less attention to outdoor advertising. 
WW: Why does America need a new measurement system for outdoor advertising? Joe Philport: The current system was created in the 1930s and simply counts the number of pedestrians passing by a billboard. It doesn't provide particularly detailed information, such as demographic data.
So what’s supposed to change? The novel feature of this system, which the TAB is currently testing, is the so-called «Eyes on» component. It’s being used to investigate which advertisements are more noticeable to passersby. The focus is therefore on how far billboards need to be from the street or on what type of street they should be located. An advertisement is considered «noticed» if the viewer’s gaze rests on a billboard for as little as two-tenths of a second.
How does this benefit marketers? We’re using it to build a comprehensive rating system for buying and selling outdoor advertising. It will apply to all 200 U.S. markets. Our members expect it to be fully implemented by October 2008. After all, they’re paying $25 million for it over the next five years.
Interview: Gerti Schön
More on the subject:
«Advertising is getting more and more personal»

The Neue Lgk agency from Bern and Zurich launched a cross-media campaign for the online insurance company KPT in mid-September. The core of the campaign is the independent microsite Einzeltraining.ch. The aim is to keep Swiss people healthy and fit. The trainer Max puts together an individual fitness program for everyone free of charge and accompanies them through the entire training session.
Trainer Max is being introduced nationwide with posters, a TV commercial, bus posters and banners. To date, over 70,000 people have already signed up to train with Max, according to a press release.
The training program was developed in collaboration with sports physicians from Berlin. Netvertising from Zurich is responsible for the technical implementation. The TV commercial and the 250 video modules with trainer Max were produced in collaboration with Solid & Hallerfilm under the direction of Rainer Binz.
 
Responsible at KPT/CPT:

Reto Egloff (Member of the Executive Board), Maya Burri (Head of Marketing)Responsible at Neue Lgk Kommunikations AG:
André Benker (CD), Stephan Wittwer (AD), Lukas Schmid Text, Silvano Spezia, Mirjam Huber, Claudia Chryselius Consulting, web design: Netvertising; training tool: xx-well.com, Berlin; spot production TV, videos microsite: Solid & Hallerfilm; Director: Rainer Binz.

 
Home Decor: Wirz shows how to make room for new items in your home at the Brockenhaus. 
Anyone who has lived in the same apartment for ten years or even longer knows all too well what kinds of things can accumulate in a household. Here, an outdated record player that still works perfectly; there, an exercise bike that’s been sitting in the bedroom for years. The new thrift store campaign, developed by Wirz Werbung, is aimed at these «hoarders» in the Zurich region. The agency, which has been working with the thrift store for four years now, wanted to use eye-catching visuals to broaden the concept a bit: Not just to remind people of the Brocki’s existence, but to «highlight the junk that still has resale value for the Brockenhaus,» says Creative Director Matthias Freuler. One problem for the social institution is that such items are increasingly ending up at Riccardo’s auctions, while the Brocki is now being misused merely as a free bulky waste pickup service.
Andreas Panzeri

 
Media Research: In the United States, efforts are intensifying to develop more precise methods for measuring media use. 
While media usage data is the be-all and end-all for the entire marketing industry worldwide, the topic isn’t exactly considered particularly «sexy.» “Who actually wants to go to lunch with a media researcher?” asked Jon Mandel, the head of Nielsen Connect, provocatively during a recent panel at New York’s Advertising Week, thereby expressing his view on why integrated media research remains a mystery to many media professionals to this day.
Nielsen is the leading media research company in the United States. For several years now, it has been focused on integrating measurements across a wide variety of platforms—no longer just TV, radio, print, and the Internet, but also cell phones, iPods, in-store and outdoor advertising, and video games. To do this, Nielsen uses data from a national panel comprising 12,000 households. Because Nielsen wants to offer its clients—who, due to the company’s market dominance, typically pay hefty prices for its products—a comprehensive analysis, the initiative is called ’Anytime Anywhere Media Measurement,« or A2M2 for short.
Marketing Professionals Dissatisfied: For years, marketing firms have been complaining about the increasing fragmentation of media research. «For one of our integrated campaigns, we received print data from the Audit Bureau of Circulations, internet figures from Comscore, and TV ratings from Nielsen,» lamented Beth-Ann Eason, Senior Vice President at the media company Martha Stewart Living. «Yet the Holy Grail of measurement—user engagement—isn’t being measured at all.» But that «engagement»—that is, how intensely a media consumer engages with an advertising message—is something that, of course, no one can currently determine with precision.
One example that at least comes close to this, however, is the measurement of what’s known as «buzz marketing.» Nielsen analyzes what consumers say about a specific topic in blogs and public chat rooms. According to Jon Mandel’s account, one successful example was a research project for a pharmaceutical company on diabetes. The study examined what consumers were most concerned about, which type of diabetes was most prevalent, and what was perceived as positive or negative. «In the past, a study was commissioned to justify a decision that had already been made,» said Mandel. “That has changed with new technologies.”
A Sweet Target Audience: Starting this summer, even video games have been included in Nielsen’s measurement scope—specifically, the extent to which players notice «in-game advertising» on consoles such as Xbox, Wii, or PlayStation. «53 percent of Americans have access to a console,» said Jeff Hermann, vice president of Nielsen Games. «The target audience of 13- to 24-year-old male users is particularly attractive to marketers.»
In outdoor and out-of-home advertising—one of the fastest-growing advertising categories in the U.S. alongside online advertising—advertisers are increasingly demanding reliable measurement methods (see
«We're setting up a rating system»
), how and to what extent the advertising messages are noticed. The mall network Adspace recently completed a pilot project in which it installed its nearly three-meter-tall digital billboards in about 100 luxury shopping centers across the U.S., reaching approximately 100 million visitors, according to the company. «Advertisers simply wanted more substantial results,» said Bill Ketchum, Senior Vice President of Marketing at Adspace, explaining the rationale behind the survey. As part of the study, 600 mall visitors were interviewed in detail about the extent to which they remembered the content of the billboards. Forty-seven percent of those surveyed stated that they actually remembered the advertised product. The digital billboards display a series of 12-second video clips highlighting the day’s special offers. Longer clips are not recommended because customers generally do not linger in front of them for that long. «Out-of-home advertising has proven to be very successful because marketing companies need to reach customers directly at the point of purchase,» said Paul Lindstrom, Senior Vice President of Custom Research at Nielsen, which participated in the Adspace study. «The closer the customer is to the point of purchase, the more relevant the message is to them, and the more likely they are to make a purchase.»
Gerti Schön, New York
 
 

 
Marc Görtz, 43, managing director of Ringier-TV since 2005 and, as of July 1, a member of Ringier’s executive board responsible for electronic media, discusses TV digitization and the prospects that producers see in the new media.  
WW: Digitalization has—a bit faster than expected—also reached traditional media, and thus television. Is the industry well prepared for this? Marc Görtz: It will still take a while before these technological possibilities reach the masses. This also applies to digitalization in television, although progress here is being made in giant strides. The digital services offered by Cablecom and Bluewin-TV are used by around 200,000 households in Switzerland—not even 10 percent of the market. But here we’re talking about signal distribution. The content is essentially the same as before. Interactivity, as is widely practiced in England, is very limited. However, broadcasters—in Switzerland, of course, primarily the SF channels with their fantastic capabilities—are increasingly making the leap to digital media and making their content available online.
Digital technology, after all, offers possibilities that aren’t feasible with analog technology. For example, splitting the screen to display different content. The key question is: what does the viewer want? Picture-in-picture is fun, but I usually watch a channel in full-screen mode, not on two screens—I may have two eyes, but they usually look in one direction. When it comes to interactivity, I have my doubts as to whether viewers even want to engage in a dialogue with the broadcasters. The spectacular failure of Betty TV is probably an indication that there’s still a long way to go before people actually want to engage interactively. We’ve been watching TV for many years. It’s a linear medium with one-way communication. Nobody wants to do anything more active than channel-surfing.
Given the shift to digital, what is currently the biggest challenge facing television? At the moment, it’s less about technological developments and more about how to get viewers to tune in to your programming. After all, digitization has brought about unprecedented fragmentation and a previously unseen variety of channels. I have Bluewin TV at home, but I rarely find myself watching China’s CCTV or Russia’s Channel 1. I stick to my habits and the “beacons” because I know what to expect from them. Channels have become brands. Establishing themselves as brands is the major challenge facing broadcasters. But what’s causing the biggest headache for ad-supported channels is the way TV is increasingly being consumed. As for me, I practically never watch TV linearly according to a schedule anymore. I schedule the shows I want to watch online and then watch them whenever I have the time and feel like it. Of course, this is where two worlds collide. Naturally, I fast-forward through commercials whenever possible. I don’t want to have a say in the programming or help shape it, but I do want to be able to decide for myself when I watch it.
Where are the young people? They practically don’t watch TV the way we used to anymore. Reaching them is the big challenge today. That’s why broadcasters are massively expanding their online offerings and trying to establish their brand across all kinds of digital media. I doubt that will work with traditional content.
Well, all broadcasters are going online these days—it’s the order of the day. Those who hold attractive online rights and have strong news expertise have the advantage. However, it’s a fallacy to believe that the traditional TV model works the same way online or on mobile as it does over cable. In the transitional phase we’re currently in, it’s okay to bring old content formats to new media. DVB-H, for example—mobile TV, which is set to launch next year—has a very bright future. But not with the content it’s initially intended to deliver to customers—namely, a few free-to-air TV channels. Long-term success will come from «made-for-mobile» content—that is, content produced specifically for this medium. This content has yet to be developed and embraced by the audience. That will take time. But it will happen. The driving force behind moving images online wasn’t the content offered by TV stations, but rather user-generated content, such as what we find on YouTube, My Video, or Clipfish.
Digitalization is thus blurring the lines between individual media and their channels, while at the same time fragmenting the audience. Is this an advantage or a disadvantage? From a producer’s perspective, it’s a great starting point. TV stations are run by gatekeepers who rely heavily on gut instinct to decide what their audience gets to watch during those scarce broadcast slots. Naturally, this rarely appeals to the masses. Digitization opens doors. Anyone can launch a niche channel or start broadcasting on the internet. That’s true diversity—with huge risks of failure, but also great opportunities.
As a producer, you simply turn to other media because you don’t have your own. That’s not a cop-out—it’s an expansion. Our Webcenter, which was just founded, produces video content exclusively for websites such as Cash.ch, Schweizerillustrierte.ch, and Blick.ch with a team of ten VJs. For Blick, we created «Blickpunkt,» the first web magazine on a news site. Its success has been overwhelming and clearly demonstrates the opportunities this opens up for producers.
Will traditional television disappear? No, if we're talking about a ten-year timeframe. But the fact is: The medium is steadily losing viewers, especially younger ones, who are increasingly turning to other ways to consume video content.
Does that mean television in the traditional sense will also lose its significance as a mass medium that shapes identity—if you think, for example, of the «Tagesschau»? It wasn’t that long ago that the «Tagesschau» regularly drew a million viewers. Today, we’re a long way from that. This has nothing to do with quality, but rather with the fact that the medium is crumbling. When you also consider that the average age of the SF flagship program’s audience is just under 60, it becomes clear that identity formation—at least among young people—does not take place through the «Tagesschau.» They have their own sources today—20 Minuten, Google, and Yahoo—where they go to get their news. And they won’t be returning to the old media. My generation grew up with the «Tagesschau»—there were hardly any alternatives. But today, I no longer have to wait until 7:30 p.m. to get my news fix.
What changes can we expect in television in the near future? We have relatively high failure rates—not just in Switzerland; the situation isn’t much different in Germany. The challenge is to find new formats that can also be used on other platforms—ones that resonate with the younger target audience without alienating older viewers—a difficult balancing act. But it’s also about content convergence. Content must be adapted to today’s needs and formatted appropriately for the medium. I’ve been working in the TV industry for about 14 years now. Especially in the free-to-air TV sector, it’s never been as difficult as it is now to produce content that people actually want to watch. Major events, U.S. series, and movies are still performing really well right now. Original productions are having a very hard time. We need to reach those who have turned away from TV through other channels with content tailored to the medium. Above all, this is also a huge opportunity for content producers.
Advertising is a key driver for the growth of web TV, mobile, and so on. How do you see the future in this area? Internet advertising is too cheap. That will change as the medium matures—no question about it. The advertising industry and content providers are in the early stages of what will be a long learning process. Good content brings reach. And reach brings advertising revenue. More than in any other medium, the principle of trial and error applies to new media. Switzerland is slow to adapt; even by an optimistic estimate, the online share of the advertising pie this year is just 2%, while in neighboring France it’s already over 10%. New media will also explode here, and there is no question that this will lead to major shifts toward digital channels.
Interview: René Worni

 
With the manu wüst pro motion agency, Manu Wüst wants to set old contacts in motion in new constellations for surprising ideas. 
Their business stationery features a funnel as a logo. The mouthpiece created by WHS was awarded a bronze ADC cube in 1997. That was not a bad start in terms of style. And figuratively also a fitting one for a former radio broadcaster who set up her own "agency for communication" ten years ago.
Since then, there have been many exciting projects, changes and developments. One of these is now a new office on Zurich's Bederstrasse. This has once again given the idea of pro motion a major boost in the direction of "taking off". The work from this latest phase can currently be seen all over the city. However, the 125th anniversary streetcar launched this week and the associated poster campaign with VBZ passengers portrayed by star photographer Alberto Venzago are just the final fireworks of an anniversary celebration that manu wüst pro motion has been working on for several months. But let's look back.
Manu Wüst, who spent 13 years in radio in a variety of roles, including six as head of DRS 3, was one of SRG's first female executives. At 43, she felt she was too old for the station. But at the same time, she still felt far too young to be promoted to one of these well-deserved positions on the "Planning and Coordination" floor. For Manu Wüst, 1997 was the best time, when she wanted to try something completely new and unique. Sponsoring was becoming increasingly popular. And with such collaborations and the bringing together of a wide variety of partners, the newly minted young entrepreneur also saw promising opportunities for her own company.
As head of DRS 3, Wüst was the first SRG radio station to purchase many concert rights in the pop, jazz and rock genres. Like the private pioneer Radio 24 in this market, she also had to finance such live broadcasts at DRS 3 with sponsorship. As a result, she gained valuable experience and exciting contacts in a wide variety of areas, which Wüst ultimately wanted to use with her new company. "The radio gave me a good jump-start."
Her own company was allowed to continue acquiring sponsors for DRS 3 on a mandate basis. In cooperation with Tamedia's Facts magazine, Wüst launched the morning quiz "Tango" on DRS 3. For several years, her agency was able to win the Swiss family with publishing director Roland Wahrenberger as a sponsor for the hit parade. In cooperation with the magazine, she also produced the first CD compilation with Swiss hits and organized various external parties around the institution of the Swiss Hit Parade. "Going out to the people and seeking direct contact with the audience was an important goal for me even back then," says Wüst, describing a focus for her communication work that is still valid today: the keyword is customer loyalty.
It also wanted to get closer to the people with a special streetcar for the nature conservation department. For two years, pro motion used it to show the people of Zurich what the department actually does. Various topics were covered in changing installations on the streetcar. A media conference was held every three months, at which the politicians concerned were also involved. Wüst not only provided the ideas for this special streetcar, but also arranged the sponsors and managed all the media work. "My connections to a wide range of media people from my many years in radio made it easier even back then to place committed topics in the media."
Manu Wüst entered the world of communication at Condorfilms. After dropping out of a - "typical Journi" - teacher training course and interpreting school without a diploma, she was able to develop her career in film to become a recording manager before her dream job as a radio intern finally came true. In two years at the recently founded DRS 3, she learned the job from the ground up. During the following 13 years at DRS 3 and later also DRS 1, Wüst produced major background programs, worked politically for the regional journal and finally became a producer for accompanying, age, children's and youth programs before she was elected program director of DRS 3 in 1991.
After seven years of self-employment with her agency, Manu Wüst was later employed once again. In the communications department of Unicef Switzerland, she organized the Zurich Unicef Night in 2003 and, in addition to "children's voices from all over the world", inspired many celebrities from Moritz Leuenberger to "Star Wars" legend Christopher Lee for the Zurich gala.
After 18 months, Wüst moved to VBZ as Head of Corporate Communications, then to print journalism for the first time in 2005 in the editorial department of the Tages-Anzeiger. In the pilot project for the regional editions, she worked "once again as an ordinary journalist" in the editorial department for the left bank of the lake. Then this spring - ten years after her first step into self-employment - the time seemed ripe once again for manu wüst pro motion. "I felt that I needed a bit more variety again."
Her new edition of manu wüst pro motion is now to be neither a PR office nor an event agency. Manu Wüst describes herself as "extremely versatile". She wants to combine the most diverse facets of her skills and interests in her work. "Dreaming up ideas, developing concepts, managing projects, connecting people, contacting the media." She also enjoys organizing - "preferably" what she has thought up herself.
The upcoming tasks include a mandate for Zurich Zoo. manu wüst pro motion is also to publicize the zoo for the tourists expected during the upcoming European Football Championships. She is in talks with the new Beobachter publishing director Roland Wahrenberger for various projects. It is also possible that Manu Wüst will also act as an intermediary between Switzerland and Berlin in the future. She recently bought an apartment in the German metropolis with her husband. He, chief of staff to city councillor Kathrin Martelli, completed part of his MBA in Berlin and was immediately impressed by the city. Manu Wüst, who visited him there, shared his love of the German capital and together they decided to make it their second home.
Andreas Panzeri

 
Piero’s column on the rampage at the Ringier Press House, the media minister’s sympathy for the perpetrator as a victim, and Blocher’s “nyet” to Ueli Maurer’s SVP newspaper—the possible discontinuation of which our columnist already regrets. 
The newspapers once belonged to a publisher who was also an editor-in-chief and a member of the National Council. Back then, the world was in order and the media landscape was relatively intact. Historians will likely come to realize one day that the old media order came to an end with the Cold War. With it also began the rise of the SVP, which replaced Moscow—the lost enemy—with Brussels. Thanks to «Arena» and the SonntagsZeitung, we were treated to debates that were, in some cases, much freer but also more vitriolic, along with more sensationalism. The SVP has benefited from and accelerated media developments through its provocations—it is not the worst example illustrating the contradictions of this party. It lost its “culture war” (Switzerland during World War II) and the most important referendums (the UN, Schengen). It remains successful with its scapegoat campaigns. It gave us the columnist Mörgeli and Blocher as a Federal Councilor.
And ten days ago, she had promised a new newspaper. To console us over the possible loss of Blocher as a Federal Councilor. But the SVP clearly has nothing to offer in this election campaign other than scapegoats, conspiracy theories, and empty promises. And we had been looking forward to the new newspaper so much. The situation has become so heated, the political climate so unbearable, that the threat of an SVP newspaper seemed to us like a promise of a return to the good old days. But we won’t be getting a “Blocher Pravda.” He said so himself. The day after he was voted out, Ueli Maurer wanted to present the concept and get started right away. Hardly anyone has been more publicly disavowed by their ungrateful friends. Blocher probably just wanted to demonstrate how indispensable Blocher TV is. He’d likely have to do without it in the opposition.
We’d prefer a newspaper straight from the SVP’s kitchen. Because we urgently need a replacement for the *Blick*. Piero showed us just how far things have come when he tried to drive his mother’s Mercedes right through the glass door into the newsroom. In the Wemf survey, *Blick* lost another 15,000 copies. No lawsuit, no campaign. Sex and scandals don’t cut it anymore either. The editorial staff is desperately searching for new concepts. But the fact that satire and tabloid journalism don’t mix was already preached by Übersax back in the good old days of the Cold War. Meanwhile, in *Die Weltwoche*, he’s up in arms about the—literally—expensive crap of modern art. With him, the SVP could truly have produced a promising newspaper. Just like back when *Blick* was still raunchy and unscrupulously staged its campaigns for motorists and against asylum seekers. We actually prefer this kind of inflammatory rhetoric in the tabloids rather than in politics, which is another reason why we would have welcomed an SVP newspaper.
An SVP tabloid wouldn’t have just shown Moritz Leuenberger in his swim trunks—as the prudish *Blick* did back then—but would have stripped him bare—politically speaking. Our refined media minister has just revealed in a book just how much he struggles with cynicism and base instincts. His tragedy is that, unlike Blocher—about whom there are at least four new books—Leuenberger has to write his own books, and *Blick* isn’t interested in the philosopher, but rather in his swim trunks. Leuenberger still resents *Blick* for this. And that’s why he’s expressed sympathy for Piero’s reckless drive. Of course, he wouldn’t have driven himself—he would have sent the chauffeur! Unlike *Blick*, a Federal Councilor is allowed to be satirical and even self-deprecating.
The publishing house, for its part, is so ashamed of what it has done to Piero, the media victim, that it isn’t even filing a lawsuit. The last tough guys who are cut out for the tabloids—and who, just as during the Cold War, know how to distinguish between perpetrators and victims—are probably really to be found in the SVP. And Blocher, like his party president Maurer, is so steadfast in his convictions that he, at least, won’t thank the rioters in Bern for their “election assistance” over the heated weekend.
 
 
Jürg Altwegg is the cultural correspondent for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in Geneva.

 On Tuesday, the Fairness Commission (LK) held a workshop at Zurich City Hall on the topic of sexist advertising. In her opening remarks, National Council member and LK President Pascale Bruderer outlined the issues she considers essential for the further development of the Fairness Commission. Among other things, she said, it is important to raise awareness of the Commission’s work and, above all, to make it clear to political circles that the LK is not simply a group of advertisers, but a body of specialists and experts of integrity. As the LK further notes in a report on the workshop, City Councilor Kathrin Martelli delivered a message of greeting from the Zurich City Council. As the guardian of public space, she advocated for bold and extroverted advertising, but stressed that it must not cross certain boundaries. She noted that the relevant regulatory efforts in Zurich are working very well, as she is personally confronted with issues surrounding sexist advertising only very rarely.
Marc Schwenninger, legal secretary of the Fair Trading Commission, presented several real-life cases that demonstrated just how close the line can be when determining whether an advertisement is sexist or not.
 A Swedish Perspective Jan Fager from the Swedish Ethics Council provided a perspective from another country. In principle, self-regulation in Sweden functions similarly to that in Switzerland; however, a complaint is not required for the Ethics Council to intervene—it also takes action on its own initiative. This naturally has an impact on the volume of cases as well: In the record year of 2004, the council reviewed 740 cases. In Switzerland, the number is approximately 300 cases per year.
During the concluding panel discussion—which featured Pascale Bruderer, the two advertising executives Thomas Städeli of Wirz Werbung and Pius Walker of the Walker Advertising Agency, and Dore Heim, the City of Zurich’s equal opportunity officer—controversial opinions were expressed.
Pascale Bruderer wants to raise awareness of the LK’s work and is not afraid that increased public relations efforts on the commission’s part might draw complaints from the advertising industry. She took the position that no laws are needed, as legislative regulation could entail certain disadvantages.
 
Sexist Advertising as a Waste of Advertising Budgets Advertising executive Pius Walker also opposes government regulation, arguing that it would be dangerous because it would require banning a great many things; after all, he says, the campaigns featuring sexist content are simply examples of bad advertising. According to Walker, it is first and foremost a waste of advertising budgets. A regulatory body that censors advertising would ultimately protect advertisers from publishing bad ads, and that cannot be the state’s role.
Dore Heim disagreed, arguing that it must be possible to ban advertising in public spaces, since people are exposed to these images there. She noted that some advertisements convey a harmful image of women. The state has a duty to prevent discrimination against one gender. Dore Heim described advertising in construction magazines as absolutely problematic and cause for concern.
When asked whether the agency or the client is more responsible for sexist advertising, Thomas Städeli said that it is actually the clients who tend to exercise restraint. After all, any sanctions would ultimately affect the clients, not the creative team.
The Fair Trading Commission’s Approach In conclusion, Pascale Bruderer summarized the Fair Trading Commission’s approach in three points: First, it is important that children and adolescents receive special protection.
Second, banning billboards is not an effective way to address exposure to gender-discriminatory advertising or depictions of violence, as these occur in numerous other areas and media—not least within the family.
Third, regarding hypersexualization, Bruderer notes that the Fair Trading Commission is not a moral authority; furthermore, he points out that people here operate on the basis of completely different sensibilities, which define entirely different boundaries.