Martin Fritsche is Strategic Planning Director for TBWA Switzerland and focuses on successful advertising with "cultural added value." It is said that you have to reduce complexity - as if this were possible: "You can't reduce complexity, but you can reduce your attitude towards it," says Martin Fritsche, quoting the systems theorist Niklaus Luhmann, one of his most important leading figures. Political activist in Berlin, theater man, high school teacher, journalist, scientist, advertiser, lecturer and design researcher: Martin Fritsche's career is characterized by many facets - and everything has its complex context.
It all started at the University of Zurich with German studies, art history and philosophy. Shortly before graduating, however, Fritsche realized that "something was missing". So he wanted to go to Berlin for a research semester. There, the man who always has to have everything perfect realized that he had "hardly understood anything" for ten semesters in Zurich. So he knuckled down once again and completed his Master's degree at the Free University of Berlin.
When the Berlin Wall fell and a major strike was called at many European universities, Fritsche could no longer leave. "There was just too much going on, and I was already in the middle of it."
Later, he was in charge of public relations for the Hebbel Theater in Berlin and at the same time wrote a dissertation at the TUB's Department of Communication and History entitled "Hans Magnus Enzensberger's production-oriented morality. Constants in the aesthetics of an opponent of equality". That sounds complicated, he laughs today. In this work, he shows "how image is created through the interplay of production and reception aesthetics. I am interested in projections onto reality. In terms of epistemology, there is no reality, only what we think it is."
Of course, this has "a lot to do with advertising". Advertising and consumers play a game together: "We create commercially oriented messages and instrumentalize mass media. But it's all out in the open. The consumer continues to decide autonomously, but at the same time is part of the system - just like us."
Therefore, really good advertising can only be that which creates cultural added value and "enriches this dialogical cycle with meaningful values".
The current strategist started out in advertising in Zurich as a copywriter at Studer & Partner. There he learned a lot from Werner Schellenberg, among others. Around ten years later, he met this AD again at TBWA. The career changer was initially interested in learning all the practices of commercial communication as quickly as possible. His most important stations were Fisch Meier Direkt, Interbrand Zintzmeyer&Lux and Euro RSCG as Head of Strategic Planning.
After getting to know "four big strategy bibles" at various agencies, Fritsche was initially skeptical about TBWA's new "religion" with the provocative name Disruption - but he is now convinced. "For me, disruption is the challenge of daring to make a radical break." Disruption makes it possible to use a completely different lever than conventional advertising does. Under certain circumstances, disruption could lead to entire marketing organizations being questioned and radically optimized.
Fritsche has been a participant in the FlowTeamAcademy for two years in order to adapt his expertise not only to the increasing demands for networking and dynamism in customer consulting, but also in management. This think tank deals with the optimization of complex processes and the "implementation of initiatives in existing structures". FlowTeam management means "using diversified talents, non-linear leadership, promoting self-organization, synchronous and decentralized development".
FlowTeam without hierarchies: Is that also possible in an agency? "Of course TBWA, with its size, has to function in a structured way, and ultimately one person has overall responsibility. But I can create islands where FlowTeam works. One of these is the creative process," says Fritsche. He sees such workshop design as "feasible across various organizational levels right through to the customer".
He came across the FlowTeam approach at the Zurich University of Art and Design. He worked there for a year as a lecturer and head of research at the Institute for Design Research under the aegis of Ruedi Baur. "After ten years of advertising, I was looking for new impulses and further approaches. I can't spend my life selling chocolate bars and mid-range cars. I was attracted by the mix of science, business and communication."
However, the now successful practitioner realized during his "university sabbatical", as he calls it, that he could no longer stand the university grind. "I have to do business, I want to lead a motivated team, increasing sales and prospering customers."
So the strategist returned to the industry and has been working as Strategic Planning Director for TBWA Switzerland since August - "an international network where I can step on the gas". Fritsche is enthusiastic about his new job because Zurich not only plays the role of an adaptation agency in this network, but can also contribute even more to TBWA's international reputation in the future with a direct line to Paris.
The new customer will not allow McDonald's to adopt fundamentally new strategies. "With the fifth strongest brand on the planet, headquarters knows exactly what it wants and needs. But McDo doesn't tell me how to achieve these goals. Here, we are required to work in a truly disruptive and creative way."
How do you manage a brand? How do you build it? As a lecturer in corporate identity and brand management at the University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland, Fritsche is forced to keep up to date with the latest theory. "I have to work through the latest specialist literature and can always take on board stimulating input from the students."
Even with a busy schedule, Fritsche still makes a point of visiting Zurich's Moods jazz club. "The club is slowly but surely becoming an important institution in European jazz," he believes. "Because what is good jazz other than disruption: profound knowledge of conventions, virtuoso breaking of conventions and surprisingly creating something new that grooves."             
Andreas Panzeri

Film funding The deadline for the Talent Screen competition for young talent has been extended to September 2. There is a colorful crowd on the way to the screen. Nevertheless, there is still room for Spielberg juniors, Coppola daughters and other talents. At the time this Advertising Week went to press, 122 participants had already registered for the Talent Screen competition. That is a new record. Nevertheless, the organizers Philip Delaquis, Min Li Marti and Stefan Zuber from Das Kollektiv want to give even more film hopefuls a chance. "Many are working so hard on their scripts that they haven't even heard of our competition," says Zuber - although Wirz Werbung has communicated this very creatively. The closing date for the competition has therefore been extended to next weekend, September 2. There are two different formats to take part in. In the Pitch Battle, you have to read from your own script in front of an audience. In the Movie Marathon, a short film must be shot within 48 hours. The start of this chase against the clock is on Monday, September 4, 12 noon in Zurich. There, the team will receive an envelope from the artistic director with the specified theme. Teams of two or more can register. The film is open in terms of genre (feature, documentary or experimental film) and should be less than five minutes long. Participants work with their own equipment. The deadline for submitting the finished film is Wednesday, September 6, at 12 noon.
Last year's theme was "cleaning". The new marathon will once again ask for something "exotic". In this way, the jury wants to avoid participants only being able to submit their old and already finished films.
The jury is made up of Matthias Freuler (Creative Director Wirz Werbung), Marc Görtz (Managing Director RingierTV), Valentin Greutert (Producer HesseGreutert Film), Manuel Flurin Hendry (Director, Artistic Director), Madeleine Hirsiger (Head of Television Film SF Schweizer Fernsehen) and Nicole Hess (Film Journalist).
This jury will select ten finalists (shortlist). These will be screened to the public on Friday evening, September 8, at the Gessnerallee. The audience will choose the winning film. Also at the Gessnerallee, the audience will decide the winners of the pitch battle by decibel measurement during the applause.
It's not just the number of participants that is higher in the second edition of the competition. The prizes have also been massively increased. These range from a week's editing space including cutter at RingierTV and studio use at Jingle Jungle to a Panasonic HD camera for professionals and a cash prize of CHF 5,000 from Pathé Switzerland. The winning film will also be broadcast on Swiss television on September 13. More information about the competition is available at
www.talentscreen.ch.Andreas Panzeri

Marketing The political magazine Cicero wants to offer readers and advertisers added value Some monthly magazines are published in the summer with a so-called double issue, one issue in two months - for reasons of economy. Cicero, Ringier's monthly political magazine in Germany, does something similar. The only difference is that they don't save money there, but take the term "double issue" literally: on August 31, the September issue is published in a double pack, one issue completely in black and white, the second in color. Only the black and white issue is available at newsstands, but newsstand buyers can order the color edition free of charge. Subscribers receive the double pack sent to their home. The two issues differ not only in terms of color, the editorial content is also different, but relates thematically to the other issue. "Cicero stands for a lively culture of debate. We are therefore daring to conduct an unusual journalistic experiment with a paper-based thesis and counter-thesis. Because the answers to the big questions of our time are never just black and white," explains Editor-in-Chief Wolfram Weimer.
Advertisers were given the opportunity to incorporate the magazine's duality and present themselves creatively: In the black-and-white edition, they could only place an advertisement of the same type, but at the same time, advertisers could book a four-color advertisement in the color edition free of charge. With one exception: as an advertising partner, BMW was the only customer allowed to place 15 color double pages in the black and white edition. The "Cicero Double Edition" apparently met with a good response: one third of the total of 320 pages consists of advertisements. The circulation was increased.
Markus Knöpfli

Cooking press Betty Bossi plans to launch a cross-media lifestyle magazine next year - with advertising.Betty Bossi is celebrating its 50th anniversary. The tried-and-tested recipes with guaranteed success, which allow even people with two left hands to reach top form in the kitchen, enjoy cult status in certain circles. Betty Bossi, the fictional character of a resourceful advertising copywriter in the mid-1950s, has long since become a considerable company and generates most of its sales with high-quality kitchen gadgets, from peelers and sauce ladles to apple corers. However, the coveted items that the company produces itself are reserved for subscribers to the Betty Bossi newspaper. The publishing house also produces the well-known cookbooks with the characteristic ring stitching. Ringier and Coop have held equal shares in the company for four years. From 2002, ready-made products under the Betty Bossi name also appeared on the shelves of major retailers, further increasing the brand's visibility. Until now, the company has mainly targeted the 30 to 50 age group. Now it wants to tap into new target groups and appeal to a younger audience.
Tapping into new target groupsDespite a circulation of almost 900,000 copies of the Betty Bossi newspaper - it is published ten times a year - the paper has so far remained closed to advertisers. The company is planning to launch a new cross-media magazine in print and online in the first half of 2007. "Advertisements are planned," confirms Head of Communications Ruth Bannwarth.
The publishing house is already looking for a manager to set up and run the project. "We want to tap into new target groups and also appeal to younger people who eat differently, for example with convenience food," says Bannwarth. She doesn't want to reveal any more yet, as planning is not due to start until November. The project is likely to be a lifestyle magazine. The publishing house already had plans in this direction in 2000 under the working title "Maison".
Betty Bossi was launched in 1956 as Betty Bossi-Post, a simple consumer magazine in German and French, comprising a single sheet. This was available free of charge in grocery stores. Over time, the range of topics covered by the magazine grew. Recipes for children, knitting instructions, dialect stories, crossword puzzles, budget planning and advice on parenting issues were added to the main topic of cooking. From 1966, eight issues per year were published by subscription, and from 1972, after a fundamental overhaul, the magazine mutated into a newspaper for modern cooking and housekeeping. In 1973, the first cookbook was published with a range of sure-fire recipes. Today, an average of three to four cookbooks are published each year. With www.bettybossi.ch, the company launched the first online cooking platform in 1998.
In 2001, Betty Bossi went on air with the cooking program "al dente" on Swiss television (SF 2). It is currently expanding into French-speaking Switzerland.
Popular recipes from 50 yearsJust in time for its 50th anniversary, Betty Bossi has compiled a collection of 370 popular and sure-fire recipes and bound them in the reliable "The big Betty Bossi cookbook" with the tried and tested spiral binding. On 472 pages and illustrated with 620 color pictures, even beginners can venture into the world of cooking and preparation - including handling kitchen utensils.
René Worni

Recycling Wirz is looking for old batteries in households that should be disposed of in an environmentally friendly way, and has launched the collection campaign with a cute little dog that discards batteries, which are then disposed of in a battery bag. The main aim of this commercial was to raise public awareness of the battery bag. Now Wirz wants to further boost the collection. Experts estimate that many batteries that no longer work are stored somewhere in old toys and appliances. The Swiss are already exemplary, if not world champions, in the environmentally friendly disposal of PET, glass and aluminum. When it comes to batteries, we could develop a little more energy. More than 60 percent of all batteries are already regularly returned.
However, 40 percent continue to pollute the environment somewhere with their poison. This is why Inobat is now launching a national collection week. The aim is to ensure that old batteries in particular are returned. In other words, batteries that are languishing in a drawer or attic in some old and no longer used gadget, for example. To make the campaign a success, Wirz has created a witty poster campaign that dramatizes the topic of "old batteries" in a surprising way. The campaign will be launched in mid-September with three subjects.
Retailers also want to participate in the collection campaign on a large scale. There are already 12,000 official return points in Switzerland. However, many still do not offer their services actively enough. For example, kiosks are to place their often still discreetly hidden collection boxes more prominently as part of this campaign. The campaign will also be communicated in a targeted manner via schools. There is a competition there. Classes that are particularly active in collecting can win money for a vacation camp. In this way, CD Matthias Freuler hopes to spread the idea to families via the children.     
Andreas Panzeri
 

René Worni on the remaining publisher Jean FreyThe taz recently reported from a deceptive Berlin distance (title: "With Roger to the right") that with the purchase of 60 percent of Weltwoche by Köppel, who is still editor-in-chief of Welt, Jean Frey Verlag is up for grabs - robbed of its flagship. A classic takeover candidate. Ringier, Tamedia and Axel Springer Verlag (of which Roger Köppel is currently still a salaried employee) would be possible interested parties in this entity, which still consists of Beobachter, Bilanz and TVStar. All variants are conceivable, but is there a plausible one? Springer in particular is considered a likely buyer for taz, as it already has a foothold in the country with the HandelsZeitungs Group and the launch of a new newspaper for digital television. But what should Springer do with the balance sheet? Ringier has already been disappointed once, when BaZ publisher Hagemann sold the publishing house to an initially unknown group of investors. At most, the Beobachter would be considered reasonably prestigious on Dufourstrasse. The balance sheet would create competition for its own cash project and TVStar would probably disappear, as Ringier is already well endowed with TV guides. What's more, with 40 percent of the prestigious Weltwoche title (a pity, Mr. Meyer), it would no longer be possible to make any money.
That leaves Tamedia. The regionalization project of the Tages-Anzeiger may be costly, but the second track - expansion through acquisitions - is just as repeatedly the declared goal of the strategists at Werdstrasse. After all, both the Beobachter and the Bilanz would not look bad on the well-positioned publisher. The TVtäglich program supplement would hardly face any competition from TVStar. 40 percent of Weltwoche as a strategic pledge - you never know.
Jean Frey denies that the sale and takeover scenarios are a mere invention. But what would the publishing house do without Weltwoche? It is not yet clear how much the young publisher Köppel wants and needs to use the publisher's services. Initially, he wants to physically relocate the title to other premises. An indication that Jean Frey will remain with the company for the foreseeable future? Without the prestige object Weltwoche, a sale at least seems plausible. 
> René Worni, Editor

Tennis Wirz Werbung speculates on which matches will be a hit at the Zurich Open. With a simple, striking realization, the creative minds at Wirz Werbung once again get to the heart of what the Zurich Open stands for: women's tennis at its finest, and at world-class level. This year, photo-realistically illustrated tennis balls not only communicate quickly and directly what the sport is all about. In an entertaining, minimalist way, they also visualize which female protagonists are currently dominating the world's best. Among other things, this is intended to express the fact that the Zurich Open Event is more than just a sporting event, which is underlined by the headline: "The girls are back in town." What gave rise to the campaign idea? The top players on the tennis circuit are well aware of the media impact of their appearance and therefore not only attach importance to sporting performance when cultivating their own (brand) personality, but also to outward appearances such as hairstyle or a certain type of headgear. The Wirz campaign works with precisely these attributes.
The photographic caricatures by illustrator Matthias Töpfer and the editing by Rino Frei play with the idea that these tennis players are actually tennis-playing brands as well as ambassadors for the brands of their outfitters. Some of the prominent girls have seen the subjects and "think it's cool", as CD Hanspeter Schweizer reveals to Wirz.
After an initial wave of announcements in the spring, the new posters, advertisements and streetcar posters will be seen on a massive scale from September. They are intended to "arouse pure anticipation for an event that will once again bring a lot of excitement and joy to tennis fans in Zurich's Hallenstadion in October", hopes Beat Ritschard from organizer Octagon Worldwide in Zurich. For him, the advertising for the Zurich Open should not only announce the serve and set with a sporting event, but also promise added value with all the trappings of a top-class event.
In 1984, Zurich hosted its first major tennis tournament - the European Indoors. 21 years after its premiere and after eight years in the Schluefweg stadium in Kloten, the most important European indoor tournament on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour returned to the new Hallenstadion in the city of Zurich in 2005. Since then it has been called the Zurich Open. In the renovated stadium, the event is set to take on even more international splendor. The preliminary rounds can now be played on two courts at the same time. For the final, the hall will be completely redecorated as a center court.
The creative minds at Wirz have already created a special tennis ball for a personal invitation to the expected celebrities. This is to be sent out as a mailing with a subtle perfume.
The Zurich Open has been the number 1 tournament for over 20 years: Steffi Graf, Lindsay Davenport, Venus Williams, Martina Hingis and Justine Henin-Hardenne have all won the tournament at least once. Since 1993, the Zurich Open has been part of the Tier I series, the highest category after the four Grand Slams.
   
Andreas Panzeri

Advertising statistics The competition between Wemf and Media Focus is coming to an end. At the beginning of 2003, the long-standing monthly statistics from Media Focus (MF) faced competition from Wemf, which launched its own monthly survey, the Advertising Index Switzerland (AIS). The declared aim was to improve the quality of advertising statistics. Of course, the two statistics are not identical and have different currencies (see box). This led to confusion here and there. For a long time, however, the two providers were not in favor of joint statistics until shortly before the summer break: on June 23, Wemf and MF announced the signing of a cooperation agreement in a joint communiqué. The key points of this agreement: Wemf will discontinue its AIS at the end of January 2007. MF, on the other hand, will continue to provide the existing statistics, which evaluate advertising at gross rates, without competition. However, Wemf will again launch a survey based on actual sales. In this way, the industry will retain two different currencies. What is the progress here?
To understand this, you need to know the different expectations of advertising sales statistics. On the one hand, there are the advertising companies and agencies that want to know what advertising pressure their competitors are using to advertise their products. The advertising pressure can only be calculated according to the gross rates of the commercial advertising that actually appears; classified ads are of no interest for this. The monthly MF gross statistics largely meet this requirement.
On the other side are the media providers, who measure themselves against their competitors in terms of market share - and the latter can only be calculated on the basis of actual advertising expenditure (net value). Although there is already a net revenue statistic - that of the Advertising Statistics Foundation - it is only published once a year. Wemf is now attempting to produce net statistics that are published more frequently. "Ideally, this would be a statistic that is published monthly like MF," says Wemf Director René Schmutz. "We are currently clarifying what the media providers really want, what they are prepared to offer and what they are prepared to pay."
It is clear that Wemf's net statistics cannot be broken down by product and advertising customer - the media providers are not prepared to allow themselves to be looked at in such detail. However, Schmutz is optimistic that the new statistics will be available by the end of the year. So far, he has only received positive signals from the media providers. He does not see any methodological or technical problems, the know-how is there, after all, Wemf already provides the annual net statistics - on behalf of the broad-based foundation.
New online offerBut there are also changes at MF. The statistics and possibly also the MF company will be given a different, more appropriate name. In order to reflect the advertising market as completely as possible, MF Managing Director Lukas Zihlmann is also looking into including ad screens, direct advertising and sponsorship in the statistics. And finally, MF recently launched a new online offering: MF Creations. Instead of bare figures, subscribers can now also view advertisements and TV spots from competitors. Information on the respective distribution plan is also available.
But what was the result of the four-year competition? Certainly financial losses on both sides as well as a stalemate: the publishers were customers of Wemf, while MF counted around two thirds of advertising clients among its subscribers. No wonder: MF had been named "preferred supplier" by the Swiss Advertising Association (SWA) two years ago. Wemf was left behind. Lukas Zihlmann admits that MF has changed, not least thanks to the competition: the product has been improved, the statistics have been published a little earlier in the month and the figures have been better checked for completeness and accuracy, he says.
SWA Director Jürg Siegrist adds another point: MF has become much cheaper since the launch of AIS. Nevertheless, he has always been in favor of only one gross statistic. "We are extremely happy with the sensible division of labor that the two providers have now found," he says.
Two statistics, two methodsThe aim of MF is to,
gross-to-gross values, i.e. advertising pressure including freespace and free placements. AIS, on the other hand, has focused on the "invoiced gross" (excluding freespace and free placements) - with one shortcoming: under pressure from major clients, TV and cinema only provide gross-to-gross values for both providers, which is why no media mix comparison is possible with AIS. Conversely, out-of-home advertisers have always only supplied their invoiced gross figures, which, strictly speaking, also makes it impossible for MF to make a clean intermedia comparison. As gross-to-gross data is also used abroad and MF is part of the Nielsen network, the MF data is internationally comparable, while that of AIS is not.A second difference is that the large print volume is collected by MF and AIS using different methods: AIS receives the page and insert volumes from the publishers (self-declaration). MF, on the other hand, has the commercial advertisements (excluding classified ads) measured from a size of 200 millimeters (daily press) or from 1/16 page (magazines), and MF has only been collecting data on inserts since the beginning of the year, but only for those 25 titles that account for around 70 percent of the insert volume.
Other differences between the two providers: MF data can be searched for 140,000 products and 60,000 companies, while the AIS database contains around 20,000 companies and around 60,000 products and services. And of course, AIS has only been in existence for a good four years, whereas MF's history goes back to 1993.
No influence on the Wemf advertising statisticsThe monthly advertising statistics of Wemf
is based on the figures collected for AIS, the discontinuation of AIS will have no impact on the statistics. There will be neither an interruption nor a currency break, assures Wemf Director René Schmutz. "We will continue to collect the advertising volumes according to the previous rules." However, publishers will report restructured totals instead of data on individual advertisements. Markus Knöpfli

Column What does the anti-poverty activist from U2 have in common with the owner of capitalism central Forbes? Besides the preacher pose, a business partnership. Who benefits from it? After one of those wildly romantic open
Airs in the mid-80s, I think it was St. Gallen, we knew that the
not like coming home on Sundays. So thumbs up and
into the first car that took pity on us. It was some
but inside, "Sunday Bloody Sunday" by U2 was blaring, which
the (to my mind at the time) disgustingly elegant driver almost
made him likeable. His missionary work, which soon began
Praise for earning and spending money aroused more curiosity than
Contradiction. Because the guy believed what he was saying, and that alone
appealed to me as a passionate skeptic.

When I found out 20 years later, or more precisely three weeks ago, that
U2 frontman Bono buys into the US business magazine Forbes
the opening lines of the above-mentioned
youth anthem through her head: "I can't believe the news today, I can't
close my eyes and make it go away." The pop politician, charity founder
and Africa lawyer as a partner in the "capitalist tool" of all things
(self-promotion), whose rankings of the richest and most powerful show greed,
Envy and the whole glamor of money made it socially acceptable!
The closer I looked at the SDA message, the further it looked
back.

The irritation increased when it became known a few days later that
the leather-jacket diplomat has taken his holding company U2 Limited out of the
Ireland to the Netherlands, where income from copyrights is quasi
are tax-free. However, in light of the fact that Steve Forbes, CEO
of the media conglomerate of the same name, in his two failed
candidates for the US presidency each emphasized the advantages of a
national "flat tax", Bono's tax evasion at the same time gave rise to the first
Recognize points of contact between the two antipodes.

Paul Hewson (alias Bono Vox), for whom the rock stage is a moral institution
and the Wall Street apostle Steve Forbes are men with
diametrically opposed messages. What unites them, however, is their
Opportunism in forging coalitions that suit the respective
are conducive to achieving goals. Forbes sought fresh capital and
Bono - together with five private equity partners - generates good returns,
but also another media ally in the
Awareness campaign against poverty and for his aid organization "Data"
(Debt, Aids, Trade, Africa).

So who benefits whom more seems to be quite predictable: assuming,
Forbes continues to flourish and will be beating the advertising drum for Data in the future,
the mésalliance ends 2:1 for the U2 icon. With his ambiguous investment
at the same time, however, the agile world interior minister is risking his
entire credibility capital. Especially with
average ideologues who indulge in black-and-white thinking and do not
may tolerate gray areas.

But it is precisely here, between the traditional front lines, that
Bono at his best. He demonstrates this with his annual presence
at the Davos World Economic Forum, where he also spoke to Forbes - significantly
main media partner of the WEF - and came to appreciate it. "I
respect Forbes' consistent worldview and values. We will
have a lot of fun trying to convince each other," he said.
the New York Times from one of his financial partners.

For the rock star who has mutated into a grasshopper, the belief in his own
So it's a matter of self-worth. At least now I know why I have to give
guy on the drive home back then. Today I would
might even do business with such an offender.
And yet continue to dream that guitars will change the world
can.

> Oliver Classen is press spokesman for the
development policy organization Berne Declaration. Previously
he worked as a media journalist, including for Werbewoche.

Culture Creativity in the most beautiful tones and ideas, even with unusual leaps, repeatedly allows advertising for opera and ballet. After his first posters, Markus Cavegn has now produced another work for the premiere of Heinz Spoerli's "moZART" on September 3. The photographs were taken by Peter Schnetz. The graphics are by Chris Burkhard, and Nora Fehr edited the composition on the computer. The printed works in F4 format are also available at the Zurich Opera House box office.

The Solothurn Cantonal Council passed a comprehensive anti-tobacco law on Wednesday - as reported yesterday (see Ban on advertising tobacco products causes smoking heads in Solothurn). However, the law still has to be put to the people. In addition to the controversial ban on advertising, it includes a ban on smoking in public places and restaurants as well as a ban on the sale of tobacco products to young people. According to the Lung League, these three components make the canton of Solothurn the most stringent anti-tobacco law in Switzerland. The decision in the cantonal parliament was made by 66 votes to 10 after a heated discussion. The advertising ban was particularly controversial. The SVP and FDP tried in vain to overturn this from the bill. This was narrowly passed by 45 votes to 42.
SVP spokesman Kurt Küng warned against the "hysterical cries about tobacco". Switzerland is home to the three largest manufacturers and their international marketing organizations. FDP spokesman Simon Winkelhausen explained that the protection of minors was sufficiently guaranteed even without an advertising ban. According to SP/Greens spokesperson Stephanie Affolter, however, tobacco advertising is aimed directly at young people. The advertising suggests a lot of fresh air and health, which is ethically questionable. In addition, tobacco advertising is detrimental to prevention work, according to Affolter.

If advertising bans and age limits serve to protect minors, there is nothing wrong with them, explained Marc Fritsche, press spokesman for the tobacco company Philip Morris Switzerland. The regulations would make the business more predictable and predictable. However, he would prefer a federal solution to numerous cantonal solutions. Fritsche also emphasized that the company has no plans to leave Switzerland because of the smoking bans.

Kuno Studer from the Solothurn Lung League told the SDA news agency that he was delighted with the result. The referendum will be groundbreaking for Switzerland. The bill may be put to the people for a vote as early as November 26. Studer is confident about the vote. However, there is a real danger that the advertising ban could jeopardize the entire bill, Studer explained.

They noticed "Wow, that woman is awesome!" The only thing they left out was the "mega" that is otherwise obligatory for their generation. Otherwise, the two 18-year-old boys at the streetcar stop were completely enraptured by Madonna. However, they didn't relate their "wow" to Madonna's music. It wasn't even on the poster for H&M fashion. The two teenagers only noticed the picture of a woman. Doubly striking: Madonna turned 48 on August 16 this year. The woman with the "dance halo over her head" could therefore easily be the mother of our two youngsters. Nevertheless, it was not the maternal instinct that they obviously succumbed to with this portrait of a woman. What then? "I'm going to tell you a secret", says Madonna's website. But that's just the title of a new DVD about the life of the pop goddess. And so the secret of this eternal youth will probably have to remain locked up in a graphic computer forever. It has robbed Madonna of all her wrinkles for H&M. "This woman is really beautiful." Shortly after the boys, an older lady marveled at the poster. So the question remains: why wasn't Madonna depicted in real life? Only her stepsister Barbie will probably know the answer to that. (pan)