East Asia

Advertising on the Vatican’s airwaves

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Anchor Lisa Mullins has some advertising news from the Vatican and from North Korea.
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LISA MULLINS: There are more commercials for more things in more places than ever before. And yet, there’s still new advertising ground to be broken.

[SOUND CLIP OF VATICAN RADIO]

LISA MULLINS: Yes, there is a Vatican Radio, and Vatican Radio will soon air its first ever commercials. The Roman Catholic Church has been running in the red. So its radio station is about to broadcast ads by an Italian gas and electricity company called Enel. Vatican Radio’s Sean Patrick Lovett says the folks at Enel will produce ads appropriate for the Catholic Church.

SEAN PATRICK LOVETT: They will be tailor-making an advertising campaign for us. And so that campaign will talk about good wholesome things like clean energy, and respecting the environment. So there’s almost an implicit moral law ethical message within the commercial message as well.

LISA MULLINS: Sounds like an infallible strategy. There is another bit of advertising news today. This one relates to beer, now that’s a product we probably won’t be hearing advertised on Vatican radio any time soon. But beer commercials are airing for the first time on North Korean T-V.

[SOUND CLIP OF NORTH KOREAN TV AD]

LISA MULLINS: The ad is for the pride of Pyongyang, Taedongkang Beer. The Taedongkang is a river in North Korea. Now, the captions of the ad assure viewers that the beer will taste good – and get rid of stress.

[SOUND CLIP OF NORTH KOREAN TV AD]

LISA MULLINS: As if that weren’t enough, another caption adds that Taedongkang Beer will, quote, ‘make a contribution to our people’s lives, and become more familiar with our people.’ News headlines from around The World are next, on PRI – Public Radio International.

[SOUND CLIP OF NORTH KOREAN TV AD]

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