Although the Internews-led PHARE project (Enhancement and development of the professional expertise in the Romanian audiovisual field in Romania, PHARE 016/772.03.15.01) in Romania recently came to an end, the results are still being felt. The overall purpose of the project was to build the capacity of the National Audiovisual Council of Romania (the Council), involving training, research and study tours. A big part of the project was a public awareness campaign designed to raise awareness among parents of the risks of “abandoning” their children in front of the TV.

The TV spots produced by the project, on behalf of the Council were both popular and controversial in Romania, and were broadcast over 2000 times on public and private TV stations. Positive feedback was recieved from as far afield as Brazil and it can be assumed that they had an impact on the Romanian public..

The radio spots, on the other hand, were always the “poor relative” within the awareness campaign – both in terms of budget allocation (less than 5% of the costs of the TV spots) and in terms of expectations. Even though the radio spots were broadcast widely, the Council didn’t expect them to have as much impact as the TV ads.

The spots showed the “consequences” of allowing your child to watch unsuitable TV: uncontrolled violence and sexuality (in the TV spots) and a shocking “de-sensitization” when it comes to tolerating brutality (as portrayed in the radio spots). The radio spots portray a boy describing a bloody murder scene from a horror film he has seen – in a nonchalant manner as if he were talking about sport or cartoons.

The slogan for the radio spots is “Don’t abandon your child in front of the TV” and an English version can be seen on YOUTUBE here:

Last weeks announcement by “Best Ads” – an online advertising festival in which thousands of media and advertising professionals act as the jury – that the CNA ad won the prize in the radio section came as a nice surprise (details on www.bestads.ro).

This week the spot has been submitted to the Cannes Advertising Festival and, according to the project’s media expert Sorin Psatta, “our chances are miniscule but if I didn’t submit the entry, I would have spent the rest of my days wondering ’what if?”

These “post project successes” also show what can be done after a project has ended, particularly when some of the best activities tend to happen at the end of a project. If it wasn’t for the perseverance of the project’s media expert, Sorin Psatta, the ad would never have been submitted to the “Best Ads” festival in Romania.

By Rupert Wolfe Murray,
former PHARE project team leader