Are Ads Appropriate in Times of Crisis?

Like most of you I suspect, I’ve been spending an inordinate time with all types of news sources trying to get a handle on COVID-19 and its effects on our lives.

In addition to the firehose of social media on my iPhone, I’ve taken to watching and listening to exorbitant amounts of television and radio. And what strikes me as odd (and often uncomfortably inappropriate) during the flow of traditional media are the ads that punctuate it.

During normal times, these ads would slide by innocuously, but now stand out as both untimely and unseemly; ads for companies like Expedia, Sandals Resorts, car dealerships, Ameritrade, hair growing solutions, diamond dealers, luxury clothing…industries that are either shut down, or battered by the contracted economy and a consumer more interested in survival than frivolity. (FYI, the Bloomberg Nanos Canadian Consumer Confidence Index just recorded its biggest one-week drop ever and hit its lowest level since its inception.)

Now I get it; many of these ads have been booked long in advance, and may be hard to cancel or adapt. But out of context in today’s “who’s buying?” reality, they come off as awkward at best, and insensitive (albeit accidentally) at worst.

That said, rather than get rid of them, I think the ads should be contextualized, and championed.

So here’s what I’d do if I were King of Mass Media these days — before and after every commercial break, I’d find a way to say something like this:

“We know many of our ads may be incongruent to the current situation of our world.

“But these advertisers provide us with much-needed revenue, which is the lifeblood that keeps most of us here employed, and keeps us on the air.

“One day, the current crisis will be behind us, and we hope at that time, you remember these companies and services, and pay them back appropriately.

“We thank them, and you.”