European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 06, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse And now a word from our sponsor Floyd the fantastic Chuck Vinch staff writer the first sergeant was on your Case All Day you missed lunch the local garage said your car won t be ready for another week and you did t get any mail from Home. You re dying for a cold drink a soft Couch and a mindless television sitcom. But when you hit the Remote control Button the screen is suddenly filled with. That woman. Yes it s the annoying wife of Floyd the Fantas tic off on another hair Curling rant about her serv ice member Hubby s elaborate but futile attempts to get his life organized. And if it s not Floyd s wife it s the posture police. Or Indiana Jones slicing through the elec tric Cord Jungle. Or that Guy struggling to get into his dazzling dress White uniform while dropping cigarette ashes All Over himself. Of what you would t give for a genuine Beer commercial. We know that people get irritated with some of the spots said Jerry Clarke. We never want to ridicule the viewers. But you have to have some guts and try to be a Little Clarke is one of four producer directors in charge of developing the approximately 550 new spot announcements that go into the american forces radio and television service inventory each year for broadcast on the overseas military networks. In the Case of Floyd the fantastic a spot that seems to irk Many military spouses Clarke said the wife character was meant to be so outrageous that no one could take it seriously. Obviously some people do take it seriously Clarke sighed. You have to have a thick skin in this business. We get negative responses to some spots but it s hard to gauge True audience reaction. People Are a lot More Likely to complain about something they Don t like than Praise something they Mel Russell chief of arts and Clarke s Boss said viewers should be thankful in any event that the overseas military networks Don t air stateside commercials because the Price of buying the programming would skyrocket beyond All control if the Host nations did t revoke the . Military s broadcast rights first. I can t imagine that any foreign government would like us showing commercials pushing . Products Over their airwaves said Russell. To replace the ads that run in live satellite programming and to give viewers a Chance to raid the fridge once or twice during pre recorded shows arts maintains an inventory of More than 3,000 television spots. As part of their Job of stocking that Library Clarke and his three colleagues in the arts radio and television production office supervise the process from talking to the services about the topics they d like to emphasize to developing a commercial Crew in Minneapolis makes a spot on the history of the Navy peacoat. Northwest Tel productions ideas to working with the contractors who do the writing and filming. Arts groups its spots into 42 general subject areas such As american history consumer information health Legal affairs safety and drug and alcohol abuse. Two companies Are under contract to write and film the spots Northwest Tel productions in min Neapolis and video ventures productions in Miami. Usually do which is film commercials that Are strictly designed to push a product Clarke said they like the idea of doing something that May actually help the defense department gives the production companies very strict guidelines that go on for pages about what they can and can t do with the spots ridiculing any character wearing a uni form is one of the Cardinal sins. Generally we try to be upbeat with the spots which can be Tough to do when you have a negative subject like drunk driving or child abuse Clarke said. We have to stretch ourselves to make a negative topic come out positive and at the same time not be too preachy about it he said. To that end we try to do As much As we can with visuals rather than there is a lot of interest in the private sector in getting involved with the defense department spots Clarke said. He can t reveal How Many companies bid on the current contracts but he said that More than 100 companies asked to take a look at the contract proposal when it was first announced. It s a fun change from what these companies and if you occasionally feel like screaming about the seemingly tremendous number of spots that interrupt programming Clarke Points out that on average overseas viewers actually get off lightly compared with their stateside counterparts. You could easily have As Many As 12 to 16 commercials in a one hour show in the states Clarke said. But with arts you Only get commercials we d like to see. Ever done a spoof of an arts commercial any ideas for a commercial you d like to see instead of what you re seeing Send us a description. If it s printable Don t get too crazy you la see it on this Page. Send mail to spots features department the stars and stripes Apo 09211-4211. Sunday May 6, 1990 to plus Page 3
