ADVERTISING AND SOCIALISM

Transcription

1 ADVERTISING AND SOCIALISM

2 By the same author The Consumer in the Soviet Economy

3 ADVERTISING AND SOCIALISM The Nature and Extent of Consumer Advertising in the Soviet Union, Poland, Hungary and Yugoslavia Philip Hanson Senior Lecturer, Centre {or Russian and East European Studies, University of Birmingham Palgrave Macmillan

4 Advertising Association 1974 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1974 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without permission. First published 1974 by THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD London and Basingstoke Associated companies in New York Dublin Melbourne Johannesburg and Madras SBN ISBN ISBN (ebook) DOI / Typeset in Great Britain by PREFACE LIMITED Salisbury, Wiltshire

5 Contents Preface 1 Introduction: advertising, Soviet-type economies and economic systems Advertising and socialism Possible functions of advertising in the Soviet-type economy Advertising and economic systems Part I The Soviet Union 2 The Soviet economy and the organisation of Soviet advertising lntrod uction Soviet advertising organisations Appendix Organisation charts 3 Soviet advertising expenditure Volume Growth and constraints on the supply of advertising Appendix Space rates to domestic advertisers in the Soviet press 4 The nature and functions of Soviet advertising Product-mix Media-mix Finance Content Conclusions Appendix The rational consumption norms Part II Eastern Europe 5 Relative income levels and differences in economic systems in Eastern Europe vii v

6 vi Appendix 1 Comparative GNP and consumption Contents ~~ M Appendix 2 Relative importance of state, cooperative and private enterprise 91 6 The marketing environment Poland 95 Hungary 98 Yugoslavia The organisation and functions of advertising fula~ 1M Hungary 115 Yugoslavia Advertising expenditure data 129 Poland 131 Hungary 135 Yugoslavia 138 Comparisons of expenditure 147 Part III Conclusions 9 Conclusions Appendix A Bibliography of Soviet works cited Appendix B Questionnaire used in interviews in Eastern Europe Index of Authors Index of Subjects

7 Preface The idea of making a study of advertising in socialist countries was originally suggested to me by Mr Harold Lind of the (British) Advertising Association. It seemed an intrinsically interesting subject, as well as a natural extension of work I had done earlier on the consumer sector of the Soviet economy. I had doubts, though, about whether there was really much advertising to investigate, at least in the Comecon countries. A preliminary check suggested that there was, after all, a tiny but growing volume of consumer advertising even in countries such as the Soviet Union, which had detailed central planning, and substantially more in the recently decentralised Hungarian economy and pre-invasion Czechoslovakia. And of course, outside the Soviet orbit there was the relatively market-oriented and Westernised Yugoslav economy. This suggested that there were after all some interesting questions to answer: Why did an administrative economy like the Soviet one have any domestic consumer advertising at all, and why was it, apparently, growing? What did evidence from Hungary and Yugoslavia suggest about the scale and functions of advertising in more decentralised socialist economies? The bulk of the research was done in 1970 and 1971, with the assistance of a research grant from the Advertising Association, and written up in I looked first at the Soviet situation and then at that in Poland, Hungary and Yugoslavia. The reasons for this choice of countries are explained in the Introduction. In the case of the Soviet Union this study is based on a reading of the rapidly-growing Soviet literature on marketing and a series of interviews with Soviet marketing people in the summer of In the case of the East European countries I have relied more heavily on interviews, conducted in 1971, and have not attempted to survey the very large marketing literature of these three countries. In general, statements made in this book about vii

8 viii Preface 'the present' or 'the recent' past should be understood as referring to late 1970 in the case of the USSR, and mid-_1971 in the case of Poland, Hungary and Yugoslavia. I have however added some comments, mainly in footnotes, on developments through 1972, where this seemed particularly desirable. On the whole there do not seem to have been significant changes in the marketing environments of these countries since the interviews were carried out. One must however note some tightening-up on excessive 'decadence' in public display in Yugoslavia, to which I have referred in a footnote in Chapter 7, and the apparently modest changes introduced at the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party Central Committee meeting of December It is possible that the latter may come in time to be seen as the beginning of a process of re-centralisation in Hungary; but at the time of writing (January 1973) the prospects of the Hungarian New Economic Mechanism still seem, to an outsider, fairly open. This study was originally published (in 1971 and 1972) as two separate monographs, dealing with the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe separately, in the Advertising Association's 'Research Studies in Advertising' series. I have made a number of changes in order to turn them into one coherent whole, and some additions and amendments to take account of some more recent information. I am indebted to a large number of people for assistance in carrying out this study. The Advertising Association not only gave financial support for the research but provided me with opportunities to discuss problems and findings with advertising practitioners and others who know far more than I do about the business of advertising and marketing in general. I am especially indebted to Mr Harold Lind of the Advertising Association for his extremely helpful advice and comments throughout this study. Many other people generously shared their knowledge of Soviet and East European marketing with me, providing me variously with contacts, statistical data, information on sources and problems of data, and information and insight into the functioning of advertising in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. I should like to express my thanks to all of them.

9 Preface ix In the UK I was considerably helped by Mr Barry Douthwaite of Gillette Industries Ltd, Mr Alfred Dubs of J. Walter Thompson, Mr Leopold Friedman of the Owen Organisation, Mr Lex Hornsby of Lex Hornsby Associates, Mr Andrew Knee of Reckitt and Colman Ltd and Mr Robert S. Leaf of Marsteller International; and in Geneva by Mr J. R.Mikton of UNCTAD/GATT. In the Soviet Union Professor Ya. Zasurskii and the directors and members of staff of the Soviet advertising organisations, Soyuztorgreklama, Rostorgreklama and Ukrtorgreklama, and of the Mezhduvedomstvennyi Sovet po Reklame were most generous in giving time to answering my questions and discussing the functions of advertising in the USSR. I am most grateful to all the East European marketing specialists who were so kind as to spend a great deal of time with me, answering numerous and detailed questions and giving me the benefit of their knowledge of East European marketing and their insights into causal relationships: in Warsaw Mr Edward Lehwark of the Ministry of Internal Trade, Mr Miechyslaw Muszkowski of COK Reclama, Dr Edmund Paszkowiak, Mr Jan Plociniak and Mr Krzysztof Sokolik of AGPO L, Mr Jan Szalowski of the Higher School of Planning and Statistics and Dr Tadeusz Sztucki of the Institute of Internal Trade; in Budapest Dr Pal Kurthy of the University of Economics and the Ministry of Foreign Trade, Professor Endre Megyuri of the University of Economics, Dr Karoly Ravasz, Director of Hungexpo, Dr Laszlo Szabo, Managing Director of the Hungarian Institute for Market Research, Dr Anna Sandor of the Centre for Afro-Asian Research of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and Mr Endre Zsigmundi, Director of Magyar Hirdeto; in Zagreb by Professor Fedor Rocco, Director of ZIT, Mr Mihovil Skobe, Mrs Tudor and Mr Mutic of OZEHA. My colleague, Mr Geoffrey Barker, read a preliminary draft of the Soviet monograph and made many valuable comments on it. I doubt if any of the people who helped in these various ways will agree with all my interpretations and conclusions. I hope, however, that the Soviet and East European specialists,

10 X Preface in particular, while not necessarily agreeing with all my conclusions, will recognise in what follows an attempt at a fair and accurate survey of the subject.