I had to coin the word for many of our television advertisements, or 'commercials as these are called. The title means TV advertisements cunningly designed to divert the attention away from the product advertised.

You are shown live products money cannot buy. such as utterly charming women engaged in utterly irrelevant activities such as frolicking and prancing about in gay abandon, for reasons as mysterious as the feminine mystique and unknown to this admirer (not critics). Such seductive behaviour. (but certainly not erotic, at least not on BTV). the media experts believe. Is supposed to enhance the appeal of the product. The nature of the product is kept in suspense and then hurriedly revealed at the very end of the commercial.

Something might be wrong with me. because by the time the commercial ends, my attention had been so much diverted that 1 can neither recall the product, its name or its virtues, and why I should buy

I have read about subliminal advertising, and seen some. I do not know if this psychological technique has made me buy a product, as I hardly change my brands now. accustomed to decades of use. some handed down the generation. That reminds me of the saying that the best products are not generally advertised — directly at least, as the satisfied' clients carry the message by word of mouth to friends (no advertising budget!). For example, several years ago there was that Chinese restaurant in Gulshan by the shore of the lake, which did not have any signboard anywhere except a nameplate at the gate in the residential colony. It was recommended by a friend. The food was excellent. Don't ask me for the location. I do not want the place to be crowded.

Coming back to the models used in the advertisements, perhaps there is a legal angle to it. as 1 have noted that In similar ads printed in the glossy western magazines, there was a notice In small print to the effect that the price mentioned did not Include the model, or the clothes she was wearing, (if the product advertised were something lese). Since such notices are not displayed on the local TV. one might wonder what actually was included in the 'bargain' offer (with all due respect to the attractive models).

Some small news items appear from time to time in the newspapers to the effect that a few female activist groups in countries developed, or otherwise, have been protesting on the advertising exploitation of the female form, and distorting the image of the female fatale. What I mean can be guessed from some of the adverts through the sky channels.

Back to our TV .commercials. Less than five per cent of the valuable and available seconds are allotted to information about the product: the rest of the time is wasted (?) on foreplay or pointing out the product, using various gestures .and |>ostures. Sometimes, even the name of the item is not clear, as, with the background Jingle, subjective pronunciation. noise (within the com mercial). tuning (by the viewer), background noise (in the electronic reception and tn the verbal drawing room), the audio comes before the printed name. Why not Identify the product first, then spill the garbage? Well, not my business. I am not a municipal Inspector.

This writing is in prose, as Is most of the daily life Why all. almost all. the commercials have to be tn Jingles (and that too in Bangladesh)?. The other evening 1 was watching an advertisement on some brand of shaving blade. There was lot of Jumping about, reminding me of the American play The Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. I developed nervous tension waiting to see whether the young man with the razor in hand would burst into break dance while shaving.

I do not believe in self-immolation of my face, and shaving is one of the small pleasures of life simply because this is the only time in the day when a man is not disturbed by the clamouring world. Looks like some folks are scared of the cutthroat.