Turn that Radio off please!

Radio broadcast industry in Dubai have picked in the last couple of years. The introduction of ARN has also spiced up the competition by adding 4 or 5 new station to the airwaves. Today, if you tune into any station, you can listen to programs, talk shows, news analysis, competitions ..etc. Unlike the good old days when FM was only music, news maybe once or twice a day, then more music (i miss that sometimes).

One thing i am sure everyone has noticed lately is the annoying frequency of radio spots. They are just too many. I once counted the number of radio ads aired straight in a raw; 4 minutes! Thats an average of 8 friggen spots.

That doesn't bother me all the time, as some of the ads are entertaining, well thought of and produced and sometimes carry a jingle that could stick in your head for the rest of the week.

Sadly though, its more then often that i have to suffer from really RAELLY bad quality radio ads. Where do i start from? how about insulting to the human intellect, really bad choice of Arabic or English messages, bad grammar, annoying jingles .... (i can go on!)

But what REALLY bothers me about radio advertising in the UAE is mainly two things. (1) how racist some of radio spots can be and (2) the lack of public service ads.

I will write more about (2) in a following post. But as for (1), some radio stations productions really need to attend a couple of cultural sensitivity training session to know a bit more about affirmative action and culture, racial and sexual stereotyping, discrimination and tolerance.

Here are some examples:

1. In several food stuff ads (especially products targeted to the UAE national consumer), you hear the VO of subcon-arabic speaker talks about his bosses infatuation with [insert BRAND X of rice, chicken, tea ...etc], and how his "ARBAB" will kick his ass if he doesn't prepare [BRAND X] well enough..

2. In a fast food restaurant ad, its always a a Tagalog-english speaker taking orders and asking questions like: "you want flens flyiz with dat?" or "you want up-size?"

3. In the majority of radio ads, women do nothing but shop or tell their husbands about a shop or a mall on SALE..

4. All cab drivers speak in either Urdu-English or Urdu-Arabic!

... there is a lot more ..

So, could anyone please inform these radio producers and their clients that they are walking on really thin ice and a big fat legal suit is waiting at the bottom of that deep pond?

sheeesh!