Marketers and agencies are paying close attention to White House policy moves that could further dampen ad spending during the recession. Among such moves would be a tax on advertising, which
could have a "monumental impact" on the telecommunications industry's ad spending, according to AT&T executives. To the extent that taxes are imposed, companies would have to "redirect" part of
their ad budgets to pay the tax bill.
A big question mark also hangs over pharmaceutical ads, says Rino Scanzoni, GroupM chief investment officer. A lobbying campaign is being waged
to get the feds to impose tighter restrictions on prescription drug advertising or possibly eliminate it altogether.
A third potential problem is the prospect of new rules mandating a la
carte program that allows cable TV subscribers to pick individual networks they want to watch and pay for. There is little doubt that such rules would result in some networks losing distribution
that would impact advertising circulation "in a big way," says Scanzoni.
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