As Ever, Advertising Mirrors How We Feel

In the waning days of the 1980s, ads for the Oldsmobile Cutlass touted the car's luxury features and driving pleasure. Today the pitch is much different. An Olds ad urges car buyers to "put your money in a safe place. No matter what the economic forecast, there is one investment you can always feel comfortable with." The mood of the U.S. has changed, and so has advertising. The country is fighting a war abroad and battling a recession at home, and commercial messages are adapting their tone to fit a back-to-basics attitude that is abroad in the land.

Pitching to the new sobriety, many ads tout their products as the smart things to buy in a recession. In its TV commercials, the South Korean automaker Hyundai claims, "The economic news may be bad, but the news from your Hyundai dealer is good." The Beef Industry Council espouses the healthfulness of low-fat meat in a print ad carrying the headline NATION PREPARES FOR LEANER TIMES. With unemployment rising and business slowing down dramatically, ads that emphasize frugality are likely to remain in vogue. Ads will focus less on image and more on rebates and special discounts.

While the trend began with the economic slowdown last year, the gulf war is hastening it. Companies are growing increasingly nervous about airing frivolous product ads alongside the brutal images of warfare. The fear of offending viewers with inappropriate messages has prompted many consumer- products giants -- including AT&T, McDonald's, Coca-Cola and Eastman Kodak -- to pull TV ads that air during news broadcasts.

Companies have also withdrawn ads that might be deemed insensitive or inappropriate. RJR Nabisco dropped a print ad claiming that Chips Ahoy cookies are "richer than an OPEC nation." And NYNEX stopped airing a TV spot of a Marine Corps drill team dancing to rock-'n'-roll music.

The main casualties so far have been ABC, CBS and NBC. Already mired in one of their worst slumps ever, the three networks were losing a total of as much as $9 million a day in ad revenues during mid-January. The winner: Cable News Network, whose intense coverage of the conflict has appealed to some advertisers. One of them, Universal Pictures, has shifted an estimated $4 million of advertising to the network.