“Old” politics to dominate TV and radio airtime in French general election campaign

It’s election time - again - in France.

Just a few weeks after the two rounds to choose the country’s president (done and dusted - Emmanuel Macron, in case you weren’t paying attention), the French totter off to the polls again.

Not once, but twice (very French) in the space of eight days…June 11 and (if there’s no 50 per cent plus majority in a constituency) June 18.

This time around it’ll be to elect a new lower chamber, the Assemblée nationale (national assembly), with Macron’s (rebranded party) La République en marche (LREM) favourites, among the pollsters, to assure him and his newly-appointed government a majority.

Assemblée nationale (screenshot)

But with campaigning for the 577 seats underway, there’s something of an anomaly in the allocation of time for (don’t yawn) party political broadcasts.

The Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel, or CSA, is the body that regulates TV and radio in France and gets to decide how much airtime each particular party is allowed.

And that decision (made even more complicated in this explanation…in French) is based primarily on the size of each party or group’s representation in the current national assembly.

So, even though the second round of the presidential election was fought out between Macron and the far right Front National’s (FN) candidate, Marine Le Pen, it’s the two main parties in the “old” parliament who stand to gain most time for their campaign clips.

The Socialist party (at around six per cent in the polls) will have a full two-hours worth of airtime.

Meanwhile Les Républicans (19 per cent in the latest surveys) one hour and 44 minutes. That’ll be bolstered somewhat by their centre-right “partners”  Union des démocrates et indépendants (Union of Democrats and Independents, UDI) 22 minutes.

Politics as usual then with, if you so choose to interpret the opinion polls, most of the electorate more concerned to hear what those parties that won’t have very much airtime have to say.

Just look at the figures…or rather the disparity.

The centrist LREM - leading the polls with 32 per cent will get 12 minutes.

The far right FN - at around 19 per cent in the polls will also get 12 minutes.

And the far left La France insoumise - currently at 15 per cent…12 minutes.

France's 2012 presidential election campaign begins - officially

Yes it might seem like a rather strange headline given that the French have been bombarded with politics for the best part of a couple of months (and more) now.

But campaigning in the two-round presidential elections has now officially begun with television advertising spots and posters on approved local authority notice boards up and down France.

Local authority notice boards - ready for posters (screenshot BFM TV)

And the rules are very strict - if somewhat antiquated.

As far as TV spots go, each of the ten candidates has a fixed amount of airtime - 43 minutes in total - rigorously enforced and controlled by the Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel (CSA), the country's broadcast watchdog.

The contents of what they can and can't talk about during their allotted 18 slots is also subject to the most "polite" and perhaps anachronistic rules with no banging the drum for donations allowed and an interdiction on "denigrating opponents".

Broadcasters have already had to provide equal airtime to all 10 candidates no matter how big or small since the wise men on the Conseil constitutionnel (Constitutional council) validated their eligibility to stand back on March 19.

Posters, which started appearing on most local authority notice boards on Tuesday, are also subject to the most stringent of rules.

They mustn't be printed on a white background because that's only reserved for official announcements, and woe betide candidates who try to use any combination of red, white and blue, the colours of the French tricolore. It's against the rules and if broken will result in a fine.

French presidential election 2012 posters - against the rules (screenshot BFM TV)

And those posters - two for each candidate - are only allowed to appear on the notice boards put in place the local authority specifically for the election - although that's not always a rule to which party supporters adhere.

The French can also expect to hear pamphlets and letters plopping through their letter boxes as the postal campaign to woo the 45 million registered voters is now also allowed, but again size and format have to be the same for each candidate.

And as "officially" as the campaigning starts, so it will end...at midnight on April 21, the day before the election, together with a ban on candidates making public statements and opinion polls being published.

Red Bull cartoon commercial is too sexy for French TV

Well who would have thought it?

The French being "prudish" about nudity and sex on TV - at least when it comes to commercials.

The latest offering from the makers of the energy drink Red Bull is not being allowed to air on French telly even though there has been self-censorship to cover the appendages that might cause offence to those of a sensitive disposition.

The commercial, with the theme "Plage Nudiste" (or nudist beach) features two cartoon characters in the altogether.

Plage nudiste, (screenshot from Red Bull commercial)

A young man politely asks a woman lounging in a deck chair if he may spread his towel next to her, and she gives him the go-ahead, lowering her sunglasses to get a better look.

As she offers him a Red Bull, which she says, "stimulates the spirit and the body," the man becomes...well sexually excited...before rushing off embarrassed.

And she's left laughing, remarking that "unfortunately Red Bull also gives you wings", the slogan used in all publicity for the energy drink.

Harmless stuff you might have thought especially in a country where real-life floppy bits and dangly pieces haven't exactly been hidden from viewers - young and old - during the past 10 years of tasteful reality TV.

While the television watchdog Conseil Supérieur de l'Audiovisuel, CSA might find the commercial unsuitable for the small screen, comments to the site of radio host Jean-Marc Morandini seem, by and large, to find it "amusing'" and "far from shocking".

What do you think?



Red Bull only became available in France three years ago.

The country slapped a ban on the sale of the drink back in 1996 because of concerns about the one of its key ingredients, taurine, which it feared could cause a health risk.

It wasn't until 2008 after pressure from the European Commission that France lifted the ban and allowed Red Bull to appear in shops for the first time - in its original recipe.

Plage Nudiste won't be aired on television but it will reportedly be shown in cinemas from February 9.

Go figure!