(MENAFN - Jordan Times) Local manufacturers are at loss because visual media for them is either valueless or expensive to promote their products.
Such views are based on either the perception that the audience of Jordan TV is waning and is not advantageous to advertise through it or expensive because publicity in Arab satellite channels is costly and beyond the budgets of local factories.
Industrialists insist that products made in the Kingdom are of "high" quality, but because Jordan TV is no longer the preferred choice for their target consumers, they still find it difficult to promote the merchandise in the local market.
Speaking to The Jordan Times in separate interviews, businessmen said that the majority of Jordanians switch TVs to Arab satellite channels where advertising is expensive and unaffordable as budgets of factories are limited.
They complained that foreign products have become more popular in the Kingdom's relatively small market.
In a bid to promote locally-made products in the country, manufacturers on Saturday organised the third annual exhibition and forum for national industries. Over 60 firms participated in the one-day event that was inaugurated by Prime Minister Fayez Tarawneh.
Even the premier said he was not aware of the advanced level achieved by Jordanian factories in terms of quality.
"After I saw the high quality of products, it is like I don't live in Jordan," Tarawneh told a large number of attendees from the public and private sectors, blaming lack of promotion and advertisements for the poor public awareness about Jordanian products.
"It seems that manufacturers believe spending on advertising is useless," he said, calling on Jordan TV to make special coverage and give discount rates to local industries.
But Iyad Abul Rub, sales and marketing manager at Al Shahed food and beverages factories, said advertising at the state-owned TV would not help boost the sales of the factory, indicating that participation in a trade fair is a better venue to promote products, which he claimed are of higher quality than regional competitors.
"It is unfortunate that Jordanian consumers have more confidence in products made in other countries, particularly the Gulf, than those made in Jordan," Abul Rub said.
Advertising at radio stations is more feasible than the national TV, he added.
Hazem Mustafa, general manger of Al Alamieh Chocolate, said the chocolates made by the Amman-based factories are not "very popular' in the local market, noting that merchants prefer to sell cheaper candies imported from other countries.
"Our revenues from exports are double those generated from sales in the Kingdom," he indicated, saying Jordanian TV channels do not enjoy large audience.
"We cannot afford to launch TV commercials in Arab satellite channels because they are very expensive," Mustafa added, complaining that large supermarkets in the Kingdom do not give priority to products made in Jordan.
Osama Abu Dabour agreed with fellow manufacturers.
"Our products are sold in several Arab countries but sometimes we struggle to promote our merchandise in Jordan," Abu Dabour, who is the marketing manager for a food and sweets factory, said, insisting that the products are of high international standards.
"We advertise at newspapers but visual media is always the way to promote products and services," he said.
Industrialists in the Kingdom also complain that government procurement committees and large supermarkets give priority to foreign products.
