Shopping list: Beer, ice cream, loan

Czechs who settle down to an evening of TV will see dozens of commercials, for anything from personal-care products to ketchup. In most cases, what they see is what they get. The beer or cola will quench their thirst as promised, the dating service will set them up with some potential mates, and the fake butter will satisfy their illusion of eating healthily. If they read the fine print on the label, they might get a shock, but it won't deter them next time as long as they get from the product what they expect. In a category all to themselves are the commercials for financial products and services. It's often not clear exactly what the customer is getting. Sometimes the fine print on the screen can't even be read in freeze-frame mode. Petr Robejšek, a political scientist, told Czech TV last week that a fundamental failure of democracy is the way a single subsystem of society, the finance industry, has been allowed to acquire power and privilege at the expense of society as a whole. To be reminded of this daily, all we need to do is tune into our favorite TV shows.