The 'Golden Cactus' competition - the Israeli advertising competition - has been held for nearly 20 years by the Association of Advertising Companies. It focused on gourmet advertisements, the creation of Israel's leading advertising agencies.
For years, a persistent dialogue was conducted with the competition directors to allow for a separate category for the Haredi, Russian, and Arab sectors.
In 2004, Benny Gal of Gal BSD published a harsh response to the failure to privatize the "sectors" from competition. He called on advertisers to open their eyes to the new reality, because "sectoral market segments have long since become a central factor in purchasing power in Israel.".
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Gal did cry out for equality, but at the same time he defined 'sectorality' as an independent market that is different and distinct from the general market.
The change required in the fabric of the competition is not in the privatization of the sectors for the competition itself, but in changing the Cactus judges' panel, and in combining Russian, Arab, and Haredi judges.
And especially when "sectoral market segments have become a central factor," they must be compared and integrated into the overall market.
This week, the CEO of a well-known advertising agency in the sector called me.
""You know," he said. "The reason for the recent decline in publications is not just related to Operation Protective Edge.".
At this point, I realized that the phone call came in response to last week's column, in which I presented data on declines in advertising metrics in the ultra-Orthodox sector, which were apparently caused by Operation Protective Edge.
So what is the reason? I wondered.
""Listen, internal wars in the Haredi sector such as the 'Yated and Peles War' have a direct impact on the dilution of campaigns and publications.".
To that extent? I asked.
""Yes, absolutely, the product owners, the advertisers, are generally secular people, and when they receive information about the internal disputes, they prefer not to intervene and refrain from advertising.
""After all, their goal is a positive image within the sector, and in the current situation they understand that whatever they do will harm them, so they simply don't do it," the senior publicist concluded.
If my informant is indeed right, and the 'Jewish War' also has an impact on the negative advertising trend in the sector - then we have a lot of cause for concern.
As we touched on last week, even without those battles, the Haredi advertising agencies fight every year for fair equality in the division of the budget pie.
The Yifat report for 2013 shows that the ten largest advertisers together invested NIS 33 million in the Haredi sector in 2013, compared to a budget investment of NIS 1.14 billion in the general sector.
That is, only 3% were invested in the Haredi sector, even though the sector's share was estimated at approximately 8 % of the total population.
The discussion of whether to include the 'sectors' in the general category or present them in an independent category is not a question of one kind or another of competition. The discussion is about the future of the market and its essence.
The Haredi advertising market seeks to compete with fair budgets, but on the other hand, it is afraid of competing with general advertising.
The sector must decide whether it is part of the whole or whether it is the Vatican of the general advertising world, a state within a state.
And these are the questions that the leaders of Haredi advertising need to answer:
Does the fact that the advertising content of the Haredi sector focuses, for example, on Shabbat, a holiday, or 'between times' change its definition and turn it into 'something else'?
Does the fact that the Haredi consumer consumes 'street advertising' instead of television make him a consumer whose language is completely different?
If we don't decide, we'll eventually have to wade alone with the black cactus.
At the entrance to the Vatican Museum in Rome, there are two passages. One for people who think a little ahead, and the other for the rest of the crowd.
The 'thinking people' enter without a line. They have ordered tickets in advance online. The crowd in the second aisle can wait in line for up to four hours.
Even at the door of the Haredi advertising state, there are passages: for people who think and for the masses.
Those who do not act with much thought may drag the entire caravan with them on a long, winding road whose end is unknown. The internal wars, those who lack thought, are the idiots who sink the entire ship, and also the ground on which it stands.
A sector that faces the larger world is a challenge. But a sector that faces itself is a war for survival.
