TV Commercials

[Roadrunner53]

Just a rant on TV commercials. Is anyone as sick as I am with commercials and these hucksters always trying to sell crap that we have to buy? For instance, mattress sales. They advertise as if there will not be any mattresses available in the world unless you buy one NOW!!! There are these two boob brothers who sing about their car dealerships and they aren't funny, aren't talented but very annoying. If you notice, almost every commercial has to have a jingle or song associated with it. Really, singing about ladders? ARRRGGGG!!! Then if you watch the same channel each day like CNN or GMA the same commercials are on day after day after day. Of course each month there is a new holiday to buy for: Presidents day, Washington's Birthday, Valentines day, St. Patrick's day, back to school sales, Christmas, 4th of July. It never ends. The drug commercials telling you the wonders of a new drug but then they rattle off all the things that may cause death if you take it. Is it me or am I becoming an OLD CRANK POT? I am sick of being advertised to! I do understand these companies need to make money and advertising it how it is done. Before Hub retired I often never turned on the TV till he came home. Now he has it on 16 hours a day. Netflix is my only salvation!

[SC93]

I usually watch a couple of minutes of tv while going to sleep. Other than that, I'm either enjoying family & friends or making money. And when I do watch tv, it is a recording of The Profit or something like that so I just speed through commercials. It's been years since I watched a commercial. I'm really surprised people still watch live tv and I'm more surprised businesses still pay to advertise on it.

[hadabeardonce]

I'm sure there's a medication on the market that'll cure your frustrations... and another pill that'll counteract the dangerous side affects of that first pill. Speak with your doctor to find out if they are right for you.

(now back to the news, healthcare costs are rising an at alarming pace...)

[VoteCthulu]

I used to be annoyed by TV commercials, but after I stopped my cable service I started feeling much happier.

[ketchup]

TV commercials are awful.  Radio commercials are awful.  All advertising is pretty awful.

Reposting a reply I made in a different thread:

I'll piggyback on this and say that one of the best things one can do is eliminate advertising of all kinds from their life to the best of their ability.

No commercial-containing TV.
No commercial-containing radio.
Use an ad-blocker in your web browser (uBlock origin).
No magazines.
Don't even pretend to read the physical junk mail.  Put a recycling bin right by your door to dump it in before looking at your mail.
Unsubscribe from all the email lists.
No ad-supported versions of apps/services (like Pandora).
No Facebook/Instragram/Twitter/etc.
Don't read blogs about how awesome new things are (tech gadgets, media, etc.)

Bonus points:
Less-"realistic" media with no/minimal product placement (sorry Adam Sandler fans)
No non-text (print or online) news.
Avoid driving routes with billboards.

I do most of this.  I'm sure I'm forgetting some good ones.

I'm 26 and haven't regularly watched anything with commercials since about 2007.  Luckily it's not that hard to eliminate them entirely.  Now they are extremely jarring every time I happen to be in their presence.

[Khaetra]

Eh, some are annoying but some I find pretty funny, like the Allstate mayhem guy, Geico, Farmers, Bud Light (Dilly Dilly!!).  The pharma commercials I can do without though and I am glad they no longer air ED pills during football.

[Khaetra]

I knew Americans had pharmaceutical ads in print publications, but on television too? Yikes!

Oh yeah, if you have an ailment they have a commercial for it lol!

[TheWifeHalf]

I like the commercials that use music from the 70s.
Queen, Elo, others.
It tells me I'm old which doesn't bother me - it beats the alternative!

[Travis]

I knew Americans had pharmaceutical ads in print publications, but on television too? Yikes!

Oh yeah, if you have an ailment they have a commercial for it lol!

"Medicine X will treat your Disease/Issue/Symptoms"
"Ask your doctor if Medicine X is right for you"
"Only available by prescription"
"Go see your doctor to get your condition properly diagnosed"

You will find these four statements in pretty much every American pharmaceutical commercial. Often one right after the other.  You've got a medication so new or so dangerous that it is only available with a doctor's permission.  If that's the case, why are they advertising to the consumer? 

Chris Rock explains why:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66OV_DkPBFQ

[Optimiser]

I only really watch Netflix, Amazon Prime, or movies from the library. Every once in a while I watch something on TV at someone else's house and I can't believe how annoying the commercials are and how annoying it is to have whatever I was watching being interrupted.

[frompa]

In Infinite Jest, David Foster Wallace describes subsidized time -- that is, the names of the years have been changed from our numerical system (2018) to names that corporations have paid as advertising for their products.  Much of the action of the novel takes place in the Year of the Adult Depends Undergarment.  That absurdity has been a boon to allowing me to stop ranting about the ubiquity and increasing aggression of modern advertising.  It really is THAT absurd.  Thinking of advertising that way has allowed me to simply shut it out... disregard it entirely, so that it's not even worth the energy it would take me to rant about it.  And to think -- all it took was a couple of years of reading a 900+ page book.  HA HA.  (Maybe one has to be a lunatic at the outset, to reach this point.)

[Dave1442397]

I watch commercials once a year, during the Superbowl. That's it.

[BTDretire]

 I just wish somebody would advertise a pillow I could mail order!

[teen persuasion]

Only broadcast TV I watch lately is the news: morning news while having breakfast, and evening news while cooking/eating dinner.  Same ads every day during each show.  It's especially ridiculous during the evening news: the ads are either drug ads or luxury car ads, endless strings of them.  Obviously their target audience are all senior citizens.
 Don't know if it's just my anti-consumer mindset that questions everything, but the advertisers are actively turning me off.  The drug side effects (including possible death!) are worse than the conditions they treat.  The absurdly entitled spokesperson for the cars makes me want to gouge his eyes out, not emulate him!

Oh, just remembered - DS5 has been watching the retro OTA channels, and those ads are all lawyer ads (HAVE YOU OR A LOVED ONE BEEN INJURED OR KILLED BY xyz DRUG?), credit repair, structured settlement buyouts, funeral expense insurance (because a spouse dying always has debt and no savings), reverse mortgages, etc.  Obviously their target audience is unemployed and dead broke ('cause they are home watching TV during the day and can't even afford cable, duh).  I constantly find myself talking back to the idiots in those ads. Grr

[WhiteTrashCash]

What's a TV commercial? Are those the things I skip with the DVR I have attached to my antenna?

[SC93]

I just wish somebody would advertise a pillow I could mail order!

I'm starting a mail order air business in a few months. For just $4.95 per month (+shipping & handling) you can receive 2 bags of air each month. You can order air from anywhere in the world you would like for it to come from. But wait, I'm going to throw in 6 more bags of air FREE if you just pay shipping and handling ($12). If this takes off I might add on flavored air.

My favorite stupid radio commercial is......

24 HOUR FITNESS     not all locations open 24 hours.....

[Stachless]

Nothing ruins a good football game more than having to explain what Opioid Induced Constipation is to my 12, 10, and 9 year olds.

[Roadrunner53]

How about the commercial that is for lactose intolerance where there is a lot of fake fart noises and everyone is giggling?

Of course I am old now but when I was a kid there were no embarrassing commercials. Now there are commercials for sanitary pads where they talk about how wonderful they are and how much liquid they will absorb. OMG! How Depends are the greatest and show athletic people wearing them and how they fit so nicely but can hold a gallon of liquid. Kids today have been exposed to so much they must be immune to the embarrassment I would have felt sitting in the living room with my father watching Lassie! Hahaha, the good old days!

[BTDretire]

I just wish somebody would advertise a pillow I could mail order!

I'm starting a mail order air business in a few months. For just $4.95 per month (+shipping & handling) you can receive 2 bags of air each month. You can order air from anywhere in the world you would like for it to come from. But wait, I'm going to throw in 6 more bags of air FREE if you just pay shipping and handling ($12). If this takes off I might add on flavored air.

Ya but!
  Have you spent two years reasearching for the best pollow that is washable?
 Have you given jobs to thousands over the last 12 years? In America?
 Will you guarantee your air bags will be the most comfortable pillow I ever own or give my money back?
 I'm suspicious. :-)

[Roadrunner53]

Yes, and how the inventor magically appears in your house lecturing on the reasons why all other pillows on earth are bad and his pillow is good. He will even hold your pillow under your head to show you the correct position but he can't be there all night! So just buy his pillow! Hahaha!

[soccerluvof4]

Nothing ruins a good football game more than having to explain what Opioid Induced Constipation is to my 12, 10, and 9 year olds.

I cant watch football anymore. 12 minutes of action and 2.5 hours of commercials.

[Schaefer Light]

Nothing ruins a good football game more than having to explain what Opioid Induced Constipation is to my 12, 10, and 9 year olds.

I cant watch football anymore. 12 minutes of action and 2.5 hours of commercials.

That's the problem with sports.  I can't stand watching a game after it's been played, but I also hate watching commercials.  I usually just try to flip to another channel during commercial breaks.

[TheContinentalOp]

he drug commercials telling you the wonders of a new drug but then they rattle off all the things that may cause death if you take it.

Imagine if they were required to do that with other products:

In rare cases consumption of Skippy's peanut butter resulted in death!

[BTDretire]

Yes, and how the inventor magically appears in your house lecturing on the reasons why all other pillows on earth are bad and his pillow is good. He will even hold your pillow under your head to show you the correct position but he can't be there all night! So just buy his pillow! Hahaha!

 On one of their commercials they had a woman in bed using the MY Pillow.
They drew a straight line to should how there was no curve in her spine/neck.
The problem is there was a curve in her spine/neck and the line had
zero relation to the shape of her spine.
 I suspect that was pointed out and I no longer see that woman and her line.

[Davnasty]

I'm 26 and haven't regularly watched anything with commercials since about 2007.  Luckily it's not that hard to eliminate them entirely.  Now they are extremely jarring every time I happen to be in their presence.

I'm in about the same boat, jarring is a good word for it. I haven't lived in a house with TV service since 2007 and I remember seeing a commercial after a long break away from them, couldn't believe how different it seemed now that I wasn't used to them. At first I thought it was just a few really obnoxious commercials and I was making jokes about them but no one else found it as funny as I did. Soon I realized all commercials were like that.

A favorite of mine is the "limited edition rare coin with 14mg of real gold. Yours now for just $49.99 or 3 easy payments of $16.67."

That's about $0.66 worth of gold. The 3 payments part makes me feel even worse because the people who made that commercial are well aware of the demographic they're marketing to.

[dude]

In Infinite Jest, David Foster Wallace describes subsidized time -- that is, the names of the years have been changed from our numerical system (2018) to names that corporations have paid as advertising for their products.  Much of the action of the novel takes place in the Year of the Adult Depends Undergarment.  That absurdity has been a boon to allowing me to stop ranting about the ubiquity and increasing aggression of modern advertising.  It really is THAT absurd.  Thinking of advertising that way has allowed me to simply shut it out... disregard it entirely, so that it's not even worth the energy it would take me to rant about it.  And to think -- all it took was a couple of years of reading a 900+ page book.  HA HA.  (Maybe one has to be a lunatic at the outset, to reach this point.)

Phenomenal book. Absolutely laugh out loud funny one minute, and deeply, darkly disturbing the next. Captures (actually, lots of premonition in the book!) Americans' obsession with entertainment, and boy did he presage DJT with his Johnny Gentle character, or what?

[ketchup]

I'm 26 and haven't regularly watched anything with commercials since about 2007.  Luckily it's not that hard to eliminate them entirely.  Now they are extremely jarring every time I happen to be in their presence.

I'm in about the same boat, jarring is a good word for it. I haven't lived in a house with TV service since 2007 and I remember seeing a commercial after a long break away from them, couldn't believe how different it seemed now that I wasn't used to them. At first I thought it was just a few really obnoxious commercials and I was making jokes about them but no one else found it as funny as I did. Soon I realized all commercials were like that.

A favorite of mine is the "limited edition rare coin with 14mg of real gold. Yours now for just $49.99 or 3 easy payments of $16.67."

That's about $0.66 worth of gold. The 3 payments part makes me feel even worse because the people who made that commercial are well aware of the demographic they're marketing to.

I know what you mean by that.  I saw Star Wars a few weeks ago and since there was a big line, we ended up in the theater early.  So we got to see all the awful pre-trailer ads.  The Coca-cola and M&Ms commercials seemed so outrageous and over-the-top that I had to restrain myself from laughing.  Everyone else didn't seem to think it was anything out of the ordinary.

[Roadrunner53]

In one of our local chain grocery stores they have a tv above the deli and the tv is on sometimes and they have local business commercials and they yap at you while you wait for your deli order. GRRRRR!!!! Bombarded with that crap and then the holiday music that blares while you shop. It doesn't put me in the MOOD if that is their ploy!

[simonkkkkk]

I hate it........

[Indexer]

Netflix = no commercials.

I hate commercials so much that I wouldn't watch cable TV if it was free. I don't see the point. Cut the cord, and the commercials that come with it.

[scottish]

Sometimes, on vacation or business travel, we stay at a place with cable TV.   We're always amazed at the volume of commercials.

And this is a service people pay for.   The pay the cable company to stream all those commercials to their TV.  It's madness.

[Paul der Krake]

Chevrolet and Verizon are on my personal shit list due to their atrocious ads during every single ad break of NFL games. Special credit goes to Verizon for also ruining Silicon Valley.



Fuck you Richard Hendricks. Fuck you in the ass.

[CoffeeR]

People rant about commercials and their stupidity and most people think themselves immune, but advertisers have found when they stop advertising sales go down. So, in general, advertising does work and it works well. Regardless of our desire to declare ourselves different, it believe it also works on the MMM crowd as well, but less so.

That said, I do try to avoid them. The DVR attached to my antenna is nice and all shows I watch get recorded and fast forwarded through. I hardly know what is being advertised these days on TV shows. Of course, advertising embedded in shows is harder to avoid.

uBlock Origin (adblocker) is your friend when your browse the web.

[Roadrunner53]

It's not just TV it's radio too. You listen to one song, then you have to listen to the idiot disc jockey yap about his agenda then we have to listen to 50 commercials before you can hear another song. Half the time the songs are crap so if you commute to work your head is full of garbage before you start working. Just turn off the radio! I bought into Sirius radio, and it is better but I notice some commercials on it too. Thought it was commercial free.

[Indexer]

People rant about commercials and their stupidity and most people think themselves immune, but advertisers have found when they stop advertising sales go down. So, in general, advertising does work and it works well. Regardless of our desire to declare ourselves different, it believe it also works on the MMM crowd as well, but less so.

I agree. I think most people are immune to 1 commercial. Anyone here at least can watch the Chevy truck commercial and realize we don't need a $50,000 truck.

However, ads running 24/7 constantly bombarding us teaches people that consumerism is normal.

[BudgetSlasher]

They mildly irritate me, however I have learned to tolerate them . . .  dare I even say like?

I use them as a built it time to talk to the family, discuss what will happen next in the show, refill my water glass, or make a quick trip to the bathroom.

But, the real value is to my wallet; commercials reduce my cost. Look at Hulu for an example. It costs $7.99 a month for limited (much less than cable) commercials and to get no commercials is an extra $4 a month. A 50% increase to get rid of limited commercials.

Now there are some types of commercials, like prescription drugs that you mentioned, that I think have a negative impact; no important important medical decision should be colored by a paid actor dramatization aimed at selling their product.

[WhiteTrashCash]

But, the real value is to my wallet; commercials reduce my cost. Look at Hulu for an example. It costs $7.99 a month for limited (much less than cable) commercials and to get no commercials is an extra $4 a month. A 50% increase to get rid of limited commercials.

You might be surprised to learn how much commercials increase your monthly spending. I know I was. Those Madison Avenue Ad Execs know how to psychologically manipulate people. We may think we are immune to their trickery, but we're still human beings. My spending dropped by around $300/month once I eliminated advertising from my TV viewing and radio listening. It also greatly reduced my stress and anxiety. Shocking, right?

[Million2000]

TV commercials are awful.  Radio commercials are awful.  All advertising is pretty awful.

Reposting a reply I made in a different thread:

I'll piggyback on this and say that one of the best things one can do is eliminate advertising of all kinds from their life to the best of their ability.

No commercial-containing TV.
No commercial-containing radio.
Use an ad-blocker in your web browser (uBlock origin).
No magazines.
Don't even pretend to read the physical junk mail.  Put a recycling bin right by your door to dump it in before looking at your mail.
Unsubscribe from all the email lists.
No ad-supported versions of apps/services (like Pandora).
No Facebook/Instragram/Twitter/etc.
Don't read blogs about how awesome new things are (tech gadgets, media, etc.)

Bonus points:
Less-"realistic" media with no/minimal product placement (sorry Adam Sandler fans)
No non-text (print or online) news.
Avoid driving routes with billboards.

I do most of this.  I'm sure I'm forgetting some good ones.

I'm 26 and haven't regularly watched anything with commercials since about 2007.  Luckily it's not that hard to eliminate them entirely.  Now they are extremely jarring every time I happen to be in their presence.

I've somewhat subconsciously done the same thing as you and find myself muttering astonishment and incredulity at ads whenever I do happen to see them. One thing I've noticed about my parents who still have a TV-seeing commercials all the time makes you somewhat immune to the idiocy. While at my father's house over Christmas I found myself paying much more attention to the commercials than my relatives, if just to laugh and sake my head.  Everyone else completely ignored them, probably because they've seen them a hundred times before.

[Roadrunner53]

Let's not forget magazine advertising too! OMG, how many time have you flipped thru a mag and found those STUPID post card things? You have to go thru the whole mag to weed them out so you can read. The junk falls on the floor or you can't flip the mag because they are in the way. Plus, in some magazines there is 95% advertisements and if you are lucky 5% articles to read. Just a bunch of crap.

[BTDretire]

People rant about commercials and their stupidity and most people think themselves immune, but advertisers have found when they stop advertising sales go down. So, in general, advertising does work and it works well.

 Yes, I think about coke and pepsi, they are both well known world wide, but still they continue to spend millions every year so we will but their product.

[Travis]

Let's not forget magazine advertising too! OMG, how many time have you flipped thru a mag and found those STUPID post card things? You have to go thru the whole mag to weed them out so you can read. The junk falls on the floor or you can't flip the mag because they are in the way. Plus, in some magazines there is 95% advertisements and if you are lucky 5% articles to read. Just a bunch of crap.

I've found this with men's and travel magazines.  The ads look so much like the articles it's difficult to distinguish them.

[ketchup]

People rant about commercials and their stupidity and most people think themselves immune, but advertisers have found when they stop advertising sales go down. So, in general, advertising does work and it works well. Regardless of our desire to declare ourselves different, it believe it also works on the MMM crowd as well, but less so.

Absolutely.  I'm not so pompous to say that advertising doesn't affect me at all.  Marketers spend millions of dollars learning how to be smarter than me about this stuff.  I avoid them for that reason in addition to them being a waste of time and generally annoying.

[TheWifeHalf]

I agree. I think most people are immune to 1 commercial. Anyone here at least can watch the Chevy truck commercial and realize we don't need a $50,000 truck.

However, ads running 24/7 constantly bombarding us teaches people that consumerism is normal.

I live south of Michigan, Bob Seger land, and down here, we love Bob Seger. My ears always perked up when that particular Chevy commercial played Like A Rock

I guess it's obvious, I don't watch commercials, I listen to them

[Roadrunner53]

Grocery stores are set up for impulse buying too. I have always heard shop the perimeter of the store and not so much the aisles. The perimeter has meat, milk, veggies, bread, maybe frozen veggies too. The aisles are dangerous. The end caps are dangerous too. Competition for eye level shelves and good spots in refrigerated cases is vicious. I worked for a food company and we had multiple refrigerated products and some were seasonal. We would have something ready to pop into that seasonal slot so as not to lose the spot. You should also check the top shelves and bottom shelves for 'bargain brands'. The name brands monopolize the middle shelves so they are always at eye level and people tend not to look up or down for other similar products that cost LESS! Try looking for lesser known brands for cost savings. Many may already know but generic brands that are very similar to name brands are made in the same factories. They use the same machines and similar packaging. It is known as copacking. Even big name companies use copackers rather than invest in machinery. So when the brand name product is done in the production department, the factory will then produce the generic brand and will be manufactured with the same procedures. Recipes are different but not by much. The people who make generic brands take the brand name food products and send them to laboratories for analysis of fat, carbohydrates, salt, you name it. Once they know the composition they have their food scientists replicate brand name products and will use the brand name as the 'gold standard' to create their product. So save yourself money and buy the generic products. Yes, I know sometimes there is 'something missing' and that can be true. There can be one special ingredient that can't seem to be replicated. Sometimes we need to let our tastebuds adjust.

[TornWonder]

I think it would be interesting to see how society would change if advertisement and marketing costs were no longer tax deductible for companies.  Modern entertainment would be drastically altered.

[Eric]

Nothing ruins a good football game more than having to explain what Opioid Induced Constipation is to my 12, 10, and 9 year olds.

This is why your remote has a Mute button.  It's amazing how much less annoying they are when you can't hear them.