TV commercials assault

Remove all ads!

It's been about 7 years since i've stopped watching television, so in this age where everyone is constantly soaked in all sorts of ads and commercials, the ones on television, when i happen to pass one by, relatively stand out to me.

With at least half of them, i feel like under attack. Verbal stream of shouting trampling my eardrums. I instantly grow annoyed and irritable until i can turn it off. I can't even imagine actually trying to watch something with these heaps of garbage thrown my way at every break. With their aggressiveness they stand out so much that a mute button would be a necessity every time. The visuals are hardly any better of course.

I'm finding them really hard to stomach (indeed, i simply don't anymore) and wonder why such assaults are even allowed. That's what they are to me basically. On national TV even. Empty, meaningless texts only add to the effect of dimwitted bull-red flag. Most of them i'm wondering whether they're making fun of me or themselves. They don't even state anything, except throwing their logo and slogans repeatedly at you, hoping you're the monkey who recalls it in the store when it's time to buy.


I really feel TV (to start with) commercials should be curbed somehow. Am i the only one?

 

I don't own a TV and I only watch TV when visiting relatives or friends in which case grabbing the remote and hitting the mute button is an obligation during ads.

What I find most annoying is having to sit through ads when I go to a movie theatre. I'm already paying to watch the movie, I shouldn't be subjected to that inane pollution.

 

DVDs can be much the same - worst of all when the ads/previews can't be circumvented by going to the main menu.

 

Sporting events are the worse for tv ads! Everything during the action is sponsored (tickers at the top, halftimes, restarts, etc.). In racing, the cars are giant billboards going around the track. The uniforms all have ads on them in some sports. THEN, they pile on tons of ads on top of this! Its utterly ridiculous! Meanwhile, the only sport I've ever seen do "picture-in-picture" during tv ads is Indycar... and only sometimes.

 

That reminds me of game tournaments. Like sports, e-sports is going in the exactly same direction - sponsorship madness.
Obviously it presents a (fairly easy) way to gain funds to travel to tourneys and all associated costs, but the requirements in advertising department can't but climb the same as in "real" sports.
Streams of such tourneys are again sponsored of course, bringing all the litter with it.

 

I tend to change the channel during commercials, though in general I don't watch much TV last decade or so - only when I'm stuck without a PC or something.

It's not just the commercials, either - I can't watch talkshows, most news or any kind of programme with actual people in it.

Mute mode is default

 

Watch the show then read or listen to music (whatever floats your boat) during commercials till the show comes back on. Multitasking.

 

I have MySky so all my TV is recorded on my MySky box and I watch it later so always fast forward through advertisements. It feels strange to watch TV "live" now and have to sit through ads.

 

Hehe, seriously Tal can you tell me what the practical difference there is between watching a downloaded episode of your favourite show and watching it tivoed/recorded? Especially you who are such an ardent defender of the right to media producers to get paid should sit through every minute of adverisement or if you don't want to see it buy your stuff on DVD. Or you do not really have an ethical stance on the issue you just think it is important to follow the letter of the law and not always the spirit?

The unwillingness of people to sit through ads is probably the main reason why they get more and more invasive for the people who suffer through them. I never watch any ads, always channel surf or go away during breaks. I spend a lot of time watching public service, it rocks, expensive but dammit it is money well spent.

 

I also record and watch later. It's actually because I work nights though and am sleeping/working when my favorite shows are on. I do fast forward the ads.

 

No, you're not the only one. I'm not so sensitive to noise, so I usually sit through them (ignoring them entirely), but my wife is, so the mute button is frequently used when she's watching TV. Actually, even I use the mute button for the really annoying ones.

There's one in particular that gets me, not just because of how annoying it is, but how hypocritical (or perhaps ironic?). The commecial (I'm not even sure what it's for) has this loud, annoying, three-tone non-melody playing through the whole thing, and then, at the end, the motto is 'Quietly brilliant'. Every time I see it I think, 'No, loudly dull' or 'A tale, told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing' if I'm in a poetic mood.

 

I can't stand ads. The volume always goes up as the ad makers know people leave the room and go get a drink or whatever during the break in the shows.

Anyway, Rob insists on having surround sound (pointless as he can only hear in one ear so he doesn't get the full effect!) and my hearing problems mean that when there is a lot of sounds my ears/brain can't cope so I just hear garbage. It drives me insane! I always either fastforward the ads if it's recorded or turn off the volume completely

 

What I'm sick and tired of are the health related commercials. Activia, Colon Flow, birth control, 'feminine itch', irritable bowel syntrom, toenail fungus, crohn's disease, and the like.

Seriously, the spokeswoman for regular bowl movements is Jamie Lee Curtis?!?! Apparently, Sally Field is so old that's she's now Boniva's spokeswoman...shouldn't Betty White have that gig?

IMO, companies that sell personal medical products have no shame anymore...and yet, hilarious commercials like "Shiny Suds" get pulled for retarded reasons. I miss my DVR...my parent’s satellite package isn’t HD, and my DVR from old house (which is filled with awesomeness) isn’t compatible with their satellite...even though it’s the same company’s hardware. The best I can do now is mute the volume.

 

Side effects may include diarrhea.

I actually saw a commercial for some diarrhea treatment the other day where the possible side effects included diarrhea.

 

I agree. Plus, if you wear incontinance pads or certain brands of sanitary towels, you can run along beaches in white trousers, ride mechanical bulls, parachute and roller blade even if you've never been able to do those things before

 

Awesome, items with +skills in real life. How i wish i watched more tv ads.

I really wonder who's making them, half of them are idiotic and the other half are taking us for idiots (with half of each mixing with the other). Think there's really a special talent in play here in the making-of process.
Pretty much also the reason i can't bear to watch discovery channel. Making everything so "dramatical" even though it's clearly staged, describing even the most logical and mundane things with intense superlatives and the winner, drawing out a 5 minute explanation into a 45 minute yawnvilles repeating everything at least twice (more often 3-4 times). It's one thing to simplify it so everyone can understand it. It's quite another to make it half comatosed IQ60 level.

Does that mean i can record whatever i want that's on TV, burn it on a DVD and so basically skipping the whole buy-DVD part?
I guess putting it in a torrent (sharing it with everyone) or cutting the commercials out of it is over the line?

 

I think the challenge is to make ads that people want to watch. There are one or two 'episodic' type ads that I actually stop the fast-forward on and play them because I am interested in them. But that is the exception rather than the rule.

But if you were running a company, how would YOU advertise your products? You can't just sit there and say "all ads are crap" without having an alternative solution.

 

Subtle product placement. It works!