I Hate TV Commercials

TV commercials are annoying. Worse, much of the time they're obnoxious. My current most-hated are two IKEA commercials. I don't hate the company; I have generally a favorable view of them, but if these commercials keep up I will soon learn to hate IKEA.

One shows a couple racing into their kitchen to cheer (that's the best word I can think of) their kitchen appliances for just having produced a delicious dinner for them. The husband belly-bumps (is that the word?) the refrigerator on his way out of the room. Sure, we'd all do that after an enjoyable meal, right?

After a bit more thought, I want to admit that the concept of the commercial is creative. What is annoying about it is that it begins with what amounts to shouting, and the sudden loud noise is very jarring. (See comment below on loud commercials.)

IKEA's other commercial has two young identical twin girls who go through an incredibly annoying monotone chant—in front of the same pair of double ovens as in the other commercial. I don't know what they say. God bless the "mute" button on the remote.

We have a local bankruptcy attorney who does his own TV commercials (almost always a mistake for the small business owner: better to use professional actors). He used to stare into the camera and talk in a droning voice. He's gotten better, and at the same time his face has gotten fatter--but his commercials are still deceptive, and annoying in their frequency and ubiquity.

It's also extremely annoying when a TV station runs the same commercial twice in one commercial break. I'm sure the sponsor would not be pleased at that practice, if they were aware of it. I think the FCC should crack down on that practice, as they are (supposedly) going to rein in another very annoying practice of TV stations, ramping up the volume on commercials. (My theory is that they do that to wake you up, if you've fallen asleep. After all, the commercial being the most important part of the broadcast, they want to ensure that you don't miss it.)

Here's a link to an article on obnoxious, loud commercials:

http://www.walletpop.com/blog/2010/04/27/ad-rant-after-obnoxious-staples-ad-give-me-higher-prices-and-l/


Besides commercials which are annoying in and of themselves, I really hate tuning in the TV or radio right in the middle (or even worse, just at the start) of a run of commercials. It seems to me that there are now more TV commercials in every commercial break than there used to be. (At one time, if you recall, the FCC had a rule limiting commercial content as a proportion of program content. Since that rule was rescinded we now have the blessing of infomercials.) I know that a commercial break can have at least eight commercials. If you count "spots" (ads for other TV shows), and if some of the commercials and spots are only 30 seconds, there might be 12. When a movie is showing, once you have gotten hooked on the program, the commercial breaks become more frequent (e.g., after only 7 minutes of the program), and longer, as well, with more individual ads.

With TV, I will often let one or even two commercials play. When another one comes on, I hit "mute." With radio, after one or two commercials, I switch it off if it's within reach. I can switch it on again in a couple minutes, when the commercials are done.

Someone once gave a number for the number of advertising messages we are subjected to on an average day, via all media. It was some staggering number, like a few thousand. I'm pretty sure we are normally not even aware of how many TV commercials we watch, and would be surprised at the number. Count them some time.

I used to work with a guy who was pretty pro-business. When I complained to him about commercials, he pointed out to me that commercials are why sponsors pay the money that makes TV and radio programming possible. Of course that's true, but (as I mentioned in an earlier posting on this blog), I as a consumer find it hard not to look askance at businesses when they get ever more ingenious at finding new places to put advertising. Has it appeared on chewing gum wrappers yet? The walls of public toilet stalls? Just wait. (I should be careful, I may well be giving someone an idea here.)

Anyone who can remember back a few decades, when I was a child, might recall that, before cable TV was a reality and was just one of those to-come, futuristic ideas, it was called "pay TV," and the appeal for the consumer was that it would not carry commercials! Now, of course, all cable TV networks, even the "premium" ones, carry advertising. Why? Just one of countless cases where someone found out that they could introduce advertising (or more advertising) and customers would accept it without protest.

Copyright © 2010 by Richard Stein