# Fuck you, ABC. Fuck you straight to fucking hell! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 2, 2001, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-abc-fuck-you-straight-to-fucking-hell/48037 "2001-01-02T01:20:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Oblong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/c0e974/32.png) [@Oblong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oblong)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2001, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-abc-fuck-you-straight-to-fucking-hell/48037/21 "2001-01-02T17:35:33Z")
> [@](#): > > So yes, I think seeing a product logo every twenty seconds, in addition to the HUGE glut of regular commercials, does detract from the experience. It feels like I’m watching three and a half hours (Hey! Where did that extra half hour come from? Football games usually only lasted three hours ten years ago! Oh yeah, extra commercials…) of advertisements with a few minutes football thrown in. I’m taking bets on how long it will be before the teams actually start naming themselves after corporations. I say three years. Any takers well too fucking bad. ABC’s objective is to make profits and be greedy. That is why they exist. They don’t exist to show football games. ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2001, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-abc-fuck-you-straight-to-fucking-hell/48037/22 "2001-01-02T17:55:40Z")
Well, no shit, Captain Obvious. They wanted big profits ten years ago, too. But at least they had enough respect for the viewer not to accept a corporate sponser for every fucking aspect of the game, and then some. Every year, advertisments show up in more and more places. At first people bitch and whine, then they get used to it. When I go to the movies, I pay $7, yet I still see a commercial or two, and I hear people in the audience groaning about it. A couple years from now, they’ll get over it. As soon as they do, they’ll probably stop the movie every 40 minutes for commercial breaks. When people stop groaning about that, they’ll stop it every twenty minutes. I know this is starting to sound like a slippery slope argument, but a slippery slope is all I’ve been seeing for the past decade. If this keeps up, I’m afraid I’ll walk into a forest ten years from now and see signs that say “THIS TREE WAS PROUDLY BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE MILLER BREWING COMPANY!” and, of course, in teeny, tiny letters next to it, the obligatory “Please drink responsibly.” ---
**Author:** ![Crunchy\_Frog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ebca7d/32.png) [@Crunchy\_Frog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crunchy_Frog)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2001, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-abc-fuck-you-straight-to-fucking-hell/48037/23 "2001-01-02T18:20:23Z")
Kinda on track with the OP, since it has to do with a bitch at ABC, but not about CG billboards: A few years ago, there was an ice skating special scheduled to be aired especially for ABC. The Russian skaters Gordeava and Grinkov(sp?) were to skate together. These two were married and the husband, Grinkov, had died very suddenly and very young. ABC hyped this up as the last time the two publicly skated together. So of course, ABC announcer says they “chose” to skate to music from _Pocahontas_, which is coincidentally being released on video in a week or so. During the performance, ABC splices clips of the cartoon into the skating performance. Hey, assholes, maybe some of us actually wanted to see these gold medalists SKATE! I thought it was disgusting to use this man’s death to hype up their show as the last time you can see these two skate with each other, and then use their last public skating performance to plug the soon-to-be-released on video _Pocahontas_ piece of crap. Much worse than a CG billboard IMO. Way to go Disney/ABC. ---
**Author:** ![pldennison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@pldennison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pldennison)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2001, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-abc-fuck-you-straight-to-fucking-hell/48037/24 "2001-01-02T18:22:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by neutron star \* > **Well, no shit, Captain Obvious. They wanted big profits ten years ago, too. But at least they had enough respect for the viewer not to accept a corporate sponser for every fucking aspect of the game, and then some.** Hey, if you’re ABC, and you’re showing college bowl games, and Doritos comes to you and says, “We’ll help you recoup your costs faster by paying you $X to put our name all over the halftim report,” what do you answer? “No, we’d hate to allow commercial considerations to destroy the deep-rooted integrity that **is** NCAA Div. I college football”? ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2001, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-abc-fuck-you-straight-to-fucking-hell/48037/25 "2001-01-02T18:38:26Z")
and what’s wrong with advertising anyway? Companies want business. What do you expect them to do? Telemarketing? I don’t think so. People are willing to spend the money to advertise in these sporting events, people are willing to take the money from the advertisers, why does that affect you? You don’t like CG advertising? Don’t patronise the company. Ignore the billboards, and watch the fucking game instead. But don’t tell them to go fuck themselves for running their business, that’s just not fair. ---
**Author:** ![Crunchy\_Frog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ebca7d/32.png) [@Crunchy\_Frog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crunchy_Frog)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2001, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-abc-fuck-you-straight-to-fucking-hell/48037/26 "2001-01-02T18:50:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by neutron star \* > \*\*But at least they had enough respect for the viewer \*\* I’m sorry, but ABC has respect for its viewers? Yet _Full House_ and that Urkel idiot were on the air for YEARS! 😉 The truth is, ABC is owned by Disney. Disney is a conglomerate corporation, and for the longest time, has cared only about exploiting whatever opportunity available to make more money. People don’t refer to Disney as The Evil Empire for nothing. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by pldennison \* > \*\*“No, we’d hate to allow commercial considerations to destroy the deep-rooted integrity that _is_ NCAA Div. I college football”? \*\* HAHAHAHA!!! ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2001, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-abc-fuck-you-straight-to-fucking-hell/48037/27 "2001-01-02T18:59:57Z")
Well, I’m not saying that I don’t understand why they do it. Of course, if I worked at ABC and it was my decision, I would reject the offer. To put it mildly, let’s just say that I’m not CEO material. 🙂 I think the networks are walking a very fine line with these practices. They’re risking not only alienating (at least some of) their viewers, but also the companies that paid them for the advertisements. Your commercial is surely going to get more attention if it only has twenty other commercials to compete with instead of a hundred (note that these are arbitrary numbers. I’ve never actually counted the commercials in a game). A four minute commercial break is much more likely to make me want to go take a whiz and get a soda (thereby missing ALL the commercials) than a two minute break would. I just don’t see how it can keep getting worse like this for much longer. At some point, people are either going to get fed up and stop watching (okay, maybe not), or, more likely, the advertisers will get tired of their messages being diluted, and will refuse to pay the big bucks. > [@](#): > > But don’t tell them to go fuck themselves for running their business, that’s just not fair. They ran their businesses just fine a few years ago without all of this dreck. They were making a tidy profit, the fans were happy, and everything was going great. But they got greedy. They couldn’t just leave good enough alone. They had to pinch _every last fucking penny_ out of it! That is what I object to, but I guess it seems to be the American way. _sigh_ ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2001, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-abc-fuck-you-straight-to-fucking-hell/48037/28 "2001-01-02T19:14:53Z")
Oh, and there’s _some_ integrity left in college football. Unfortunately, it all seems to rest on one man’s shoulders - Joe Paterno. He never did a commercial, doesn’t put stupid stickers on the helmets of team members who make big plays, and refuses to even let the players put their names on their jerseys. He must be doing something right, too, because he’s just a couple wins away from being the winningest coach in NCAA-1 history. Let’s just hope that Bobby Bowden retires before he can catch up to Joe. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Weirddave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Weirddave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weirddave)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2001, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-abc-fuck-you-straight-to-fucking-hell/48037/29 "2001-01-02T19:54:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by neutron star \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > I suppose you’d prefer a pay-per-view game? or perhaps we should pay more taxes so ABC can get a subsidy from the government? > > Uh, I don’t think that was what the OP was getting at at all. There’s a big difference between paying for the game and reaping profits at every fucking opportunity possible. > > Ten or fifteen years ago, there were no CGI billboards. There was no Doritos halftime report, Preperation H Play of the Game, Aflac trivia question, Quaker State MVP, Tostitos score ticker, or, god forbid, a Blockbuster All-Madden Team. No Poulan/Weedeater Independence Bowl, either. There was a Goodyear blimp and that was it. But somehow the networks managed to reap mighty profits. > > If you look at advertising rates for back then compared to the rates today, you can see that they’ve kept pace. In fact, from what I’ve heard, the dot com ads raised the bar even more. This isn’t good enough for the networks. They want more, more, MORE! You may call it good business sense. I call it pure fucking greed.\*\* At the risk of stating the obvious, ( always a mistake) 15 years ago, ABC was competing with CBS and NBC. FOX haden’t even come around yet. Now ABC is competing with 100 other channels and Pay-Per-View. Is this starting to make a little more sense? If you don’t like it, don’t patronise the companies that advertise this way. Sheeesh! ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2001, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-abc-fuck-you-straight-to-fucking-hell/48037/30 "2001-01-02T20:16:30Z")
FOX may have been in its infancy 15 years ago, but there were certainly plenty of cable channels to choose from. Also, most of the cable channels barely register a flicker in the ratings. When it comes to football, the big channels have it pretty much locked up. You might find some no-name NCAA-II games on cable, and maybe even a few NCAA-I games featuring unranked teams, but nothing to even come close to competing with watching Penn State, Florida State, Notre Dame, etc, on the networks. It’s competition, yes, but nothing for the big three (four?) to get worried about. Yes, it costs more to get the rights to those games than it did in 1985, but the advertisement rates are keeping pace - and then some! > [@](#): > > If you don’t like it, don’t patronise the companies that advertise this way. Yeah, I can imagine the size of that boycott list. I’d probably have to order my groceries from overseas! ---
**Author:** ![SuaSponte](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/67e7ee/32.png) [@SuaSponte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuaSponte)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2001, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-abc-fuck-you-straight-to-fucking-hell/48037/31 "2001-01-02T20:22:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Milossarian \* > **My advertising/bowl game question is, do these insignificant companies not realize that naming the bowl after themselves is not only annoying, it detracts from the bowl’s significance?** What significance? :gd&r: ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2001, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-abc-fuck-you-straight-to-fucking-hell/48037/32 "2001-01-02T22:57:47Z")
Not to get all GQ and all, but can I get a cite for the assertion that the networks are making mighty profits from these free games? It had always been my impression that for at least the past several contracts, the nets took a bath on pro football and made marginal profits, if even that, on the college games. ---
**Author:** ![waterj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/858c86/32.png) [@waterj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waterj2)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2001, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-abc-fuck-you-straight-to-fucking-hell/48037/33 "2001-01-03T02:42:57Z")
Also, ten or fifteen years ago, people actually watched commercials, rather than simply changing the channel constantly. ---
**Author:** ![Chief\_Crunch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e8c25b/32.png) [@Chief\_Crunch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chief_Crunch)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2001, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-abc-fuck-you-straight-to-fucking-hell/48037/34 "2001-01-03T04:11:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by neutron star \* > **Oh, and there’s _some_ integrity left in college football. Unfortunately, it all seems to rest on one man’s shoulders - Joe Paterno. He never did a commercial** Actually, Joe was featured in a Burger King commercial for their now defunct “Big King” sandwich. Bowden did a Big King commercial, too. Plus, Joe does a lot of PA local commcerials for things like Milano bread. You can see his mug on the bread packages and on billboards all over Pennsylvania. Lions fans will buy anything that has his picture on it. He even has an ice cream flavor named after him, “Peachy Paterno”. ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2001, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-abc-fuck-you-straight-to-fucking-hell/48037/35 "2001-01-03T06:57:46Z")
Wow, really, Chief? I never saw Joe in a BK commercial, but I remember Lou Holtz did one. Was that who you were thinking of, or did Joe do one too? I spent the first 19 years of my life in a town not much more than an hour from State College, and I can truthfully say that I’ve never seen him advertise anything, and I’ve never seen his face on anything that wasn’t PSU parapharnalia. Guess I wasn’t paying close enough attention. ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2001, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-abc-fuck-you-straight-to-fucking-hell/48037/36 "2001-01-03T07:01:43Z")
Manhattan: I seem to be coming up empty looking for a cite. Guess I’ll concede this argument until I can come up with something concrete. ---
**Author:** ![Ms2001](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ms2001/32/18463_2.png) [@Ms2001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms2001)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2001, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-abc-fuck-you-straight-to-fucking-hell/48037/37 "2001-01-03T07:54:24Z")
As for the virtual billboards interfering with the game… it did overlap the score box at one point. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Chief\_Crunch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e8c25b/32.png) [@Chief\_Crunch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chief_Crunch)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2001, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-abc-fuck-you-straight-to-fucking-hell/48037/38 "2001-01-03T09:16:34Z")
neutron, The commercial is described at this site: [http://members.nbci.com/TASponsler/page29.html](http://members.nbci.com/TASponsler/page29.html) ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2001, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-abc-fuck-you-straight-to-fucking-hell/48037/39 "2001-01-03T15:01:08Z")
Huh. So it is. That’s weird. I must have seen the Holtz and Bowden commercials two dozen times apiece, but I’d never seen Paterno shilling for their greasy shit. Bummer. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2001, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-abc-fuck-you-straight-to-fucking-hell/48037/40 "2001-01-03T16:13:10Z")
Were you forced at gunpoint to watch the game? Nooooo. Then quit yer bitchin’! I noticed that there were only 2 people at the Hula Bowl, or whatever they’re calling it these days. Obviously Hawaiians had something better to do than to sit and watch a bunch of advertisements disguised as a football game. Maybe THEY have lives, you bunch of mindless idiots! If it were up to me, the t.v. would be OFF during the holidays. I’m sick of watching the back of my male relatives’ heads all day. Is this what Christmas is supposed to be? I don’t think so. I thought you were supposed to gather together with your family and, I don’t know, CONVERSE once in a while. Sheesh. P.S. The previous rant was brought to you by the Converse Shoe Company. Happy Holidays! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-abc-fuck-you-straight-to-fucking-hell/48037.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-you-abc-fuck-you-straight-to-fucking-hell/48037.md?page=3)