This technology is also being used in sitcoms and TV shows that are sponsored by a particular company. The company’s logos are seen in the original broadcast (and presumably the mid-season reruns), but changes the product placements for syndication.
Now, given the fact that in the middle of entertainment, our time is being used to ‘encourage’ us to purchase the same product that our favourite characters are using, I feel like I should be billing the advertisers for my time watching their product being used.
[movie rant]
Movies are a different matter. With the 10-15 minutes of commercials at the beginning and the product placements (usually blatant), I am considering creating an invoice to hand to the theatre manager for my time spent being advertised to. I am paying for the entertainment, not for someone to be in my face selling me stuff.
[/movie rant]
[telemarketer rant]
see good points in the telemarketer thread…
[/telemarketer thread]
[junk mail rant]
sick of having my mailbox full of direct mail marketing and fliers. The “No fliers” signs don’t seem to help.
I heard about one person who put a notice above her mailbox that stated that there would be a charge for all unsolicated mail. She charged her time to open and read the mail, and storage costs for hanging on to it. She then sent invoices to the advertisers. Some ignored them, so she sent reminder notices. Some called up furious that they would be billed. Some actually PAID! Good idea, no?
[/junk mail rant]
Problem is, I’m just not a confrontational kinda guy, so I just come here and bitch. Maybe I’ll get up the nerve to go ahead with some of these ideas.
Anyone else try to stike back at the people who use up your valuable time to tell you about something that they think you need?
Well, if it’s a choice between being advertised at and having to <gasp> pay for things like television programming, I’d go for the advertising. It suits my lifestyle as a poor college student better.
Advertising is a necessary and integral part of a consumerist and capitalist society.
Advertising in the news is unethical and insupportable. When I see a news story, I want facts. If it’s not facts, it’s not news, and it’s fraud to represent it as such. I don’t care what your interpretation of the content is, I want a clear and obvious demarcation between factual information presented (photographs, video and quotes), interpretation (commentary and description), and advertising.
Ads at the movies piss me off. I understand that they need revenue to make money, but it irks me to pay directly and have to sit through ads.
NPR irks me for the same reason. They run ads between the shows (this show was brought to you by ADM, Supermarket to the World). Even worse, one month out of three there’s no news at all, just incessant mind-numbing beg-a-thons, It must work since they stay in business, but I’ll be damned before I give my money in response to such an intelligence-insulting and time-wasting plea.
Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum immane mittam.
SingleDad: Have you seen a doctor about that knee? It seems to be jerking a bit.
Agreed. It’s a pain in the ass. I see the same thing on PBS as well these days. Bleech.
Hmm. 'Round here it’s only twice a year, for a week at a time. I imagine you were hyperbolizing, but I just suffered through a pledge drive and it only felt like it lasted for a month.
It does work. But how else should they do it? What would get people to give? I don’t see how it’s intelligence-insulting, personally.
One friend of mine who worked for a PBS affiliate put it this way: It’s not the pledge drive per se which gets people to give. It’s the fact that for a couple week, everytime they turn on PBS, they hear it. For a lot of people, this helps them realize just how often they turn on PBS and how much use they get out of it.
-andros-
(who’s feeling just a leeetle superior for mailing out his check to NPR this week)
Actually, I consider non-commercial underwriting a refreshing change from in-your-face screaming at the top of their lungs ads. They have very stringent rules about what you can and can’t say. For example, if giving out a phone number, you can’t say “CALL 1-800-xxxxxx.” That’s a “call to action.” Instead you have to say “you can reach us at 1-800-xxxxx” or something to that effect.
There’s a difference between shows supporting themselves and being money-grubbing gluttons who don’t give a fuck about what they’re putting on the air as long as the main character has a Pepsi in hand and in full view. Not only is there more product placement on TV, but the regular commercial breaks are longer than they’ve ever been and far more expensive than they’ve ever been thanks to the boon of Internet retailer ads.
As time goes by, I find myself watching less and less TV, so maybe the constant ads are a good thing. They’re making me ignore the mind-numbing nonsense and crack open books more often.
Okay, I accept some level of advertising and commercial breaks. The number of shows that are extending their commercial breaks to 6 minutes at a time by coming back to the show and putting a commercial for their next broadcast/next story and going away to commercial again. News magazines are ridiculous for this, and my local evening news has also started doing this.
I need to get a TV that has a “commercial skip” function on it. You press it for 30-second increments and it allows you to channel surf until the timer counts down, when it goes back to the original channel.
