# TV Ads...



## violadude (May 2, 2011)

Is there anything more illogical on this planet than the existence of TV ads?

Take an ad for a new menu item at McDonalds. Someone who is likely to eat at McDonalds will find out about this item sooner or later the next time they take a visit there to eat. Someone who is not likely to go to McDonalds will not be interested by the ad. So why does the ad exist??

And most ads they play so many times that by the time they play it for the 2,000,000th time, who hasn't heard of this stupid thing already??


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

violadude said:


> Is there anything more illogical on this planet than the existence of TV ads?


Why, yes. Telemarketing.

My life is more important than a TV show, yet some companies feel entitled to interrupt it with a one on one commercial, and without paying for the time. The CEO of these companies deserve ZERO respect. I do not take it out on the hapless callers however, who are just trying to do their jobs. It's a crappy situation that these corporate cowards hide behind their call centers and let others do the dirty work for them.

I think TV ads are declining in effectiveness, though they once must have been effective or there wouldn't be such a thing. But in these days of TIVO and Netflix, Hulu and YouTube, there is little need to put up with them. I am old enough not to have to see a show as soon as it airs. In fact I am not a slave to the schedule at all, preferring to wait a couple of years and then watch a whole season on DVD or streaming, ad free.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Advertising obviously works for selling products or companies wouldn't spend so much money on ads. As for myself, I can't stand commercial TV or radio, so I don't participate.


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

Weston said:


> Why, yes. Telemarketing.
> 
> My life is more important than a TV show, yet some companies feel entitled to interrupt it with a one on one commercial, and without paying for the time. The CEO of these companies deserve ZERO respect. I do not take it out on the hapless callers however, who are just trying to do their jobs. It's a crappy situation that these corporate cowards hide behind their call centers and let others do the dirty work for them.
> 
> I think TV ads are declining in effectiveness, though they once must have been effective or there wouldn't be such a thing. * But in these days of TIVO and Netflix, Hulu and YouTube, there is little need to put up with them.* I am old enough not to have to see a show as soon as it airs. In fact I am not a slave to the schedule at all, preferring to wait a couple of years and then watch a whole season on DVD or streaming, ad free.


A couple years ago I would have agreed with you, as I don't watch TV much. But now TV ads have invaded my beloved youtube.


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

starthrower said:


> Advertising obviously works for selling products or companies wouldn't spend so much money on ads. As for myself, I can't stand commercial TV or radio, so I don't participate.


Another thing I wonder is why don't any TV ads today make any sense!? After watching most ads today, I don't know anything useful about the product at all. Just some vague and silly statement about how it will "give me wings" or "it's out of control." What the hell does that mean?? Sometimes I barely even know what the product even is after watching an ad.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

I don't know? I haven't seen many modern day TV ads. For the past 20 years I've watched little TV except for C-Span, TCM, and some independent news channels.

I get pissed off at seeing some of the two page oil company propaganda ads when I open my new issue of Harper's Magazine.

"We believe in clean energy. We care about the environment, blah, blah, blah." Accompanied by a picture of a smiling African woman. Are they implying that they make life better for people in these other countries where they trash their environment?


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## Polednice (Sep 13, 2009)

Ah, good old BBC.


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## AmateurComposer (Sep 13, 2009)

violadude said:


> Is there anything more illogical on this planet than the existence of TV ads?


The purpose of advertisements, whether TV or otherwise, is to excite its observer to buy. For this purpose, the adverstisements aim at the observers emotions *not* logic, therefore they are illogical, many a time delibrately.

While the ads want me to buy, buy, buy, more often than not I react with bye, bye, bye.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Most of the direct marketing advertisers assume that their viewing audience consists of complete morons.

"Eat all you want of your favorite foods and lose weight."

"Work out with our product just three minutes a day and your body will be transformed."


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## Ravellian (Aug 17, 2009)

violadude said:


> A couple years ago I would have agreed with you, as I don't watch TV much. But now TV ads have invaded my beloved youtube.


Two words: Firefox. Adblock.


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

Well, in terms of TV, I hate them, but I don't watch TV on a regular basis (in fact, haven't watched it for like 2 years!). I esp. hated how they seemed to turn up the volume when the ad came on.

I agree with the disconnect between what an ad's advertising (eg. what it's supposedly about, which product) & how it's advertised, the images used, etc. Sometimes they were clever but most often than not they're just annoying as hell.



starthrower said:


> ...
> "We believe in clean energy. We care about the environment, blah, blah, blah." Accompanied by a picture of a smiling African woman. Are they implying that they make life better for people in these other countries where they trash their environment?


I also hate this PR "double-speak." These are the wonderful people that gave us such descriptions of "ethnic cleansing" which is genocide & "collateral damage" which is people killed by stray - or even on-target - aerial bombs, etc. Eg. civilian casualties. I hate it how these people can't simply say things straight now (& it's been going on for like 20 years).

Which makes me think, during the late 1990's, the government bought in Goods and Services Tax (GST) here in Australia. It's basically the same as Value Added Tax (VAT) in the UK. For the ads promoting this new tax, they had people (actors, of course) saying how they'd be better off with the new tax, eg. paying that instead of the higher (hidden) Sales Tax. Okay fair enough, all these political ads serve the purpose of who's in government. But what got some people very upset is in that advertising for a new tax, the soundtrack they chose was Joe Cocker's _Unchain My Heart_. Not really appropriate vis a vis a new, yet another, tax, is it? ...


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## Operafocus (Jul 17, 2011)

Speaking of illogical TV ad... lol... where the message (looks like it) is: 
"Get REALLY drunk, so much so that you forget everything you did the night before, and find yourself married to George Clooney."
More hangovers (and ads) like this, please. :lol:


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

TV commercials can bear serious artistic and philosophical qualities:


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## Polednice (Sep 13, 2009)

I'm guessing this one hasn't been shown on TV, Aramis, but this has to be the best:


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## GoneBaroque (Jun 16, 2011)

The majority of TV ads do influence me to remember the product (provided I can figure it what it is) so that I will NOT buy it!


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## regressivetransphobe (May 16, 2011)

I make sure to let everyone I meet who's involved in marketing know I'd like for them to get trapped in a housefire. Why yes, I'm a blast at parties.


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## graaf (Dec 12, 2009)




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## Krummhorn (Feb 18, 2007)

It has become annoying here in the US too. We watch mostly streaming television (Roku box & Netflix). 

Used to be that a 30 minute TV show would get 24 minutes of actual 'show' - nowadays it's like "we will return to the commercial after this short clip from our show" lol.

Public Television is almost as bad dealing with all the 'proud sponsors'. 

Kh


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