Spent the night in New Paltz, woke up in a dream. The pleasantly small ratio of people to square miles brings a calm over me that makes me question my present situation. I am a country girl at heart, I cant wait to be living, once again, in a place where I can buy eggs laid by chickens hatched walking distance from my frying pan. One day.
Anyway,
I don't pay for cable, so I rarely watch television, besides a few must-see primetimers (FlashFoward - if you havent watched it, hulu.com, asap.). But last night, at a friends apartment, I got sucked in by the powerful , almost gravitational pull of Law and Order. It amazes me. L&O episodes must be watched up until the last 60 seconds, when the solution to the hour-long riddle is revealed. Producers know this. The moment that the last episode ends and the first note of the familiar "dun dun" jingle is played, the screen splits in two and a new episode begins. Add in a chilly night a pullout couch and a it is impossible to break free.
During my four hour Bravo binge, after not watching a straight run of television for months, I couldn't help but be amazed at the nauseating amount of BULLSHIT! that goes into commercial advertising. Americans watch so much television, they can't even see the blatant brainwashing used to scare/trick consumers into buying!
For Example.
Pharmaceutical commercials. Come on people, when the audio of a commercial is stuffed with smooshed-together warnings, side effects, and "fatality has been reported", played on top of frolicing actors gleaming fake sunlight off their glistening hair, skipping and smiling, you are being tricked.
Shampoo.Would a shampoo company hire a model with damaged hair for a shampoo commercial? No. So, if your hair is damaged, and you expect it to look the same, after a wash, as the liquidy waves spinning around some glamourous models head, you are being tricked.
Razors & Acne products. This always gets me! Yea, a triple blade is nice. But it probably doesnt work as well on 2-week stubble as it does on the already-smooth leg used to sell it. And Clearasil, for example, used on an unaturally bright red blemish on otherwise smooth skin is probably less effective on the average teenagers pebescent breakouts. Stupid.You are being tricked.
One last rant:
HOW MANY WAYS can AT&T rewrite their "Who threw the unused minutes in the garbage??", "But Mom, these minutes are old" commercials. Get some new material. God. Hire someone! It's a recession, they would be doing us all a favor.
Enough already.
Monday, October 19, 2009
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1 comment:
Considering I have been taking marketing classes for like 3 years, its awesome to read about someone who hates commercials, and not for the fact that they interrupt your show, but because of the message or trickery involved. The curious part about those medication commercials is the fact that the FDA thinks that those blurbs about how this medication (that helps itchy skin) may cause death, is an effective way to protect those who are tricked.
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