Modern TV Commercials

[kenobi65]

You guys are all killing me. I work in advertising. You're taking food off my table.

To answser Quasqueton's original question:

I think that marketers and ad agencies, as a whole, have gotten more sophisticated over the past decade or so. That said, there's still a lot of bad advertising out there, especially when you start looking at locally-produced stuff. Car dealers still seem to delight in making lousy ads.

And, to touch on one of Quasqueton's original points -- yes, you see a lot more diversity in casting these days, and it's something that most big advertisers actively seek to promote. The population trends in America are definitely making us a more diverse culture, and younger people are far more comfortable with cultural diversity...so this is more a case of advertising simply reflecting the change in our culture.

In addition, there is a lot more attention being paid now to getting the correct message in front of the correct consumer. There are now a lot more ways for advertisers to more precisely target their messages, so (in theory) you may be seeing fewer ads that don't interest you.

 

[reveal]

You guys are all killing me. I work in advertising. You're taking food off my table.

To answser Quasqueton's original question:

I think that marketers and ad agencies, as a whole, have gotten more sophisticated over the past decade or so. That said, there's still a lot of bad advertising out there, especially when you start looking at locally-produced stuff. Car dealers still seem to delight in making lousy ads.

In addition, there is a lot more attention being paid now to getting the correct message in front of the correct consumer. There are now a lot more ways for advertisers to more precisely target their messages, so (in theory) you may be seeing fewer ads that don't interest you.

Hey! You're in advertising so I gotta question for ya. I've noticed that in my local car dealer ads, sometimes I'll hear them using Looney Tunes voices (like Bugs Bunny or Daffy Duck) or using some other piece of copyrighted material in their advertising. Can they do that, legally? I was always curious.

PS: Thank you for not saying "If you fast forward through TV commercials, then the terrorists have already won."

 

[kenobi65]

Hey! You're in advertising so I gotta question for ya. I've noticed that in my local car dealer ads, sometimes I'll hear them using Looney Tunes voices (like Bugs Bunny or Daffy Duck) or using some other piece of copyrighted material in their advertising. Can they do that, legally? I was always curious.

Legally? Unless they got permission (highly unlikely), no. If someone points something like that out to the owner of the material (Time Warner, in this case), the car dealer will get smacked with a cease-and-desist. It's not uncommon to see something like that in local advertising, where the advertiser either (a) isn't aware that they're breaking the law, or (b) (more likely) they just don't care, because it's unlikely that they'll ever get caught.

PS: Thank you for not saying "If you fast forward through TV commercials, then the terrorists have already won."

Hey, we recognize that people skip commmercials. Our challenge is to come up with ways to advertise that'll get your attention and make you want to see it, even if you're FFing.

 

[Hijinks]

Advertisers are going to have to come up with very clever ways to reach audiences.

Movie theaters.

Is anyone else annoyed that after you pay $8-10 per person to see a movie, they force you to watch 3-4 commercials for Pepsi and sneakers and sports cars, before you can see the movie you paid to see?

Of course, you could wait and come in just when the movie is starting, but then you have to fumble around trying to find a seat in the dark.

 

[Rel]

Movie theaters.

Is anyone else annoyed that after you pay $8-10 per person to see a movie, they force you to watch 3-4 commercials for Pepsi and sneakers and sports cars, before you can see the movie you paid to see?

Of course, you could wait and come in just when the movie is starting, but then you have to fumble around trying to find a seat in the dark.

My wife and I thwart this tactic by making out like crazy during the pre-movie commercials.





(actually we don't do this but I think I'll suggest it)

 

[Angel Tarragon]

This reminds me of the part in Demolition Man, where they are stiing in the police car and they turn on the radio to the station that plays commercials nontsop.

 

[Staffan]

There aren't enough midgets in commercials.

Here in Sweden, one of the cell phone companies use midgets (or at least pretty short people, I'm not sure if they fit any particular definition of midget, but they're short anyway) in their commercials. These commercials center on the theme of "small Bills."

 

[sniffles]

Movie theaters.

Is anyone else annoyed that after you pay $8-10 per person to see a movie, they force you to watch 3-4 commercials for Pepsi and sneakers and sports cars, before you can see the movie you paid to see?

Of course, you could wait and come in just when the movie is starting, but then you have to fumble around trying to find a seat in the dark.

I made this complaint to a friend of mine and was reminded that this helps the theatre chains stay in business and probably helps to keep the price of movies down (although not all theatres do advertising, so I'm not sure why their prices aren't higher). Still, I suspect that without ads, we would being paying $20 a pop at the theatre instead of $8- $10.

Some ads are amusing and entertaining, so I don't mind them as much. It's just the fact that they show them so often and repeat them so often that annoys me. It's really irritating to be watching a program and have the same commercial shown during every break. I understand the business reasons for doing that, but it's still annoying. And I find it interesting that no matter how funny an ad is, I usually can't seem to remember it after it stops being run. There are a few exceptions to this, but in general I forget them as soon as I stop seeing them regularly, no matter how hard I laughed the first time.

 

[Jamdin]

Our theater has a loop filled with commercials for local businesses that play before the movie starts. I know it plays the same loop for thirty minutes for the Sunday afternoon showing since that's the only time I go. They used to just play music but since they started the commercial loop, there hasn't been any commercials mixed in with the trailers.