Mad Geek
Tuesday, September 28, 2004
End the madness!
As hard as it can be to admit it sometimes, we all like advertisements. Even though we hate seeing them in our Inbox or on billboards the simple fact remains, that they obviously DO work and we DO pay attention to them. This isn't so bad, really, as without them businesses wouldn't be able to make themselves known in the marketplace as well.
With that out of the way, allow me to start my rant.
Spam (junk email) is something akin to those annoying flyers you get in the mail for cute checks with ducks on them every month. The biggest difference between them is the fact that I can delete all my spam at once, whereas the the junk mail in my mailbox requires me to actually move from the mailbox to the trash can. In that way, I kind like spam over the old fashion kind. Of course, to be fair, the flyers in my mail aren't telling me that my wife wants to have a larger, more powerful male member (I wasn't aware my wife HAD a male member).
TV commercials have been around since before the TV. In the days of radio they had their original forms, but for the most part, they didn't really change much. If they were ever annoying, it was before my time and I've simply grown up around them. Movie commercials (not movie previews, but those 2 minute long commercials in the theater before the actual movie) have got to go.
I accept the fact that I am forced to watch TV commercials because I get the TV station I'm watching for free. It's paid for by the Nike spot I'm ignoring. However, in a movie theater, not only can I not change the channel or hit mute, but I paid $8 to see it. If I don't have to pay for a TV program because of the commercials, I don't see why I have to pay for a movie either.
Pop-ups are another area where commercials are invading. While most people think of these when they are surfing online, there is another, more annoying type of pop-up starting to take hold; TV Pop-Ups. Case in point:
Last night, I was watching one of my favorite shows, Iron Chef (Sole Battle, very good) and enjoying it greatly. However, a few moments before and after EVERY commercial break I would hear the sound of knives sharpening against each other and a little banner would suddenly cover the lower corner of the screen. On that banner is Emeril waving to me and asking me to make sure and watch his show next. Sure this is annoying under normal circumstances, but when part of the show requires reading subtitles it's downright maddening.
The really annoying this is that they seem to do this most on show I love to watch. I mean this in two ways; 1) the show I'm watching is being covered by an ad with its own sound effects that interrupt the show and, 2) the ad itself is trying to get me to watch something I was planning to watch anyway!
At this level of advertisements, I believe that not only should TV be free, but they should pay me for my time.
With that out of the way, allow me to start my rant.
Spam (junk email) is something akin to those annoying flyers you get in the mail for cute checks with ducks on them every month. The biggest difference between them is the fact that I can delete all my spam at once, whereas the the junk mail in my mailbox requires me to actually move from the mailbox to the trash can. In that way, I kind like spam over the old fashion kind. Of course, to be fair, the flyers in my mail aren't telling me that my wife wants to have a larger, more powerful male member (I wasn't aware my wife HAD a male member).
TV commercials have been around since before the TV. In the days of radio they had their original forms, but for the most part, they didn't really change much. If they were ever annoying, it was before my time and I've simply grown up around them. Movie commercials (not movie previews, but those 2 minute long commercials in the theater before the actual movie) have got to go.
I accept the fact that I am forced to watch TV commercials because I get the TV station I'm watching for free. It's paid for by the Nike spot I'm ignoring. However, in a movie theater, not only can I not change the channel or hit mute, but I paid $8 to see it. If I don't have to pay for a TV program because of the commercials, I don't see why I have to pay for a movie either.
Pop-ups are another area where commercials are invading. While most people think of these when they are surfing online, there is another, more annoying type of pop-up starting to take hold; TV Pop-Ups. Case in point:
Last night, I was watching one of my favorite shows, Iron Chef (Sole Battle, very good) and enjoying it greatly. However, a few moments before and after EVERY commercial break I would hear the sound of knives sharpening against each other and a little banner would suddenly cover the lower corner of the screen. On that banner is Emeril waving to me and asking me to make sure and watch his show next. Sure this is annoying under normal circumstances, but when part of the show requires reading subtitles it's downright maddening.
The really annoying this is that they seem to do this most on show I love to watch. I mean this in two ways; 1) the show I'm watching is being covered by an ad with its own sound effects that interrupt the show and, 2) the ad itself is trying to get me to watch something I was planning to watch anyway!
At this level of advertisements, I believe that not only should TV be free, but they should pay me for my time.
:: posted by Zuke, 10:11 AM
