The biggest challenge for advertisers today is to get people to watch their commercials. With all the technology and alternatives to watching commercials on TV I would think that advertisers would do everything humanly possible to eliminate any elements that would immediately trigger a viewer to fast forward to change the channel.
Is this not commen senese ?
If it is, then why in the world do advertisers
JACK UP THE VOLUME OF THEIR COMMERCIALS ?
This annoying “feature” is more pronounced in home theater and surround sound based systems. I can’t think of anything that pisses me off more than to be watching a TV show and to all of the sudden be blasted by a commercial from all sides of the room. Its the ultimate command to change the channel or fast forward.
SO WHY ARE ADVERTISERS SO STUPID ? Turn down the sound, maybe people will lean forward and listen !
Brenda, it is the shows that turn down their volume. You have to jack up the volume to hear them. When the commercials come on – they are at full volume, but now you’ve raised your volume so much it makes the commercials BLAST. I put my set on MUTE! I DVR most shows I watch and watch them later on without commercials (fast forward through commercials).
Comment by Merr -
Has anyone noticed that the commercials on The New Adventures of Old Christine tie in with the show? When it cuts to commercial, the spokesman mentions Christine, etc. too.
Comment by Merr -
When will advertiser realize that we put the TV set on mute because they blast their ads so loudly.
Also, I DVR most shows to fast forward through commercials. I also make sure I don’t buy products that have such nasty blasting commercials.
Comment by Merr -
I have read that they don’t really increase the volume at all. Its just that the commercials have all the volume at 100% volume throughout, except maybe for commercials that are supposed to be calming, like a matress commercial.
I find it so annoying I have a mental list of products I won’t buy as a result of this.
This being said, I have reason to believe that this is not true.
I have been watching the volume level of my entertainment system, and according to my equipment they are jacking up the volume of my system, somehow …
I have my volume level at about 35-40db, and a blaring commercial will come on and I note that the volume level has climbed to 46-48db.
I turn it down, and about 40 minutes later, another commercial comes on and the volume is again blasting at 48-50db
Later, on, I fall asleep, and I am jarred out sleep, and I find the volume has risen yet again.
Now, if the volume isn’t being jacked up, I should be finding myself being unable to hear a show after having turned the volume down by 24db.
No, I think they are jacking the volume up, on my side, somehow, and I am getting quite annoyed at it.
Comment by Garry Freemyer -
Here are a couple of easy ways to correct the problem:
More television receivers are now equipped with circuits that are designed to stabilize loudness differences between programs and commercials. These functions usually need to be enabled or turned on through the television receivers Set up/Audio menu. The Mute button on TV remote controls is also useful to blank excessively loud audio. Manually controlling volume levels with the remote control remains the simplest approach to reducing excessive volume levels. In high-end equipment, such as home theater systems, some automatic devices may also help. They include:
Automatic Gain Control (AGC) Circuits raise the audio level if it is too low, and lower it if it is too high.
Audio Compressors can tone down loud sounds. Compressors can be adjusted to eliminate many of the negative effects of loudness.
Limiters and Peak Limiters can keep the audio level from exceeding a pre-determined level. Peak limiters are the simplest, least intrusive of all the automatic level control devices, but can introduce considerable distortion.
Audio Expanders increase the range of sound. An expander can restore sound to its normal range and also reduce noticeable background noise.
Audio Filters can screen out specific audio frequencies.
Thx!
Comment by Brenda -
Man I just don\’t understand you Mark. I mean letting Avery Johnson go immediately after the playoffs are over, that tells me you were thinking about this before the season even started. Two years ago the guy was voted Rookie coach of the year and takes us to the finals. In those finals we were clearly cheated by the refs in games 3-6, which I know you have to realize, so thats not something Avery can control. Next year we have the best freaking record in the entire league, a record season for the franchise, and we lose in the first round to our old coach who still had beef with you over money disputes…talk about locker room pinups (AGAIN – not Avery\’s fault). And then this year, we make it to the playoffs in an insanely tough western conference, yea we didnt win a thousand games but after the way last season turned out that didnt seem like the way to go. So, yes we lost to New Orleans and I do admit it wasn\’t pretty…but how about holding Josh and Dirk responsible for such a low shooting percentages and unaggressive play or maybe Jason Kidd for his inability to handle Chris Paul on the defensive end of the court. Either way, Avery is a great coach with the right attitude. He was trained by the best in the league, Gregg Popovich, and you\’re going to just throw him out because of what exactly?
Comment by Adam Johns -
I haven\’t watched a commercial in years. Funny stuff.
Comment by Joey Santino -
You are so on the money with this blog post, advertisers can be so dam dumb! There is a sucker born every minute.
Comment by Nick Smith -
http://gizmodo.com/385566/dolby-volume-solving-the-problem-of-annoyingly-loud-tv-content
Dolby Volume: Solving the Problem of Annoyingly Loud TV Content
Toshiba TVs (in Japan) will be the first to feature good old Dubbly\’s newest technology, Dolby Volume, a smart system aimed at leveling off eardrum-shattering sources and contenthopefully eradicating the twin evils of loud-ass TV commercials and poorly-mastered MP3s.
voila
Comment by Gabe in Miami Beach -
I make local TV commercials for a living — for 20 years now. I send my spots out to a studio in California to have the audio mastered. It\’s EQ\’d and compressed. If I don\’t do this, then the volume will sound less than the shows and the other commercials which makes my clients\’ spots seem less important — more local. I do essentially the same thing the big agencies do, only it costs me a tiny fraction of what they pay to get it done.
The thing is, I don\’t raise the volume and neither do they. By compressing the audio, what we are doing is simply making everything about the same volume — raising the low, lowering the high. That can make it sound louder than a show with conversation, pauses, etc. but actually the peak volume is the same and that is maintained by an audio leveler the station puts on the entire broadcast. So, they\’re not louder but they may sound louder. And they sound louder because all the other commercials sound louder.
Of course, if you have some jackass car salesman yelling at you, then that really sounds loud and irritating. I don\’t make those kinds of commercials but there are many on the air. How irritating a commercial is generally has mostly to do with the nature of the content — obnoxious announcers speaking like 1950 radio disk jockeys, salesmen yelling at us, irritating music. That\’s what drives us up the wall — ot to our MUTE buttons, not so much the audio compression.
Comment by Gary -
\”That is hilarious. I actually wondered if I had something configured improperly on my cable box. Glad to see others finding it such an annoyance as well.\”
OH MY! I totally agree.. can we find more info out there on the internet about this? http://snipurl.com/26d2e
Comment by Ron Tanner -
I think its a matter of being annoying as much as possible. Even if you change the channel the commercial still impacted you enough that you can probably recall what it was for. Of course this won\’t motivate anyone with common sense but I think it works on the majority of the country =(
Comment by Matt -
Ha,ha I didn\’t think I was the only one who was so annoyed by this! Have you noticed commercials on the radio also get much much louder? Very frustrating!
Comment by Patricia Beck -
re: Ad Volume – I\’d like to create a nice little web 2.0 social mashup that allows community members to easily post companies that pump their volume…would make a handy list of companies to boycott! People could see #complaints by company, by locale…even include a nice little RSS or mobile alert when companies have 10+ complaints against them and a weekly top 10! 😉
Comment by schonek -
When I start to watch something on TV and a lot of stupid Ads pop up, ruining parts of the show, I get very mad. I get tired of seeing the most stupidest ads, which they try to make it funny, but its just so funny, that only the makers laugh. I get a kick out of that.
Anyways, this is a reason why I stop watching TV!
Comment by Windows XP -
Lean forward and listen? Right. Keep the volume at the same level as the programming, just make quality advertisements and entertain people legitimately. Spend your money more wisely and find some talented people to work with.
Comment by Brooks -
ok, I am behind Cuban\’s thought on this one… It truly makes one simply hit the \”mute\” button and that ends all advertising till the show starts. Then I rewind a little bit and go on.
Comment by Stan -
Very angering, those loud commercials, but my father sure can hear them when he gets up to go to the kitchen during timeouts! Is there something to that?
Comment by Jeff Foster II -
Like any other business endeavor, some advertising gurus are brilliant, others are average, and some are stupid.
Way back in the 80\’s when the \”mute\” button came into common use, good advertisers learned that they needed to make their commercials get their brand message across even with the sound off.
Nowadays, all of my TV watching is pre-recorded on my PVR, which means that I skip past the commercials on 3x fast forward. Something I\’ve noticed is that even at high speed, some commercials still make a branding statement, whereas others only show confused glimpses.
Obviously, some marketers are doing a good job of dealing with the modern realities of getting through to viewers.
Comment by Lee D -
From what I understand, the broadcasters can\’t modify the volume. So advertisers have to be experts on making sounds in their ads as high-impact as possible. Similarly, when you\’re at the movies or watching one on DVD, the trailers usually seem much louder than the movie. In reality, they just do a better job using sound to capture your attention.
Comment by Joe -
I agree. The other annoying aspect of commercials are the excessive number of commercials. It seems that an hour-long show is only about 40 minutes. That means 20 minutes of misery. I would never watch TV without my TiVO simply for that reason. Fewer commercials and more people would watch them.
TV today sucks.
Comment by Cranky Greg -
I like to watch commercials on TV and in the cinema. Now you can also see so many commercials online. I dislike to watch those pop-up ads.Google adwords is quite good. Readers can choose to read or not.
Comment by web security -
I need to agree with you on this one. While I don\’t think that they\’ll ever be no TV commercials, advertising seems to be a little slow to catch up to technology sometimes. They need a more engaging way to market to their audiences. We\’re so flooded with advertising at this point that we\’re somewhat immune to it. For my money, TV ads should stick with the human pleasures: more funny ads and sex sells 🙂
Comment by Steven Clough -
Loud commercials are terrible. I can no longer watch Comedy Central after midnight due to the excessively played, and loud \”Girls Gone Wild\” commercials.
I\’m also sick of ads sneaking their way into the border of a broadcast. For example, the TNT NBA Playoff broadcasts feature that woman from the show \”The Closer\” in the lower left hand corner after most commercial breaks. I\’ve never seen the show, but I know not to watch it since it\’s already pissed me off! CBS is probably the worst with this during their NFL games.
Comment by matt128 -
I don\’t think the volume issue is a \”trick\” of advertisers. I think it\’s an issue of production and content delivery. The only time I see commercials\’ volumes peaking is when the commercials switch from the national feed to the local feed. Auto dealerships being the predominant culprit.
Sidenote: As somebody who works on the creative side of advertising, I don\’t believe that our biggest challenge is to get viewers to watch our commercials. Our biggest challenge is the same today as it was before the onset of Tivo/DVR technology. Our task is to connect the consumers with the brand on an emotional level.
Comment by tyson -
A previous poster is correct…the audio volume maximum is dictated by the FCC. Most TV shows have ebbs and flows to the amount of noise in a scene, from silence up to the maximum. It produces an effect very similar to what you experience in the \”real\” world. What commercial producers do is master the audio so all of it as the maximum allowable the entire way through. The net effect is the commercial sounds louder. The reality is that the loudest scene in a commercial is no louder than the loudest scene on the program being watched…just seems that way because the whole freaking commercial is at 11.
Comment by JJ -
I agree with the person who talked about the car alarms and irritating sounds. I have to record as many things as possible to avoid this major irritation.
Comment by Melina Tomson -
AMEN!
Comment by Braxton Beyer -
This is why the permission based marketing model put out there by Seth Godin and others is holding more and more true … Advertisers need to stop interrupting consumers, and start inviting them.
Comment by Gil Rogers -
Yep, I had wondered if it was all the providers or just mine. I have seriously considered changing providers over this very problem. I don\’t have any decibel equipment to prove this by, but, when the commercials come on, it\’s often at least twice as loud as the program volume. I would have thought the FCC would somehow regulate this. I know a lot of folks now that just dvr everything to bypass the commercials altogether. I wonder if there is an add-on possible to your tv or surround system that would catch and dampen this?
Comment by Earthceuticals -
Typical post. Present a pet peeve as a trend. Any data to show that raising the volume does NOT work for advertisers?
Comment by Uncle Idiot -
I could not agree more and was actually having that discussion last night with my girlfriend. It has become so annoying that it actually prompted a 3 minute discussion between the two of us to manufacture a device which constantly regulates volume. Obviously, the show came on and we stopped talking about it….
Comment by Tyson -
Im saving up for a new receiver that keeps the volume constant regardless of input, a few manufacteres arenow offwering this technology. Its sad we have to buy equipment to combat this but its worth ite…
Comment by Michael Atlas -
The TV stations themselves can put audio processing on their stations to limit volume and make the audio smoother and mroe consistent. They can also turn down the volume when they put the commercial into their system. This is sheer laziness by the TV industry, and another indication they are on their way to the media graveyard.
Comment by Chuck -
Would it be okay for advertisers with products catered to senior citizens to blast their commercials? What about hearing aids? Both would be valid (and somewhat funny) examples I think. =)
Comment by used cars -
I never have this problem…
Why?
Magnavox has Smart Sound.
Comment by Josh -
Thank you so much! I\’m glad I\’m not the only one annoyed by it. Mute helps.
Comment by Leslie -
Now that you bring it up, the commercials that pull my eye away from my laptop (I multi-task a lot) are the ones that have random pauses in volume/audio.\’ve learned to tune out the loud commercials.
Comment by Liz -
Truly you\’re greatest observation. But if, I may play the role of devil\’s advocate for a moment. What if you advertise on that most \”fair and balanced\” network and have to compete with Bill O\’Reilly\’s big mouth?
Comment by SJL -
There are certainly better ways of advancing their interests other than turning up the volume. I believe the research shows that we are collectively more likely to believe something to be true if the message is delivered in a tone that is perceived as different than what we consider to be normal. Theyre yelling as us because its supposed to work; scientifically speaking that is. But the opposite of that should be likewise true.
I made a silent commercial for my business a few years back and was told by my local cable company that no one would watch it. I disagreed and thought that photographs were powerful enough, but went ahead and recorded the reading of the text in the commercial anyway.
The commercials were very successful for me but Im always curious as to how things would have turned out if I had gone with my initial course of action. Maybe next time.
Comment by Toni -
While it IS true that there are Fed\’l laws relative to how HIGH advertizers can ratchet up the sound, they get around this in two ways. First, by running the TV show on a bass-modulated tone, then cranking up the TREBLE for the commercial; and second,by running the audio on the TV show several degrees,or \”tenths\”, below the level it was recorded at, then cranking-up the volume to the celing allowed by law for the commercial. THAT\’S why you feel like you\’re getting BLASTED right out of your chair when the commercial comes on. Oh, and OReilly, it was during RONALD REAGAN\’S administration that the Vloume change laws were made. Isn\’t GREED Great??? Thssssppp.
Comment by Fredric -
amen, brotha
Comment by robyn -
Hey, this is smart business they lose money on each sale but make it up in volume.
Comment by Michael Longfellow -
When I worked as a projectionist at a movie theater, the sound equipment was programmed to double the volume during the trailers/advertising. Every day there were at least a handful of complaints that the volume was painfully loud, always during the trailers. And if you were to turn the volume down, as soon as the actual film started, there were complaints that people couldn\’t hear. Strange way to do business, I think.
Comment by Lenae -
My family finally got an HDTV about a year ago, and since then we\’re constantly having to \”f\” with the volume because commercials are so much louder on the HDTV than they are on any of the other televisions we currently have. Why again is it a good thing for consumers to have to switch over to digital television in 2009?
Comment by Ryan Craver -
Dolby Volume. I have no idea when/if it will actually be released, but it will solve all of these problems. It works on a scale of loudness, so the \’levels\’ mentioned earlier will no longer matter. Brilliant stuff.
Comment by twills -
I worked for several years in a cable office, and the video engineer was a good friend. Any time I complained to him about the volume levels, it would \”cost\” me about 30 minutes.
He would very patiently take me into the cleanroom, and we\’d work there to compare/contrast all of the channels against each other while he\’d tweak the master volume level on each modulator.
Because he was willing to re-check the equipment often, he recieved very few subscriber complaints about volume levels.
Comment by Stony S. -
Yup, it\’s an extreme form of compression called \”limiting\”, wherein the dynamic range of the audio signal is pretty much eliminated ie everything in the audio track sounds as loud as everything else, which creates the perception of an overall increase in loudness while not showing any increase on the meters. Advertisers have used it for decades, the music industry caught on within the last decade, squashing the life out of everything they could so that \”their\” artists song sounded louder on the radio than \”the other guys\” artists. In fact the final result is an extremely un-musical distorted mess that creates ear fatigue. Anything by The Killers is a good example.
Comment by John Masecar -
let me get this straight, you are sitting in a room in 50mil house w/ a 250m set-up , luckiest cat around , and you are bitching about some jo ad volume, you got to be kidding
Comment by matt brody -
If only there is a tv station that allows subscriber to opt for non-advertising channel. We have to endure spam from email and more ad-blast from commercials….
Comment by Darren Anderton -
Great post. And I couldn\’t agree more with post #1. The VW commercial mentioned, takes a universally hated sound (the car alarm) and makes it a focal point of a commercial. Probably one of the worst commercials made in the history of television. And to think, somebody was actually paid to create that.
Comment by dave -
Bingo! Your right on the money Mark. I won\’t be holding my breath for a change though. When TiVo was invented it was proof there is a God!
JB
Comment by Jeff Borden -
Advertisers aren\’t stupid, they\’re smart. It\’s small potatos to the advertiser\’s interest to keep you sticking around. The volume has a stronger effect on the 90+% of the audience that doesn\’t change channel. How much toothpaste and beer do you buy these days anyway, Mark?
The real question is why the networks don\’t step in. The networks have a real interest in keeping everyone sticking around, to bump up the value of all the ads they sell. But they don\’t give advertisers any incentive to avoid pissing you off.
Comment by Ken -
So very true and funny you bring up. Its something that has always annoyed me while watching just about any show.
Seems like this has been going on for a while now, and if advertisers still haven\’t figured it out by now I doubt this will change sometime soon. I\’m glad DVR are a standard now a days.
Comment by Abel Ochoa -
Be happy you haven\’t seen any of these ads because you would find these revolting:
http://consumerist.com/consumer/great-moments-in-commercial-history/
enjoy.
Comment by Gabe Sniman -
Why are networks so dumb as to allow advertisers to encourage viewers to change channels?
Seems to me that it wouldn\’t be all that difficult to turn down the volume on the ads to match the program – or what would be simpler, to raise the volume of the show to the volume the advertisers are using.
I\’ve been b****ing and moaning about this for at least a decade – and you\’re the first broadcaster who seems to understand that it\’s a problem. We\’ve got a couple of TiVOs, but we didn\’t buy them to avoid commercials – but since we have them, the blast from the speakers reminds up to hit the \”skip 30\” button.
Comment by Harl Delos -
I\’ve read this blog for some time, but haven\’t left any comments (keep up the great work, btw!)… I have to chime in on this one however, with a BIG thank you! I\’m so glad to see this addressed; it is one of my main pet peeves. With so many tools at their disposal, to go with such an annoying tactic that– at least in our case– causes us to just mute or change the channel is just baffling.
Totally off-topic (sorry!), but would love to hear some UFL updates; have been searching around but not finding too much new info. Diehard Bucs fan here, but hope the UFL meets with success!
Comment by Rebecca -
somebody invented a device to automatically adjust the volume when commercials come on but I don\’t know if there is a product available. http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/5778077-description.html
anyway, the biggest violator of this for me is comcast when they insert local ads it is ridiculously louder. I have just trained myself to hit mute when I watch live tv. I typed this during muted commercial of suns vs spurs. great game.
Comment by david v -
I think that silence can actually be used to an advantage in commercials. Whenever I\’m running around my house during a commercial break, if the sound goes out then I think \”oh my goodness, the TV is out\”, and may come rushing back. I can think of some quieter commercials, including a few from Nike, where they were actually quiet. Dispersed between loud commercials on either side, it may help to make them stand out more.
Comment by Jeremy -
Thank you! This is a big problem at a household where the remote is always missing.
Comment by Brian -
So, I take it that during Maverick\’s downtime, there\’s no loud annoying promotions?
Comment by Dingo -
someone high-up in the networks needs to see this.
I\’m not convinced it\’s a problem at the advertisers, actually – i was kind of thinking that the networks were jacking up the volume themselves. Either way, it\’s f\’ing annoying. I get tired of watching TV with my wife, then whenever there is a commercial and we want to, oh, i don\’t know, TALK about something, I have to turn the volume down. Then when the show comes back on, jack it up again because we can\’t hear anything.
Comment by joe -
That is hilarious. I actually wondered if I had something configured improperly on my cable box. Glad to see others finding it such an annoyance as well.
Comment by Kevin Frey -
Amen!!!
I *hate* when I\’m watching something and an ad blasts on… it\’s the worst.
Comment by Dave! -
This worked once for some advertiser the first time they tried it in 1961. Caught on, now nobody can go back. Tragedy of the commons, man.
Comment by Josh Bernoff -
I do hope that my previous comment, which was removed, was not inapropriate.
Comment by Shawn Shepherd -
This brings back memories of the those Head-On commercials! While they didn\’t have excessive loudness, they were annoying. Pretty smart advertising tactic, though.
Also, I hate when commercials try to be funny/amusing and 95% fail.
Comment by Derek Pezzella -
Hear, hear. I agree 100% with you. \”Stupid\” is the word that comes to mind too to describe this kind of behavior.
Comment by Zoran -
While you\’re complaining about loud commercials, you may as well complain that music produced in the last ten years is \”louder\” than music produced….previously. Or that Michael Bay films are ludicrously loud, too.
The commercials, just like newly mastered music, ARE NOT LOUDER – it\’s just mixed in a way that the dynamic range is eliminated, making the ear perceive something as \”louder.\”
It\’s a trick.
The amplitude of the signal remains the same (dictated by the broadcast medium.)
Historically, this is a \”trick\” that was primarily developed and used to make music broadcast on FM stations sound better by providing the \”fullest\” signal to be broadcast.
Comment by Jeremiah -
Mark,
Most people tune out the commercials not because of how they being presented but because of irrelevance of the content.
Comment by Nick M. -
I used to work at a TV station and, of course, we\’d get complaints about the volume of some commercials. I once asked the people at the airboard (who monitor the picture and sound as it\’s leaving the station) to show me the volume levels between a show and a commercial…the commercial was louder to the ears, but the same as far as levels were concerned. I wonder if advertisers are using some sort of compression to jack up the volume of the spots without actually altering the \”math\” behind it (ie, the levels).
The commercials that bother me are the radio spots where they use digital technology to ram all the disclaimer verbage in at the end, as if that actually does any good.
Advertisers need to be:
1. Consistent with their brand, year after year.
2. Have a compelling offer – I used to ask advertisers what they wanted to achieve with their spot, and they said they wanted to get their name out there. I replied, \”Okay, let\’s say we do that for three months and nobody comes in or calls you about your ad…will that be okay?\” Of course, the answer is \”no,\” to which I say, \”give them a REASON to get off the couch NOW.\”
3. Be patient: Running spots for a month or so does NO good (unless you\’re promoting an event or sales, in which case you need to open up your wallet to achieve maximum reach and frequency ASAP).
4. LOOK diferent – the lawyer hawking their services while standing in front of a bunch of bookcases = weak. The car dealer shouting in front of their inventory on the lot = weak. People hated the Head On ads, but everyone remembered them. I love the Apple \”Mac vs. PC\” ads for their look and feel, but because there\’s no compelling offer, I won\’t buy that MacBook I now want when I can get something similar on the PC end for a lot less.
Comment by Kevo -
I think that the main reason for this is how inexpensive tv advertising has become. It used to be that companies put a lot of research into the creation of a commercial because it was such an expensive form of advertising, you didnt want to waste money on the ads. Now, aside from superbowl ads, just about anyone can run an ad on at least their local channels. Many people simply throw something together and hope it drives in a little business.
This will be a continuing trend, network advertising will continue to get cheaper as it continues to be less effective. Product placement will be king, and will bring on an \”Austin Powers\” level of cheesiness.
Comment by Shawn Shepherd -
Mark,
Unless I\’m watching a live sporting event, I tend to record the show on my DVR and then fast forward through the commercials. Even when there\’s nothing else to watch at the time, I will start the recording, do some cleaning or something else for 15 min, then start the recording from the beginning since I\’ve about eaten up the time of all the commecials.
Comment by Mike C -
I have only seen a few silent commercials but each time it truly caught my attention.
I think the car dealership commercials are the absolute worst about not only yelling the whole time but pumping up the volume. Ew.
Comment by Lauren McKinney -
I think commercials as we know them to be on TV will be dead in a few years. I fast forward through them every chance I get.
Marketers should focus more on product placement during shows. Why not watch our favorite sit-com charecters eating at XYZ Restaurant. Or maybe see them drink XYZ cola while sitting around the house. They need to make commercials more subtle.
gr-
Comment by Gregory Rueda -
If the advertisers were smart they would have what ever show they were watching do a \’live spot\’ for them so to speak. Couldnt you image watching your favorite prime time drama and instead of the male actor having to freeze frame what ever emotion they were trying to convey before the program cuts to commercial they just transition right into a spiel about viagra then the female actor proclaims \”Do you ever get that not so fresh feeling?\” or the apprehended criminal suspect does a plug for some lawyer. I might actually watch commercials if they are done that way. I mean why not? There already is a ton of product placement in the shows any ways.
Comment by Mark Mosley -
How else are you supposed to hear the commercial when you are in the kitchen making a sandwich?
This is definitely annoying. It\’s also annoying when they whisper though.
Just make \’em funny, don\’t run the same theme too long (Jared, Gecko, Bunny), and don\’t eff with the volume.
Comment by Mufaka -
There\’s a Jesus/Messiah born every minute.
Comment by anothermark -
can\’t agree more…some advertisers might just consider making silly but hence somehow impressive ads to be a great idea to promote the popularity of their products while they neglect that we have our own volition to change the channel:D
Comment by Wei -
HAHA! This made me laugh:) Soooo, true! Thanks!:)
Comment by Bertie Ranger -
I believe there are some federal guidelines (laws?) that limit how much the volume can go up for commercials.
Comment by proales -
Let\’s not forget the advertisers love of gross and annoying sounds too like the VW commercial that has the car alarm in it, or the numerous commercials that include high-decibel eating sounds.
Comment by sean -