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The TV gods are smarter than us.
I am like most people. I like TV. There is something on TV for everybody. Whatever you
like you can find on TV. You got news, weather, sports, movies, music, even shop on
TV. From the History channel to Animal Planet, you get it all provided you have
cable. But there’s something suspicious going on with TV. In this blog I’m going to
point out a few things that will change the way you watch TV forever. Here we go.
First: Ever notice how when your watching TV and a commercial comes on you grab the
remote to see whats on the other channels only to find that, Hey! They’re in
commercial too! Why is that? The television networks know that most people have a
very short attention span. They know we are going to grab the remote and surf the
channels, so they schedule almost all commercial breaks at the same time so that
you will somehow see an advertisement from one of their sponsors no matter what
channel you go to. Often times the same types of commercials come on at the same
times to capture a specific audience. Thats why you never see a commercial for
Viagra during the cartoons. Conversely you never see a commercial for Co-Co Puffs
during American Idol. Why is that? Maybe a bowl of cereal would be really good
during American Idol but the TV gods don’t think so. A box of cereal costs around
$4.00 but a new Chevy truck costs around 30 grand. Kids don’t have any money to buy
a truck but you do. So lets advertise the truck to you and Capn Crunch to the broke
ass kids. Do I have your attention yet?
Second: The gender gap. OK, so your watching TV, a commercial comes on, you start
surfing channels and you see more commercials, but you wonder whats on that channel
anyway. Well, what kind of commercial is on? I’m willing to go out on a limb and
say that if you see more than one commercial about feminine hygeine products, there
is a pretty good chance that there is no sports on that network right now.
Conversely, if you see a commercial about “Built Ford Tough”, followed by a Bud
Light commercial, it’s a pretty sure bet that the Oprah Winfrey show is not on that
network right now. You see the TV gods know who’s watching what, and when. But what
about when men and women are watching the same show you might ask? Well the TV gods
have that figured out as well. The harsh reality is, we live in a male dominated
society. Almost every major network is run by men. One exception is the Lifetime
channel. Since these networks are owned and run by mostly men they do things from a
male point of view. So while you and your signifigant other are watching American
Idol, you will see all the girlie commercials for women, but the women will be
really sexy so the guys will pay attention. Think about it. You never see a fat
broad talking about tampons on TV at ANY time. Who the hell wants to see that? That
would make even a fat kid spit out his Co-Co Puffs. One the other hand the
commercials about Viagra and Cialis all have relatively good-looking guys in decent
shape in them. So the women see those commercials and think, hmmmm, he wouldn’t
need Viagra if I got my hands (or mouth) on him. But if you put a big fat
pot-bellied guy on TV talking about he needs Viagra, when he hasn’t even seen his
penis in the last 15 years, we all go running from the room screaming in horror, or
pissing our pants in laughter. Who the hell would want to buy Viagra after seeing
that? As a side note. How come in all the fast food commercials there are never any
fat people in the resturaunt. Everyone stuffing a whopper in their face is in great
shape. When I go to a fast food joint I always see some kid that should have been
on a diet since kindergarten. He or she is usaully accompanied by his very large
parents, but they all have diet Cokes’. You see the TV gods know that if they
showed you fat people eating at Wendy’s you won’t go there out of fear that you’ll
wind up like those fat bastards you saw on TV. Which brings me to another thought.
Why is it in almost every diet commercial they keep showing us food? Well the TV
gods have that figured out too. First they know that 25% of the American public is
over weight, so we all need to go on a diet right? But if we all got skinny we
wouldn’t need those diet foods anymore, and thus their sales would drop. But we
can’t have that. Sooooooooo…, they shows us that delicious food because they know
we won’t eat just one diet meal but two, or three. But we feel better about eating
that low fat crap. Instead of saying I had a Wendy’s triple with the works I can
say I ate 6 or 7 low fat veggie burgers and 3 diet pepsi’s because im dieting.
Please! So the next time you see a fast food commercial look around at the people
in them and think of what they are trying to tell you about who eats that crap.
Third:The Mind Job. This might be a little hard to follow so read carefully. There
is an annoying commercial on TV about a product called HeadON. “HeadOn, applied
directly to the forehead.” “HeadOn, applied directly to the forehead.” “HeadOn,
applied directly to the forehead.” That commercial is one of the most annoying
commercials known to mankind, and the TV gods knew it. They knew that people would
get sick of it. Especially when they used to run it 2 times in a row. So now they
have a commercial about the same product only with a twist now. First you get the
“HeadOn, applied directly to the forehead.”, but then a person walks on the screen
and starts saying it in anger like he or she hates the commercial but loves the
product. And therin lies the trick. The original commercial used to say “HeadOn,
applied directly to the forehead.” 3 times. Now the new one you hear “HeadOn,
applied directly to the forehead.” 4 times. But you feel better about it now
because they like you, hate the commercial too, but oops!!! Now you can’t get that
slogan out of your head, so to speak. Moreover, now they put in a testimonial so
now you think, hey, thats probably a good product. You like it now because someone
“allegedly” feels the same way you do. But the only thing you really have in common
with that person is that you both hate that commercial. This is classic reverse
psychology. The TV gods made you hate something first and then like it second so
you think you made an informed decision.
So the next time you walk into a store, stop and think before you buy something.
When you look at a product on the shelf do you see the commercial in your mind? Are
you buying it because you think it’s a good product or are the TV gods messing with
your head? “HeadOn, applied directly to the forehead.”
Scary aint it?
–
To err is human. To really screw things up requires a computer.
Greg Stevens
2 Responses to “The TV gods are smarter than us.”
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February 4, 2007 at 4:40 pm
Valid points but let’s look at the flip side … without advertisers who pays to have the shows produced? Would a pay per view setup work for regular television? And how to monitor usage without breaking the privacy laws?
That said, let’s be honest, the commercials are naturally geared toward the projected audience, why wouldn’t they be, since they are after all intended to boost the sales of the company footing the bill for the show.
However we do have some control. We can refuse to watch the shows or buy the products. We can send mail protesting advertising that is offensive to the media in which it is featured. Admittedly this involves effort on our part and may not be very effective in the short run, but if enough people get involved and actually exercise their right to object, things will change. The sad fact is most of us simply can’t be bothered to get involved, it’s always inconvenient and most often we feel it “isn’t worth the effort”, another way to say we are too lazy to do anything even as simple as not watching or buying a product to let the advertisers know how we feel.
In my personal opinion the advertisements for male enhancement products are among the most offensive and ridiculous ads being run, but they are also some of the funniest, especially if you happen toplay the sims game. (Ever notice how much Bob and his friends look like sims … or animated Ken dolls?)
On the bright side at least it’s illegal for them to use obvious subliminal messages to sell their trash. Now THAT would be scary.
March 10, 2007 at 9:55 pm
Have also noticed in the commercials lately, that they are being cut off at the end…so that they can cram more and more in during the break?