TV commercials… is it money well spent?

Ok, so I do know that advertising pays for the TV shows that we watch. I get that.

So I don’t have a massive problem knowing that there will be commercial interruptions on my TV shows. I will grumble though. But I do get it.

There are, though some things that I don’t get.

I should make a list. hmmmm.

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If a commercial annoys someone, then the concept of advertising a product backfires.  The person will avoid the product. It is really that simple, you are nodding your head.. you have a list of products that you will not purchase because a commercial backfired.

So how can a commercial annoy someone? OMG.. well that was a silly question. lol.. hang on..

where is my list….

So this is in no specific order…

When can a commercial become so annoying that you will boycott the product advertised?

• if a commercial insults you or degrades you, or insults someone else
• if a song becomes annoying
• if the commercial is overplayed
• if the commercial is too long
• if the commercial is overplayed
• if the volume of the commercial is louder than the TV show you were watching
• if the commercial is overplayed
• if a commercial is played twice in one segment
• if the same commercial is played back to back
• the commercial is overplayed…. see how that becomes annoying?

Some commercials are very poorly done.  If the quality of the commercial is poor, you wonder about the quality of the product. 

Songs in commercials are dangerous. If you pick an established hit and change it.. “make it your own” you annoy the people that love that song, making it your own is just never going to work. Commercials that are over played.. when a song is associated to the commercial one that gets stuck in heads.. and plays over and over… it annoys them, when the commercial plays again they mute it, or change channels… Hey TV stations.. they change the channel…. Almost any song or music in a commercial can do this. If people want to listen to music.. they will not be watching TV… think on this.

Commercials are expensive to produce, they are expensive to air… When someone makes a commercial that is going to fail.. going to have the opposite result than desired… will not increase sales.. one that will cause people to HATE the product…  my thought is, ok so some idiot made the commercial, someone that really shouldn’t have their job.. but who approves it? More so… does no one higher in the chain watch the commercial and go.. hey that sucks? Lets pull it. NO? 

so then, does that mean everyone higher in the chain than the idiot that says that is great, lets run with it… is just as much an idiot? YES!

 Some commercials are just annoying.

It is not just the money spent on producing the commercial

Not just the money lost in airing it…

it is the customers lost that will never return… That is very expensive.

Commercials just like food, go stale. If you can’t afford to change them, then don’t air them.  That overplayed song becomes as annoying as a bug bite.

if your commercials attempt at humor degrades a segment… it should not air. 

If your commercial is disgusting in any way… it should not air.

If you think you have the right to change a song to “make it your own”…  go smack your head against a wall.

If your cute lyric is going to get stuck in someones head.. thinking that will make your product more memorable, you are right.. but not memorable in the way you want.

TV stations give deals to advertisers  for commercials to be played often. DON’T TAKE THE DEAL! Saturation marketing is not shoving it into peoples faces… Some networks are terrible at this… I mean to the point that if the show comes on another network we will watch it there…..    (not to name any …) Once in a half hour is lots, every 7 minutes means people will become annoyed. You are wasting your money and losing customers. Is this really the way you run your business?  ….. really?

DON’T TURN THE VOLUME UP ON YOUR BLASTED COMMERCIAL… there are mute buttons, they will be pushed, then your commercial is a total waste of money. TOTAL.  I know laws have been passed so this doesn’t happen now…. but omg… they are not being enforced. 

How many commercials have you seen… where at the end of it.. you still don’t know what product was advertised? Who approved that? 

Don’t slam your competition. People don’t like that, if your product is good, fine, insulting or slamming your competition makes you look small. Even if you do it with finesse..  cuteness.. aplomb..  customers are not as dense as the person that approves the commercial.. they will figure it out. You will lose them. Rise above that nonsense, it will make your product look better.  

 

Do you do market research?  Do you test your commercials? Do you look at them at all? Do you keep track of how many times they air? Do you watch to see if the volume is too loud? When someone says that commercial sucks.. (and it is yours) do you smile and think they are an idiot? perhaps it is not them… that is the idiot….

Commercials are a reflection of your product, if they are going to annoy, upset…  irritate a potential customer you need to spend more time approving them, making them.  If you don’t, you and your product will be judged by your customers. Not favorably.

things that make me go hmmm…..

Why is it.. when ever you change a channel, to see what is on there… it is always a commercial?

why, when you turn the TV on… a commercial is airing?

Why, when you lose the signal from the satellite…  and you can’t see your show… but the commercial manages to sneak through?

If we have to watch them… commercials…. lets make them worth watching… or we won’t.

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