Friday, January 22, 2010

Repetition Makes The Heart Grow Weary

Well, with a new year, and a new decade, I decided that this was the time to make some changes. I can feel it happening. I've started to get back into shape after years of sloth and indolence. I've even managed to complete almost a whole month of a new exercise regime that will enable me to finally get into that leopard print Speedo (stay calm ladies, I'm happily married!). I've even decided to go back to school and complete my education degree (assuming that I get in of course). But even with these changes and decisions, sometimes I just like to sit (by which, I really mean lay) on the couch and watch a couple of hours of mindless television every once in a while.

I know we've all been there, those evenings when you finally get to plant your bottom in a comfortable chair or on the couch and you think, "If I never move from this spot again I could be perfectly happy." About a week or so ago, I was enjoying a moment of blissful, mindless, television viewing. Just sitting there. Absorbing. Amoeba like (I think there was even a little drool involved, but I'm not sure). The latest greatest episode of whatever show was on, was winding it's way to the predictable foregone conclusion, when I noticed something strange. Usually during this time of sloth, I have the remote for the TV firmly planted on my chest and all I have to do is move one teeny tiny finger to either change the channel or mute the sound. I do this to avoid commercials, especially those loud annoying ones. This particular evening however, the remote was on the coffee table three feet away (it might as well have been on the other side of the Solar System) and so I had no way to protect myself from the onslaught. It was then that I noticed that there was one particular commercial that kept repeating over and over during every break. Sometimes it would even play two times, back to back, during the same commercial block.

Now, I know that commercials are a necessary part of commercial television, but why the same commercial over and over again? Is there not enough advertising to fill the spaces available? I can see the same commercial running several times over the course of an evening, maybe even a couple of times in an hour, but five or six times an hour? I remember when I saw the ad in question for the very first time. It had a neat hook and was well produced. It was very simple, but I watched because it was different. After that evening, I now hate that commercial. I now also make sure that the remote is close at hand before I sit down. I guess at least one good thing came of the whole repetitive commercial evening. My reaction time with the remote has become lightening fast. Wonder if there is a way to work that into my exercise log?

1 comment:

JJ Sobey said...

There is actually a technical term for running the ad like that. It's called "Total Domination".

I kid you not. The advertiser pays specifically to have the ad played that much.

(I worked closely with the marketing team when I was in accounting. I had to track all their media spending)

Even though they do it on purpose, I still think it's stupid.