Another TV Rant

Aquajock

Aquajock

Cathlete
Is it me, or have TV commercials become 100 times more:

1: Numerous; and

2: Disgusting?

One thing that totally turns me off of watching any broadcast television (we don't get any pay-type TV, and probably never will) is not just the number of commercials on during the 5:00 - 6:00 news hour, but the products of these commercials: every bodily function and dysfunction under the sun. When I'm having a nice, well-deserved dinner and just want to veg in front of the TV and watch the headline news, I don't want to be bombarded every five minutes with commercials about bladder incontinence, irritable bowel syndrome, erectile dysfunction and crotch rashes. I really don't.

And the stuff they put on at other times isn't much better. I sat slack-jawed the other night at a commercial for "Couples KY Jelly" which culminated in a couple sighing in satisfaction in their double bed. (Heterosexual, white couple of course.)

Anyone else feel that way? I know we're all about freedom of expression and the Capitalist Imperative, but it's a little much.

A-Jock
 
>Is it me, or have TV commercials become 100 times more:
>
>1: Numerous; and
>
>2: Disgusting?
>
>One thing that totally turns me off of watching any broadcast
>television (we don't get any pay-type TV, and probably never
>will) is not just the number of commercials on during the 5:00
>- 6:00 news hour, but the products of these commercials: every
>bodily function and dysfunction under the sun. When I'm
>having a nice, well-deserved dinner and just want to veg in
>front of the TV and watch the headline news, I don't want to
>be bombarded every five minutes with commercials about bladder
>incontinence, irritable bowel syndrome, erectile dysfunction
>and crotch rashes. I really don't.
>
>And the stuff they put on at other times isn't much better. I
>sat slack-jawed the other night at a commercial for "Couples
>KY Jelly" which culminated in a couple sighing in satisfaction
>in their double bed. (Heterosexual, white couple of course.)
>
>Anyone else feel that way? I know we're all about freedom of
>expression and the Capitalist Imperative, but it's a little
>much.
>
>A-Jock

The joy of TIVO is you can tripple fast forward through the commercials...it has been a great investment for us. I haven't seen a commercial in a long time....
Angela:7
 
I've noticed that there seem to be more commercials than previously (or maybe just some commercial breaks are longer?). Ah, for the days when there were about 5 minutes of commercials, TOTAL, during a show. If this keeps up, pretty soon the commercials will take up more time than the actual shows!

One particularly odd commercial, that I haven't seen for a while (maybe they figured it wasn't a good idea) was about tampons. The scene is a woman sitting at a concert, while a narrator talks about how the flow increases to such-and-such an extent going from sitting to standing, then the woman stands up to applaud. Nothing very overt in the actual commercial, but the image that it calls to mind is pretty icky!

Though I find the trend of commercials for prescription drugs a bit disturbing in general, I have to laugh at the way some of them try to slip in the obligatory listing of major side effects. One about a ED med has a man in his doctor's office, and the doctor tells him all the bla bla about "if you notice X, Y,Z symptoms, be sure to tell me. Also let me know if you are taking A, B,C"... wouldn't be as odd if the whole ad were a scene in the doctor's office, but it goes from the narrator talking about the drug to this scene. And another one where a group of 'friends' are sitting around talking about that BC pill that gives you periods only once a year. One of them just calmly starts listing all the major side effects, and it seems so strange.

Seeing all these commercials for products that deal with health problems, I just wonder if it's reflective of how unhealthy our society is? I have had no use or need for any of the medication that's advertised on TV. I wonder how many other people do?
 
>>Seeing all these commercials for products that deal with health problems, I just wonder if it's reflective of how unhealthy our society is? I have had no use or need for any of the medication that's advertised on TV. I wonder how many other people do?<<

Kathryn, IMHO the tsunami of commercials that deal with health problems and their supposed cures, whether over-the-counter or increasingly prescription, is more of an indication of the desire of the pharmaceutical industry to hook everyone on something. I read a statistic within the past few days that fully half of people in America are on at least one prescription medication. At my full physical exam last year, this doorknob of a physician noticed that my blood pressure was high (which could totally be attributable to the White Coat Effect), and rather than ask me ANYTHING about any possible environmental causes (i.e. I was in a doctor's office with a dumb doctor) she threw a prescription for a BP medication at me - at twice the traditional dosage. Moron. (I threw the prescription away when I got home and my BP went back to normal.)


A-Jock
 
I've been counting...

at the 1/4 hour there are about 5-6
at the 1/2 (hr long show) there are 8-10 x(
at the 3/4 4-6 maybe more


sigh.
 
>IMHO the tsunami of commercials that deal with health
>problems and their supposed cures, whether over-the-counter or
>increasingly prescription, is more of an indication of the
>desire of the pharmaceutical industry to hook everyone on
>something.


Ain't that the truth!

>> I read a statistic within the past few days that
>fully half of people in America are on at least one
>prescription medication.

I've seen a similar statistic, but it was that by age 40, the majority of Americans are on at least one prescription drug.

A good read on the subject is "Overdosed America": a fed-up doctor's perspective on how pervasive the influence of the drug companies is, from medical school, to the doctor's office, to the 'consumer' in froont of her/his boob tube, and how things that are not really diseases (like menopause) are being treated and presented as such by the companies.
 
>Kathryn, IMHO the tsunami of commercials that deal with health
>problems and their supposed cures, whether over-the-counter or
>increasingly prescription, is more of an indication of the
>desire of the pharmaceutical industry to hook everyone on
>something. I read a statistic within the past few days that
>fully half of people in America are on at least one
>prescription medication. At my full physical exam last year,
>this doorknob of a physician noticed that my blood pressure
>was high (which could totally be attributable to the White
>Coat Effect), and rather than ask me ANYTHING about any
>possible environmental causes (i.e. I was in a doctor's office
>with a dumb doctor) she threw a prescription for a BP
>medication at me - at twice the traditional dosage. Moron.
>(I threw the prescription away when I got home and my BP went
>back to normal.)
>
>
>A-Jock


It's funny that you mention that, A-Jock. I had a similar thing happen last Saturday. I had to go to Urgent Care because of a dog bite. They checked my blood pressure, well, it was a little high 150/85. The doctor said that that she will give me a prescription for BP medication. WHAT????? Moron, I was just attacked by a dog, of course, my adrenalin was pumping and my blood pressure went up as a result. I was soooo ready to shove that prescription down her throat. The next day, I had my BP checked at the local Walgreens, ummhhh, it was back to 110:65.

I have always thought that the marketing of drug companies to the general public is wrong and that in their quest for profit they label common problems as a disease. And that the parameters as to blood sugar levels, BP, etc. keep getting adjusted down in an effort to create a perceived need for a drug where there really is none.

Watching the video that Jess posted about drug marketing, I realized that almost everything they said what something I was concerned about but couldn't put into words. Watching it all together had a real WOW!!! effect on me. Thanks for posting this, Jess!!!!

At first glance, it just seems annoying that those drug commercials keep running and running, BUT their marketing works, they get a HUGE return, otherwise they wouldn't do it. I just hope that more people will realize that this really is a problem, it effects us as a society and as long as this will not be addressed, any introduction of universal health insurance or anything similar will be pretty useless. Off my soapbox now :+ :p
 
If you take out the commercials, most hour long prime time programs are only 42 minutes long. That's really sad. The news programs are the worst for drug commercials. They seem to think that no one under 55 watches the news.
 
When DH and I got married 9 years ago we didn't get a TV. We still don't have one. 2 kids later, it's one of the best decisions we've ever made. Sure, I'm a bit out of touch with pop culture and I'm the *last* person to find out about current events, but I am so happy that my girls are not overloaded by the sexed-up crap that other kids in their classes are. Frankly, I am just too busy to watch it anyway.
 
Hey Girlfriend,

I totally agree with you. I don't watch much TV but when I do, I'm in the habit of leaving the room during a commercial. I can't stand the commercials either.

Kathryn-I agree with you too that pretty soon the commercials are going to take up more time than the actual show.

Joanne
 
>I'm in the habit of leaving the room during a commercial. ...I agree with you too that pretty soon the commercials
>are going to take up more time than the actual show.

Hmm...here's a thought: what if, instead of watching commercials, or leaving the room, everyone got up and did jumping jacks, or squats, or KB swings, or push-ups, or something during each commercial break? We'd end up with a fitter population (getting fitter and fitter all the time, because they'd be working out more as commercials eat up more and more air time).}(
 
The gross commercials kinda fly right over my head. (My husband works in medicine, so we been discussing various bodily issues/catastrophes over dinner for years. :p )

I'm tired of the weight loss commercials.
 
I'm with you A-Jock -- at times I get so embarrassed when my girls are watching TV with us and these commercials come on. (Right now, my oldest is 19 and finishing her first year at A&M and my youngest just turned 15 today.) However, when we would watch TV when they were a little younger (about a couple of years ago) we would all be watching a TV show (around 7:00, so it was still considered "family programming", or so I thought), and we kept seeing commercials about erectile dysfunction (which everyone was silent during that time -- I really don't think my youngest understood and my oldest, if she knew what it was, didn't say anything!). The other one that embarrases me when I watch a show with my girls is the genital herpes one (one couple has it, the other doesn't!). I just think it is so inappropriate -- I would rather them do a commercial about how NOT to get genital herpes, as opposed to how they can treat it. I really wouldn't want to see either one, but if they were going to do it, at least educate them! And as far as the erectile dysfunction commercials -- those should never be put on TV. If someone has that problem, he's going to find out how to treat it by a doctor. I guess the pharmaceutical companies are just trying to get these guys who are not "comfortable" going to the doctor with this problem, so they will go to the doctor to get the drug, etc.

I'm sorry I vented so much -- this is a great thread and it really touched a nerve with me! Hope I didn't offend anyone!

Julie
 
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