They’re Talking to Me?
It’s necessary to remind one’s self that with few exceptions, the electronic media program for a 12-year-old intellect. Necessary because so much of what they disseminate would seem mindless to a healthy six-grader. Not just the programming, but the commercials, too, though they are often a bit more engaging than the shows themselves.
The thing ya gotta remember about television and radio first off is that it’s all about reaching a mass audience. People selling broadcast time talk about viewership in the thousands and millions, but they mostly are counting eyes or ears and dividing by two. The quality of the attention — especially to the commercials — has got to be viewed at best in a slanty-eyed fashion. For example, who doesn’t wait for a commercial to go to the kitchen for a new beer or the john to get rid of the old one. And with VCR’s selling for the price of a cheap massage, there are also all those folks who tape and watch, and you can’t think they’re not zipping through the ads.
To be an intelligent consumer, you must realize that the cost of broadcast commercials outside of small radio markets can be quite high. A thirty-second spot during the last Superbowl went for over $2 million. But even buying time at a radio station in San Francisco can be thousands of dollars a minute. And who do you think pays for the time? The people who buy the products of course. Which suggests that you should look for alternatives to anything that does a lot of broadcast advertising.
People should also be aware that just because you see a lot of the same commercials, it doesn’t mean that the company is necessarily sound. Or honest. Many spots for products like exercise equipment or fortune telling are paid for on the basis of the number of calls the ads prompt. Stations — and even networks like AandE — will fill holes in their inventory with the so-called P.I.’s (Per Inquiry) if they think they will generate a lot of calls, or if they haven’t elsewise sold the time.
For instance, last month, I saw my first PI for "Going South" which is another in that endless collection of musical hits, these by songsters from the South. And not only were they gonna give you more music than your stereo could belt out in a month, but they would also send you a poster featuring a bodacious gal in short shorts and a straining shirt. But when they said that I could even get rush delivery, I grabbed for the phone. If I hadn’t reached a recording saying the phone was no longer in service, I was gonna, I swear, ask if they could special deliver it to me for Rosh Hashonah.
Ho, ho, ho, you say, but consider the next time you see the commercials for the psychic hotlines or the tarot readers that people actually do call these numbers. People who are watching the same programs you do. Gives one pause, doesn’t it?
And that’s SetonnoteS...I’m Tony Seton.