Don’t get me wrong. I understand why we have advertising. It is our bread and butter in publishing. It pays our bills. On top of that, advertising has always served an important information duty.
When is that sale? What brands does that store carry? Does that bank have a branch near me? When is that festival? Is there a coupon?
However, I’m having a hard time with a particular kind of television advertising; not the run of the mill cereal, hamburger, or automobile ad. It’s the adult ads that irritate me.
It used to be that “those” ads were geared to the time of day. Recently ads that used to be designed for the middle of the night are now popping up much earlier. You know the ones I mean.
The problem is that on weekends kids stay up later, and sometimes they stay up later on a snow day too. I really don’t want to explain a certain type of dysfunction to the grandkids. I’m not a guy. Why do they need to hear about discomforts that are limited to an age group they will not be in for 50 years?
When that sort of ad is in print, we all have an option to skip over the ad if it has nothing to do with us. For example, I don’t read ads for livestock feed, but farmers do. When spring is sprung, I want to know who has sandals on sale. With print advertisements you have a choice.
But on the television every advertisement is broadcast right up there on the wall for everyone in the room to watch in its 50-inch brightly colored glory. It is hard to ignore or change the subject. If I change the channel, everyone yells because they are afraid I won’t switch back in time.
These television ads are not for kids. In fact, these ads are not for most of us. Some ads are just in poor taste. It know it’s difficult to discuss constipation, and irritable bowel syndrome in a pleasant way, but really do you have to have such graphic illustrations?
There are also some advertisements for movies with R-minus ratings that are a bit over the top.
So we are taking a big step. We are saying farewell to broadcast and cable television and stepping into the world of DVRs. We will record a show then play it back without advertisements. A part of me thinks it is wrong to cut out the advertisements, but, well, I feel that I’ve been forced to do it.
I know we cannot protect the grandkids from the world but we can certainly limit R rated exposure in our home.
There is an additional method to our madness on top of a special timing to our decision. We are getting a DVR just before the Ohio Primary, during an election year and just before March Madness, which is torture for a non-basketball person.
Don’t worry we will still see ads during the news, and live events we want to see right away. We will see enough election material to know how to vote.
And if I want to know the list of 50 possible side effects to any medication I’m not taking, I’ll read the printed ad in the newspaper or magazine.
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