You Will Obey!!!

I found the article to be a little irrational, people should not be forced to watch commercials, but there are reasons for everything. That's why it costs so much more to watch premium channels on cable or satellite, for that commercial interruption free concept. Advertisers do pay a lot of money to display their advertisements during commercial breaks of programs with high Nielsen ratings trying to promote their product. Television may have been invented to provide entertainment, but it's a great way to produce an income venue, and even before television, radios were the thing and had commercial interruptions.

But forcing you to watch one is plain ridiculous, in real life, if you don't want solicitation of products at your front door, you can post a sign that says no solicitation, and people should respect that. If you're not interested in a product, why must you continue to watch the sales pitch? And if you're seeing the commercial again for the billionth time, why should you have to watch it again? I'm sorry, but it doesn't matter how many times you make me watch a commercial on Miracle Whip, no matter how cute the commercial is, it's not going to make me buy it, I personally can't stand the stuff. I still can't believe how much an advertiser pays just to broadcast their commercial during the Superbowl, due to the amount of people watching and the chance to really get their product out there for the people to see.

I liked the Microsoft planning to sell ad space in their error messages joke in the Tech Humor forum, I think it sheds so much light on this situation, sort of a humorous irony. Where do you go where there is no advertising? Advertisers are everywhere, you drive down the road, you're staring at their products all around your house, clothes are nothing but advertising logos that you're not forced to look at...So can't they just keep it at that...they must be doing something right, people are buying their products. I'm sorry if Ted Turner isn't receiving enough revenue from the profits or whatever he does receive. I just don't have sympathy for him, doesn't he get enough money? Cry me a river, build a bridge, and get over it. So a few thousand people don't buy a pair of Nikes cause they skipped a commercial to watch something more appealing to them. That should save some slave labor in producing them. Nikes are overpriced anyway.

K, I'll admit I haven't read the article, I just jumped into the debate because I love debating so much. But

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But forcing you to watch one is plain ridiculous, in real life

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they can't force you to watch but at least they know that you may be keeping the TV on or somebody other than you may watch the adverts. With things like Tivo they don't even have a chance. And this isn't about ted turner, respect that he's a smart businessman and he didn't get rich losing money in TV stations.

And GG your comments are very specific, like nike and slave labour, but not everybody uses slave labour and they pay loads of money to start their business and try to get rich, they pour everything they have into ventures that may not suceed because even though their ad was on prime time everybody recorded the show and skipped the commercials.

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I'm sorry, but it doesn't matter how many times you make me watch a commercial on Miracle Whip, no matter how cute the commercial is, it's not going to make me buy it, I personally can't stand the stuff

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OK, thats fine, but next time somebody says "HEY GG LETS GET SOMETHIN TO PUT ON OUR SNACKS" maybe you'll reply with something like this "OK, GET MIRACLE WHIP" because you just saw miracle whip on TV and know that they are at least an OK company to be able to afford ad space. THAT IS PART OF HOW TV ADVERTS WORK! THEY MAKE YOU THINK OF THEIR PRODUCT!! Edit: I just kept adding to my post

I have developed an extremely rare nervous condition that makes my thumb twitch anytime it is on the channel selector button of the remote and a commercial comes on. This, of course, changes the channel. The condition was merely an annoyance at first, but it has become more complex in that if I am not holding the remote when the commercial comes on, my thumb convulses in a manner that forces me to seek out the remote and place my thumb on the channel selector button before the convulsions will stop. I'm not sure if it's related, but I have also begun to exhibit symptoms of pyromania when advertising media appears on my P.O. box that seem to result in tiny piles of ashes scattered randomly about my backyard. Am I a thief for not watching the commercials and reading the ads, a raving lunatic like my mom always said I was, or is this just a severe allergic reaction to having big corporations attempt to dominate how I spend my disposable income?

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Originally posted here by khakisrule
HAHAHAHA, They do that now!! Adverts for prime time cost more than adverts for sunday morning shows. Lol.

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i suggest you actually read before you mock moron, i clearly stated that it was an important point, as in THAT IS WHAT HAPPENS NOW.

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Do you know how much the cable companies pay?? I don't think you do. What you are paying for is the cable that connects your TV to wherever the station broadcasts are recieved. If you think your $40 a month are paying for all those shows than you have been sadly mislead. And is also paying for also those different networks, I think you do not fully understand the whole cable TV thing.

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um, yes that makes perfect sence that you pay a monthy fee(which never stops being charged) for something with a fixed price(the physical cable aparently). what you are claiming is that the cost of that bit of wire has an infinate cost. if you think that that single piece of cable costs any more than a SINGLE $40 fee YOU are sadly meslead. i did not say that it was enough money to fund the whole station or anything, i merely said there is still money in the system.

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Do you understand the topic of this thread? The topic is that people are using recorders to competely skip the adverts and watch only the show. When you are watching a show then you are probably watching at least a few adverts anyways, if you are recording it then you will probably watch no ads at all.
Do a little research first then post something with proof. That way you can shut me up. :)

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the actual method used does not matter as the end result is the same(ie if you go to the bathroom, you dont see the adds and if you use the 30 second skip button, you dont see adds), but to point it directly at the recorder thing, what if they watch the first five mins and decide they didnt like it? do they then have to watch the first few sets of adds just to make up for what they DID watch? the only reason they are targeting the digital part is that the government has been messing with technology to protect buisness models recently(DMCA) so they think they have a chance here.

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Originally posted here by khakisrule
And GG your comments are very specific, like nike and slave labour, but not everybody uses slave labour and they pay loads of money to start their business and try to get rich, they pour everything they have into ventures that may not suceed because even though their ad was on prime time everybody recorded the show and skipped the commercials.[/b]

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you act as if companys come out of nowhere and all of a sudden buy an add with all their money. if advertising is the only reason people are buying your products, you shouldnt be selling them at all. quality sells products. word of mouth sells products. good reviews in magizines/net sites/whatever sell products.

good advertising does not make a good product, but a good product creates money for advertising.

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OK, thats fine, but next time somebody says "HEY GG LETS GET SOMETHIN TO PUT ON OUR SNACKS" maybe you'll reply with something like this "OK, GET MIRACLE WHIP" because you just saw miracle whip on TV and know that they are at least an OK company to be able to afford ad space. THAT IS PART OF HOW TV ADVERTS WORK! THEY MAKE YOU THINK OF THEIR PRODUCT!!

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actually, like she said, it doesnt matter how many times you see an advertisement for a product you dont like, you wont get it. i dont like stuid hugely expensive tee-shirts that look like they've been thrown in a mud pit and run over by a pick-up truck and no ammount of ambercrombie and fitch ads are going to get me to buy one or even THINK about one when sombody suggests shoping for clothing. i dont eat liver, and even if every show on TV ran nothing but advertisments for different types of liver, i wouldnt buy it. your logic is flawed when you imply that advertising = sales. a good product and the right consumers = sales, and nothing else.

I realize that people pay a horrifying amount of money to broadcast their advertisements to potential consumers, and of course they are losing out because people choose to edit out the commercials when they tape/record something, or they channel surf. I'm sympathetic in a way, I know companies have to survive, but at the same time, it's not the only avenue of advertisement. Like I said in my previous post, everything is advertising whether you choose to accept that or not. If you ever go to grocery store or whatever, pick up a copy of Cosmopolitan. It's a great magazine, but 40% of the damn thing is advertisements. That's how the magazine gets out on the markets, by the person who pays to have their advertisement put into the magazine, same as television. The world runs on material objects...blah, blah, blah...It's a world of buying and selling products, that is the reality. But I'll be damned if some CEO of a crappy network of television stations, except for the occasional WWF fest is going to tell me I'm violating them by not watching their commercials. Basically, I'm going to watch the shows that they broadcast, and not pay attention to their sponsors. Like a few people said, I didn't sign a contract that obligated me to watch their sponsors trying to sell me something. I'm watching TV because I like the show. That may be selfish not to watch the things that keeps a station running, but I can be a selfish person.

Side Note (WARNING: only slightly related to the topic, felt like it was a semi-valid rant since we're talking about commercials/whatever.)

Some commercials don't even need to be on TV, in print, spoken or whatever. One of the examples of this is FEMININE PRODUCTS. Excuse me, but I HATE watching these commercials and I WILL mute them. When I'm ragging it, I do NOT wear tight white clothes, go horseback riding, discuss my yeast infection with my friends, or the fact that I may have an STD with friends. I don't care if your pad comes with wings, has better adhesive, comes in a pretty box, and has a pretty actress doing to ad.....What I DO care about is every month I need these products, you don't have to sell them to me, show me what they can do. I really do prefer a pad over a sock or a rag stuck in my pants. I don't buy my pads/tampons/whatever based on the content of some advertisement or "if she can go swimming in that white bathing suit and roll around on that fluffy white bed without any leaks, maybe I can too."

NO, it doesn't work like that. I know the products are there. I WILL buy them regardless of your ads, they're just there to embarrass you and remind you of the monthly curse that you have. You buy them based on your needs, what works better, not what they say. You may want to TRY something new based on what you see on TV or some other venue, may look like it's going to be a little better than what you had, but most likely, unless there's a way to stop it completely besides a hysterectomy, menopause, or whatever...don't advertise it. Most women don't give a crap. I certainly don't. Instant MUTE or channel change.
Maybe that's cheated Turner out of some bucks, and it may not be fair, but damn it...I'm not watching a pointless disturbing commercial.

Good point! I love that!