You see, you would probably be prefectly content with your show as it is. You could watch the entire program without annoying commercials telling you to buy the newest and latest mop, or the brand new burger from McDonalds. One late night, my Achilles tendand seemed to be a commercial about a Klondike Bar. The guy on the commercial was trying to see what people would do for a Klondike bar. As I was watching this ad I started to get a little craving for a late night snack. Before you know it I am in isle 13 in the Wal-Mart trying to find Americone Dream Ice Cream by Ben and Jerry's. $3.93 cents later I am un-pausesing my program and digging into my pint of delicious caramel Patriotism.
Later the next day I reflect on what I had done that night and had realized that I had literally "bought" into the scam that they were trying to portray. Given, I know that the point of advertisements are to make you want to buy things, but this was personal. So I did a little surfing on the World Wide Web and found out that MANY people give in to these kinds of advertisements multiple times a day! I know that I didn't need to confirm that obvious little piece of trivia by going on the Googles, but what I found more disturbing on a whole new level was the amount of people that leave ZERO time between the moment the advertisement makes them want to buy a Coach bag, and the moment they start punching in their credit card digits into the online store. It is becoming a HUGE rising trend that people are mindlessly buying things. The rise in credit card debt is a key clue in the mystery AND the ability to use Direct Deposit to instantly put your recently received paycheck on your card for easy spending once again.
People are...sometimes literally...consuming their desires. It is sad, it really is and I don't see this trend dissipating anytime soon. It leads to some serious sociological problems and other important words. People are always on the boob tube and they will see those ads, even sped up on FastForward. Advertisement companies know that they have their fish and they just keep reeling it in. Smells like TV for Dinner, and I don't see it spoiling anytime soon. Leftovers tomorrow!
Eric Peterson
1 comment:
Very interesting, Eric. I seriously know what you're talking about, too. I was watching Saturday Night Live last weekend with one of my housemates and his girlfriend, and the entire show was only featuring advertisements for Bud Light with Wheat. For the first forty minutes we were laughing and making fun of how ridiculous each one was, and how often they were being played. But by the end of the show, I have to admit, I was definitely wondering if the beer was as good as the advertisements made it sound. Now I'm itching to try one! What the hell is wrong with me, you know?
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