Are you fed up with TV ads?

 Many years ago, as I was nearing Law School graduation from Baylor University, the President of the University came to our class to discuss the ethical responsibilities we would be assuming as lawyers.  Among the topics he mentioned was the strict limitations on advertising.  A simple ad in the phone book was allowed, but advertising as if you were a merchant was absolutely forbidden.  What I specifically remember was the prohibition against sending a professional greeting card to existing clients, thanking them for their business.  Even what might have been intended as a courtesy was not approved.

A reminder of what ads were allowed years ago.

Boy! have times ever changed!!  I am personally embarrassed by the advertisements of lawyers soliciting business on television, on both local and national channels, from small firms with a few attorneys to law firms with offices in many places.  'Were you injured or sickened by somebody?  Lucky you!  Hire us and we will make you rich.'  Maybe they aren't that obvious, but some of them are close.  It isn't that people with legitimate claims shouldn't bring lawsuits, but some of the ads sound more like carnival hucksters than professional attorneys.  Sadly, it isn't just the lawyers.  The drug companies, the insurance companies, the guys trying to buy your life insurance policies...and so many more are annoyingly common.

Can you believe this old ad?

Most evenings we watch the evening news, and recently we timed the commercials that interrupted the news.  We didn't use a stopwatch, but basically of the 30 minutes of "news," programming, less than 20 minutes was news, with advertisements and promotion of the local news station consuming about a third of the programing.  That evening, there were 17 different commercials plus the local station promotion.  That particular network chose to deliver uninterrupted news for the first 15 minutes, and then bombarded us with commercials and 3 short news briefs jammed between commercials during the remaining time.  The first fifteen minutes without interruption were appreciated, but the number of commercials during the closing minutes was beyond annoying.

When I become annoyed with the current state of commercials on television, I remind myself of the talking stomach advertising Pepto-Bismol and the brasier ad showing a closeup of a woman's chest with the company's bra displayed over her sweater.  Perhaps those of you who remember commercials in the 50s remember some of those ads.  Television ads have always included some that were annoying or ridiculous, but I don't recall the extent of interruptions being as numerous in the past.

Had you forgotten old liquor and cigarette Ads?

Here is the problem.  The places to advertise are disappearing.  Lawyers may still advertise in phone books, but most of us have cell phones and rarely look at a phone book.  Newspapers and magazines are struggling to stay alive because they have diminishing subscribers.  Television is now the best place to advertise.  Advertising pricing is based on the number of people watching, and the price of an ad for the Super Bowl is huge, but other programing is less expensive.  National news has more viewers than local news, but even that is declining. According to the web site, Science Daily, "Nearly a 1/3 of TV ads play to empty rooms."  If you have a business or a product to sell, television is about your best choice, and if short ads on less watched stations are cheaper, repeating the ads to catch the viewers who left the room or hit mute may be your best advertising option.

According to Science Daily, older viewers are more likely to change channels during commercials, while younger viewers just leave the room.  We keep the remote control handy and mute the commercials.  However, from the perspective of businesses, what are they to do, with the decline in newspapers and magazines?  Science Daily says the commercials that viewers are most likely to watch are recreational products, like beer and video games, and the least likely to be watched are drug ads, particularly for treating serious conditions.

Unless you record programs and delete the ads quickly as you watch or you buy ad-free programming, most of us are going to endure way too many ads!  Thank goodness Lady Bird kept our highway bilbords restricted!