Thursday, July 03, 2008

Brain-Washed by Advertisement

On the most part I hate commercials, like most people. But what I hate even more are stupid annoying commercials with dorky little songs or jingles that are played over and over and over while a TV show is on.

This morning, my brain has been blasted with the Strawberry Mini-Wheats commercial, complete with its stupid song. I think that the only thing worse than that was when they aired commercials for Vanilla Mini-Wheats. I don't eat Mini-Wheats, and I will most certainly NEVER EVER EVER buy any incarnation of that product because of their stupid annoying commercials.

Another set of ads I can't stand are those stupid Premier Bathtubs commercials - you know, the special bathtubs for old people that have a little door on the side so they don't slip. Granted, the product is a good idea, but do they have to air it during every freaking commercial break on CBC NewsWorld in the morning? Between that and the fact that the CBC News in the morning spends WAY too much time on STUPID-ASS HOCKEY stories have made me not watch that show anymore. Bleh.

While we're on commercials and ads, why the hell is it that now news segments are named after corporate sponsors? Like the "Colgate Family Health" segment on Global News in the morning. We already see the stupid Colgate ads shortly after the segment airs in the morning. Do we really need to be reminded of that crap DURING the segment?

What about the fact that every building is named after a stupid corporate sponsor or rich benefactor? The Skydome is no longer the Skydome. Now it's the Rogers center. How dorky. What a dumb-ass name. So what if Rogers bought it. They've probably got Rogers ads plastered all over the inside anyway. We don't need to be reminded of that ALL THE FREAKING TIME. At one of the JCCs in Toronto, it seems that every corner of the building is named after some rich person. The building is named after one guy. The theater is named after another. The Jewish Day School is named after someone. The pool is named after someone, and, get this: the CHANGEROOMS are named after people. AHHHH!!!

The subway is just as bad. Sometimes an advertiser gets a bright idea of plastering an entire subway station with ads for something or other. Sometimes they go even as far as draping the outside of subway cars with stupid ads. Isn't it bad enough that sometimes all of the ads inside a subway car are for just ONE company?

I don't know about you, but this is total ad overload to me. It's a complete invasion of privacy in some ways, if you ask me. You can't even keep to yourself without walking into a place and being visually violated by ads. You can't even watch TV in peace without getting a stupid jingle stuck in your head. The sad thing is that even if you don't like the product(s) being advertised, this in-your-face tactic works. Can I recite the song in the Strawberry Mini-Wheats ad? You bet!

6 comments:

Meandering Michael said...

And the next time you go to the grocery store, you WILL look at the mini-wheats. And that's when Phase 2 of their nefarious scheme will begin...

You just need to move north. We've got much less media inundation in the land o' the midnight sun.

IndyComp0T1 said...

Fortunately I do most of my shopping at Whole Foods and they don't carry that crap! :)

But seriously, after reading your blog posts, it's really really tempting to move up North! My only problem is that I'm not exactly the most outdoorsy person - okay, not at all. I've never even been camping!

Meandering Michael said...

You don't have to camp to live in the north, but if you choose to do so, the camping is better.

Oh, and there are at least 5 good outdoor climbing site all within an hour of Whitehorse (one of which is right in town). No indoor climbing walls available to adults, though.

If you ever decide to take a different sort of vacation from the average Canadian, come on up and I'll show you around (easiest to do when the kid is under the age of two, since it means cheaper airfare).

Adam S. said...

HEAD ON, APPLY DIRECTLY TO THE FOREHEAD...

AHHH.. urge.. to.. smash.. TV...

IndyComp0T1 said...

I hope I didn't come off like I was stereotyping northern living. I meant more that living up north is definitely a haven for nature-lovers. :)

I have to admit that I would've never ever considered taking a vacation up north until reading your blog. Does sound like it could be fun. :)

Peter Lo said...

We live in a world based on the idea of branding, and no longer on manufacturing. Nowadays, it doesn't even matter what products a company makes, but instead whether that company's corporate identity will perpetuate. Making jingles, getting sponsorship on tv news segments and building name rights is all part of perpetuating corporate identity.

It's why we have things like the Nike Store and the Sony Store and all sorts of seemingly disconnected product offerings under the same brand name of "Virgin". I totally suggest that you read No Logo by Naomi Klein. It truly blows your mind on how brand-identity has changed our entire culture, and jingles that get stuck in your head are just mere tips of the proverbial iceberg.