It is, perhaps, another sign of me ageing not terribly well. But one of the many things that irritates me about 'modern life' is commercials. In this digital age of multi-channel television and radio stations by the score on digital radio and via the internet, it seems that whenever I channel hop - whether it's television or radio - inevitably each non BBC channel or station is playing commercials. And bloody irritating they are too.
At the end of tonight's Sunderland-Liverpool game on Setanta Sports - a game which rivalled watching paint dry for excitement - I flicked through the various Freeview stations. That there was nothing worth watching was hardly surprising - for multi-channel read multi-rubbish - but the fact that channel after channel were showing commercials at the same time annoyed me so much that I switched the television off (if my gruesome twosome daughters read this, yes televisions can be switched off)
The ten zillion radio stations were the same. I have to say I quite like the idea of the likes of Q Radio and Mojo Radio being 'DJ less' - those of us who can remember the likes of Tony Blackburn and Dave Lee Travis on Radio One in the 1970s are thankful that such gibberish is no longer on mainstream radio. But the commercials are annoying as hell. I particularly dislike those ads for cars or loans where the obligatory 'terms and conditions apply' paragraph is read out at the end by a voice which sounds like the Crazy Frog on crack cocaine.
There is one commercial presently being shown on television which I find disturbing. As if having Burger King outlets in this country isn't bad enough, we have commercials which are not only annoying but, in the case of their latest offering, quite disturbing. A young lad on a bus is sitting staring at an old lady laden with shopping bags who is standing beside him. As he finally gets off the bus he thinks to himself 'that old lady wanted my seat' The tagline is 'take yourself to your dark side with a Burger King something or other burger' (I forget the exact wording due to my haste to switch it off)
At least Burger King won't fall foul of the Trades Description Act. Like some of their products, this commercial has little taste...
2 comments:
All decent folks hate the adverts. What gets me is the emptiness of so many. Image is all, and saying anything about the product is rare.
I am quite partial to Burger King, a fast food addiction kindled during my years living in the US. They are called Hungry Jacks here in Australia and my kids always pull me up when I call them Burger King. Dumb Dad!
As for adverts, couldn't agree more.
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