cooker

Some of the links won't play outside the US.

cooker

In Canada it is illegal to advertise prescription drugs on TV, but the pharmaceutical companies advertise on local stations near the Canadian border such as Buffalo, Detroit, etc. whenever a new drug gets approved in Canada.

Tundra_Man 

I decided that if a guy has enough energy to lug two cast-iron bathtubs up a mountain, then he probably doesn't need Cialis.

Doohickie

Advertising for prescription medications was not allowed on broadcast television once upon a time. Some years back they removed that restriction and the airwaves have been flooded with prescription drug ads. I kind of find them repugnant myself. I have no problem with being able to find out information about these medications, say, online, but actively recruiting people to "ask your doctor about" a given medication is just not the way I think medicine should work.

I-Like-To-Bike

Maybe his wife is the energetic one and lugged the bathtubs up there because the guy is always too pooped to do anything without drug enhancement.

duckbill

Kept the TV but canceled the cable. I enjoy a movie once and a while. Subscribed to Netflix for a time but have let it laps. Years without regular broadcast TV with commercials and I really have not missed it one bit.

Machka 

That was my first thought when I saw all the drug ads in the US ... is this legal?

And yes, it is repugnant.

Information about these things should definitely be available ... used to be you looked it up at the library ... but to me, all the ads are giving the impression that everyone should be on a long list of medications.


I'm guessing it must be illegal to broadcast that sort of thing here in Australia too.

Machka 

Where we used to live (north of Melbourne) there was an ad that ran on TV showing a group of cyclists riding through an area where we often cycled. Then it focussed in on a particular cyclist and cut away to that cyclist in regular clothes doing something else (i.e. running a small local business) ... then it focussed in on another cyclist and cut away to that cyclist in regular clothes doing something like playing with children at home ... and so on with several of the cyclists.

Meanwhile the narrator was saying something along the lines of "Please be cautious around cyclists, we're not just cyclists, we're the people you do business with, we have families, we teach in your schools, etc. etc."

In other words, cyclists are real people who you interact with every day ... please try not to run them over.

I thought it was a good concept.

I saw something like that in an ad or two here in Tasmania too. I hope they run more of them.

gear64

I'm with you. I haven't physically ditched the tv, but it rarely gets turned on and 99% of the time it does it's for streaming content. My wife decided to check out a new show last week and now they just overlay ads for other programs right over the current program. I can't stand those little banners scrolling across the bottom of screen. I've pretty much abandoned broadcast radio as well due to host endorsements. There's nothing more annoying than an anecdotal segue into a sales pitch, and why would I trust their paid for opinion of a product or service?

Deal4Fuji

A few observations on US television advertising: If you ever watch the national news you'll really notice all the pharmaceutical advertising. Looks like only us geezers watch the news. I agree making these ads legal was not in the interest of the health of a nation.

I get so tired of local advertising from personal injury law firms....I remember when insurance companies were generally perceived as honest and tried to reach fair settlements. I wonder how much more we all pay in insurance premiums so that PI lawyers can get their large slice of the pie. I found an especially obnoxious ad in a phone book on a recent travel (see attached).

Also how much the number of ads have increased over the last 10 years or so. TV movies are the worst as the ads increase once you're "into" the movie. A 2 hr movie can easily got to 3 hrs with commercials.

The only positive thing I can bring to this discussion (and many will see this as a negative) is how musicians are now selling their popular songs for advertising. I've mentioned before on music threads how much harder it is for musicians to make money selling CD's and "paid for" downloads. Selling their work to advertisers has become much more accepted among artists and I'm fine with that. The most recent is Target using the "Kids in America" theme for back-to-school.

tandempower

I doubt motorists who collide with cyclists do so because they are indifferent. How many people would want to run someone over with their car even if it was their worst enemy? Even if you lacked conscience about physically assaulting another human being with a deadly weapon, there would still be the legality and liability issues along with the nauseating feeling that would come with hitting the person. I've had nightmares about accidentally backing over people before and they are very stressful. Surely no one feels aversion to hitting someone while driving only if the person is a family member, friend, or acquaintance.

I understand it's easy for many people to dismiss atrocities that occur far outside their sphere of experience because of how common such atrocities seem to occur in news media, etc. But don't you think it's different for most people when they are the operator of the vehicle/deadly-weapon used to commit the atrocity?

On the other hand, there always seems to be those drivers who like to speed by extra close just to be 'living on the edge.'

Machka 

Obviously you don't "get" the ad. Maybe you needed to see it to understand. That's OK.

tandempower

Machka, you seem to be a person who doesn't explicate things. It's sort of funny to be told that I don't "get" something without being told what it is that I don't "get." I used to worry about "getting it" when people would say that but one day I managed to get enough information about what they're experiencing when they say they "get it" and it's usually just a relatively mindless emotional reaction. I realize that such mindless feelings are considered very important for some people, but please don't use them as a basis for condescending.

All I was saying was that it doesn't really make sense to make emotional appeals not to run cyclists over unless drivers are so indifferent that that would be the only reason they would avoid doing so. I think I have the most difficulty communicating with you of everyone on this forum. Are you intentionally difficult or is it just a coincidence?

Machka 

How about thinking positively about things? The ad I mentioned is a good one ... and for reasons I don't understand, you just don't seem to get that. <<shrug>> Maybe I didn't explain it well enough to you ... maybe you need to see it ... or maybe you'd think it was a negative ad anyway. Who knows.

tandempower

Yes, I think I get what you're saying: that instead of hammering on people for being negligent, instead gives them a positive reminder that these people are worth protecting so be extra careful. I think you must be recovering from a barage of experiences with being admonished for things in a negative way (e.g. "don't do that," "you shouldn't do that," etc.) and this wore on you emotionally and so you are especially moved when people put an effort into saying it in a more positive way, e.g. "it would be good if . . .," "here's a motivating reason to do . . .," etc. You don't want to hear anyone say, "that's bad and people shouldn't do it." Is this the reason you have such a problem with what you call my 'negativity' or is there more to it than that?

Machka 

Oh you do get it after all. And also that cyclists are people you might know.


And then ... what a weird comment.


If you really want to know ... about your negativity ... when you type you paint such a depressingly bleak picture of the world. I don't see the world as such a bleak place. I think the world is a beautiful place and I'm happy with the way things are ... most things.


And with regard to the topic ... I'm impressed with all the cycling ads on TV. I think it's great!

dynodonn 

What I'm getting tired of is the ****loads of pharmaceutical ads being aired, though not as high a density that cigarette commercials that where aired in years past.

Machka 

Come to Australia.


But can you lodge a complaint somewhere?

dynodonn 

I take it that Australia still has TV cigarette commercials?

Machka 

No ... I actually don't recall ever seeing a TV cigarette commercial anywhere ... not in Canada, not in Australia. But then I didn't watch a lot of TV when I was younger. Hardly any at all.

But Australia doesn't have the drug ads either.

Most of our ads are furniture or insurance or something to do with sports ... stuff like that.

RPK79

Sigh, and just a few months ago people in this subforum were telling me there was no such thing as the "I don't even own a TV" guy.

dynodonn 

Oh good...... I was so glad when they banned cigarette commercials here in the US, the cigarette ad blitz was constant, especially bad during the years of only having two local channels to watch. I remembered the first day after the ban was enacted, I discovered that there was other people and things in the world besides cigarettes, like "Mr Whipple" for one.

Though today, DVR is a boon in zapping many commercials.

dynodonn 

I do know of one person that has refused to own a TV for decades, even though his father had a TV repair business (might have had something to do with it), and his father had repaired several of my TVs in years past.

mconlonx

I have not had cable TV for some time and freebie digital reception sucks in my area--of the channels we could receive on decent reception days, more than half was Public TV stations. Also not motivated to for receivers, boosters, antennae, etc. So basically no TV for 5+ years. DVD player got a workout.

Living situation has changed and I'm now half-living with my mentally disabled adult son... who has gratis cable TV as part of his living arrangement.

It's amazing how easy one can get sucked right back into being a TV viewer if it's available. Recently, though, I've started noticing the commercials. Not content, just that there are a lot of them. Seems like a lot more of them than I was used to. It's turned me back off of TV and I pretty much limit my viewing to news. And South Park reruns. I haven't checked out Adult Swim lately because I don't want to start enjoying TV again...

dynodonn 

I still enjoy watching TV, but I've learned to limit what type of programs that I watch, which still only amount to a small number. I stopped watching major network TV programs some 40 years ago, and when I thought that those programs could not get anymore ridiculous, only to have those programs to be replaced by cheaply made "reality" shows.