It comprises 20% of any 60 minutes. We are bombarded by it day in and day out – but does anyone listen to it?
The way I look at it, by this time in my life, I’ve pretty much decided that Head and Shoulders is my shampoo+conditioner. That my Tide is my detergent. That Cheerios is my cereal (Cocoa Krispies when I’m feeling randy). That I drink 2% milk, use Country Crock for that butter taste, and like Gap jeans because, for me, they last.
So… Does anyone listen to ads?
Formed in 1997, Schad began performing sketch comedy on Chicago’s north side. The troupe has since performed at countless venues around the world including The Goodman Theatre, The Second City, Steppenwolf, Lollapalooza, ImprovOlympic, the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre (LA), HERE (NYC) and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
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All content © 2010 by Schadenfreude.
I don’t listen, but even if I’m only half paying attention to the radio, that 1 800 cars for kids ad that comes in around Chicagoland sends me into a fit of rage every time it comes on.
Actually, it’s closer to 30%. 9 min of any half-hour program, 18-20 minutes of every one hour program. Dollhouse is the strange exception with only about 10 min of ads. And movies on basic cable tend to be 35% commercials. Hulu has about 2 min of ads for every 20 minutes of programming… so there’s THEIR free plug for the day.
But to answer your question, I try not to listen. I don’t have a DVR so I tend to flip around during commercials which means I often abandon the original program because TNT is showing The Firm and I happened to flip over during a Hackman scene and I just can’t NOT watch Hackman. This weekend, I only got to watch Three’s Company up to the first commercial break before being hijacked by the last third of Virtuosity. And a few weeks before that, I abandoned 24 for Freejack.
I mute all commercials. Can’t stand them. I’ll ask Sarah to join me in flipping off the ones that are truly repulsive. Come to think of it, I don’t watch much tv.
Not since I got a DVR and XM Radio…
Have a guy at work who is always asking me ‘did you see that such and such commercial for Brand X?’ Every time I tell him no. Then he explains what happened, ‘funniest thing ever’ – and I feel like I am missing out.
But Im really not. Anything I have to see can be seen on Schadenfreude.
I refuse to eat at Carl’s Jr. because they think I’m a moron. Their slogan used to be “Without us some guys would starve”. Yes, the same guys who have trouble tying their shoes.
I absolutely buy Dos XX beer because they think I just might be the world’s most interesting man in the world. And if I drink their beer and grow a beard I think I could be.
Ah! The Kars for Kids commercial. Trouble is, I stopped listening to radio for that commercial – and then they put up a billboard on my route to/from work.