I hate TV ads.
I have trouble at the best of times shifting my attention from one thing to the next. Just ask by dear wife how difficult it is for her when she comes into my office while I'm halfway through thinking somthing through.
When I'm relaxing in my favourite chair in the lounge room wathcing a show on TV, the last thing I want is some stupid corporation interrupting the peace, trying to sell me something I don't need - be it hamburgers, debt, pain killers, or white goods.
If I want to buy something, I'll go and get the facts by checking some web pages, talking to people who've bought similar things, or just makeing a few phone calls.
The last thing I want is some twisted manipulative message from a company that paid a fortune to butt in on my peace and quiet with some inane advertisement extolling the virtues of their snake oil, targetted at some idiot with half my IQ, a quarter my common sense, and ten times my apparent desire to base spending on the propaganda I see on the TV screen.
(Yes, that sounds elitist and it is. Advertisers target their ads at a lower than average intelligence level of about late primary school, and assume if they tell you to buy something often enough, you'll be stupid enough to buy it. Well... are you? Is that how you're going to reward someone who invades your lounge room in the middle of your favourite show?)
Guys - just get out my face!
In fact, I've bought a couple of PVRs (Personal Video Recorders) - the Beyonwiz DP-S1 and the Topfield 5000. Both of them have a wonderful product called ICE TV installed which lets me know what TV shows are on and when - up to a week in advance. All of this lets me pause the TV, and skip over ads. So now, when some imbecile tells me how cool McDonalds, or "SUPER" A-Mart is, I just tell them to *#$%# off, press the red button to skip ads, and keep watching my show. (You have no idea how satisfying it is to blast TV ads away at the press of a button).
So here's my prediction. Everyone will end up getting a PVR with ICE TV, and skip over ads. TV will become a less attractive medium for corporations to peddle their wares. TV broadcasters will lose advertising revenue, or try and devise more insidious ways to push ads in front of your face, which will devalue the medium even more.
It's at this point that the guys at Think TV will try to convince you how much you need advertising on free to air TV.
Which is a load of rubbish.
I'd rather pay a TV broadcaster to show stuff on TV, provided they didn't insult my intelligence with ads.
Or even better - watch the ABC. What a wonderful institution. Intelligent shows, no ads, no dumbed down news or current affairs.
But regardless of whether you like ABC or not, whether you're prepared to pay for your TV or not, the forces of evolution are at work in the TV world.
And it's my fervent hope that TV advertisers, those parasites who invade our living rooms, will go the way of T-Rex, Eohippus, and the Dodo.
And I for one, can't wait to dance on their graves.
