As Seen on TV Audiences
Have you ever watched an infomercial and thought, “Wow, that looks pretty cool!”
You didn’t buy it though did you? Of course not. Why? Because you’re not stupid.
Most people learn from an early age that long format TV ads are peddling hype. Though not always, the product itself is usually of inferior quality. Once you get it, you quickly find that it’s not quite as amazing as the commercial made it seem. So when you hear that “Announcer Voice” telling you to “act now!” you disengage any primitive thoughts to call that toll free number. Good for you.
To be honest, I don’t watch a lot of TV these days. Mostly I watch whatever comes up on mBlip. But still, I catch the occasional broadcast channel, and when the commercials come on, I immediately and instinctively know the audience they’re targeting. When I start to see ads for ambulance chasers, term life insurance, Medicare supplements, and “As Seen on TV” gimmickry, then I know that the primary audience they expect to find watching that channel at that moment is feeble minded fools.
Of course I was watching that old “Gun Smoke” episode to feel retro nostalgic, but I suspect that many people watching it would find it plausible that the government faked the moon landings to cover up the alien invaders who kidnapped Elvis in order to make the baby Jebus cry. How that much cognitive dissonance doesn’t result in a cranial paroxysm is beyond me.
My point is, if your non-ironic regular TV viewing habits frequently subject you to this kind of advertising, perhaps you shouldn’t be voting in the next election.
Pax,
-f2x