I interrupt your f-list to bring you this important information

[greatbear]

When I was trying to decide if I wanted to subscribe to satellite radio a few years back, the choice was fairly easy at the time. At the start, XM's music channels had commercials. Then Sirius came along. Their subscription rate was higher, but there was no commercials. A plus in the Sirius column for me, since the whole reason I was making the jump was to get away from the increasingly pervasive and annoying advertising on terrestrial radio. By that time, XM had matched Sirius in both commercial-free music programming (plus) as well as the higher monthly rate (minus). XM was created by the same people who brought us ClearChannel (big fuck fuckityfuck minus!), the hellspawn from Satan's bloody cooch which ruined radio. Sirius also had OutQ, the GLBT channel (huge plus). OutQ has Larry Flick, aka lfkbear (another big furry plus).

So, Sirius it was. Lots of diverse programming, decent hardware and commercial free tunes. Great for traveling. OutQ became my drive-time channel, with Larry and the bunch in the mornings, and waaay-left leaning Michelangelo Signorile in the afternoon. Life was good. Then it began to happen. The commercials that are unfortunately carried by OutQ (and just about all the talk formats, there is no getting around it, plus that format needs the breaks for proper flow) started to multiply and sour. But these are not your ordinary commercials. They have leaned heavily into annoying ads for dubious work-at-home schemes, ambulance chasing lawyers, debt reduction and financing, snake-oil medicinal cures, you get the idea. And the irritation factor is compounded with most of these ads repeating the toll-free numbers no less than three times, sometimes more. Always the sign of hucksterism and sleaze. You've seen it on late night network television. So much for the notion that gay audiences are sophisticated. Most likely, these are the only outfits willing to drop coin to be heard in the gay ghetto, and Sirius goes for the bucks any way they can. And I pay for this.

I find myself growing weary of riding the volume control between the slowly decreasing minutes of actual programming. What is it with advertisers? Whoever came up with the notion that irritating the listener/viewer is a successful business model should be shot repeatedly starting from the feet and slowly working upward. Clever advertising is more memorable but far, far less prevalent. Were I to become king of the planet, I would seek out every writer/producer of these shitty slimeball ads and punch them repeatedly in the nose till there is nothing left.

Sorry, Larry and crew, there are days I have to shut off the radio and listen to the engine instead.

Is there any respite to be had against the tide of horrendous commercialism?

Here is one of the most amazing commercials I have seen to date:

Watch on YouTube

And one of the worst:

Watch on YouTube

I have already mentioned a couple times where a clever, fun ad will make me want to buy a product. Too much craptastic advertising makes me want to go postal on someone's ass.

Comments

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

It aired on TV in Europe, I believe, not here. I can watch the commercial again and again and never grow tired. Every part of the Rube Goldberg 'machine' are parts from the Accord. The gravity-defying tire trick is done with internal weighting of the tires (the heavy part is on top, a bit of a nudge throws them off balance and they roll with enough force to run up an incline). It took over 600 takes to get everything to work as planned. In other words, it took creativity, engineering and quite a bit of artful thinking to put that ad together. It engages the watcher rather than beats them silly or insults their intelligence. Why cant so many more commercials be interesting, 1 or 2 minute long visual treats like this?

I agree, it's just like poetry.

Accord commercial

[badgerpdx.livejournal.com]

I think the Accord commercial won a Cleo (top honor for commercials) but never aired in the States as that model isn't offered in North America. I read somewhere that it took over 1100 takes to get the Rube-Goldberg machine "just right". I think it was worth it. Probably one of the best commercials EVER.

Re: Accord commercial

[furr-a-bruin.livejournal.com]

A pity, that; if I needed that kind of cargo space, I'd much rather have an Accord estate car than a [expletive] SUV.