And lo on Wed, 13 Aug 2008 05:11:43 +0100, Jim Henderson  

<nos### [at] nospamcom> did spake, saying:

> But that's because I think the whole "entertainment as a delivery
> mechanism for advertisements" has gotten WAY out of hand, at least her
e
> in the US.  Take commercial TV stations, for example.  Their primary
> function is to serve advertising; entertainment is secondary.  The tre
nd
> over the past 20+ years has been to increase the advertising time in a
n
> hour of commercial TV programming; it has doubled in that time period.


The latest trick on commercial channels here is to run two programmes ba
ck  

to back with only a short trailer-type ad separating them and then chuck
  

in the ad break early. Better yet the first programme overruns slightly 
so  

the next one starts 1 minute late whereas the BBC seem to be finishing  

programmes slightly earlier so the next one starts 1 minute before it's 
 

scheduled.

> The really disturbing thing I'm starting to see now (starting with Eur
eka
> on SciFi) is *in show* advertising.  Not product placement - but actua
l
> advertising of a real-life product *in the show* as if the show was
> intended to be an infomercial.  I *hope* they knock that off, but even

> the fact that the actor who plays Carter is a friend of a friend of my

> wife's won't stop us tuning out if they don't knock that crap off righ
t
> now.  If I want to watch The Truman Show, I have the disc on the  

> bookcase.

What's annoying me here is the BBC news programmes slipping in reference
s  

to other programmes on later - "We'll return to coverage of World War  

Three in a moment. Now is acne a problem for you? A BBC programme being 
 

shown later today states that..."

Then there's the squeeze, which Charlie Brooker delightfully lampooned i
n  

his series*. There's now a style guide for programmes about what they  

can't do during the end credits because the broadcaster wants to squeeze
  

the show into the top left-hand corner and list upcoming programmes on t
he  

right while having an VO explaining how wonderful they are and why you  

should watch them. Damned annoying when you're trying to discover who  

played what and the credits are a quarter the proper size.

*http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yrm2dj6bIU0

> All that money that goes into advertising could be much better spent
> making a product that I want to buy, improving the service that goes w
ith
> the product, or making a good product better.

Pfft everyone knows it's marketing that sells products, not having the  

best or even just a good product.

> (sorry, didn't mean to rant - this is one of my major pet peeves just 
at
> the moment).

So you should be, can't stand ranters me ;-)

-- 

Phil Cook

--
I once tried to be apathetic, but I just couldn't be bothered
http://flipc.blogspot.com

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