Political ads are ruining my life…
I have to admit, television is my guilty pleasure. Every night, after a long, grueling day at work, I make up some excuse as to why I cannot go to the gym and camp out on the couch for a little bonding time with Oprah. And yes, I love our DVR and its ability to magically skip over commercials and the unfortunate times when Dr. Oz pulls out a diseased liver to share with the audience. I realize, that the fact I own a DVR may be considered by some in my field of media buying to be sinful, but I see the contrary. In the same way I skip through the garbage I do not want to see, I can rewind and watch anything intriguing as many times as I want. Over the years I have enjoyed my ability to mentally note who is advertising in programs across all networks, including my favorite shows and the ones my husband forces me to watch.
Well you know what? I miss my commercials! I am longing to subject myself once again to the hundreds of messages marketers bombard me each day from the safety of my living room. Political ads are seriously making me insane. Don't get me wrong, I love a good political rivalry as much as the next person, but the current ad volume is just too much for me to handle. I tried to watch the 6pm news the other day and in one commercial break every single ad was political—not kidding. After awhile they all look like they run together; I could hardly tell where one ended and the next began. I'm pretty sure a lot of people end up tuning them all out after a while.
On top of the fact that the ads are starting to annoy me personally, I am really getting the brunt of it while at work. I may spend my evenings watching television, but I spend my days placing our client's ads on that same television. Small problem—there is a finite amount of inventory to purchase in television programming. Laws guarantee politicians running for office the ability to place their ads anywhere they want for the right price. When they all go crazy buying time all over the place guess whose commercials get kicked out—anyone who stands in their way! That would include the ads I place for our clients. So what happens then? I have to move my commercial somewhere else (more work) and then I usually have to move it again (even more work.) Luckily this only happens for a few weeks every two years.
On a related note, I have to just point out the irony in the sheer volume of political dollars being allocated to media spending. According to TNS Campaign Media Analysis Group, political ad spending is currently on target to reach $2.5 billion. Am I the only one who would fall in love with the first candidate to pledge their campaign media budget to saving our economy?
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You said it! I was watching the World Series this week; grown men getting paid ridiculous sums of money to play a boy's game. One would think it's a safe refuge and diversion from the realities of everyday life. But sadly no, every commercial break featured the same onslaught of political mudslinging. Someone's the king of pork, someone else opposes offshore drilling, no wait, they are for it. This person is "Status Quo" that person is a "Maverick." It seriously runs together and becomes hard to differentiate what the intended purpose is other than ruining my baseball watching experience.
Oh well, at least I have refuge in the knowledge that I have already cast my ballot, and thanks to early voting all these commercials are for naught.
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