There are few commercials that seem to annoy people more than that earworm "K-A-R-S Kars for Kids" jingle that never seems to stop airing on just about every radio station. I heard one on Monday morning and it got me to wondering - Public Service Announcements are dropped in by stations as part of serving their communities. 

But in the grand scheme of things, they don't air anywhere near as often as the Kars4Kids spots seem to. Which led to the question - because of their frequency on air, are they paid spots or PSAs? And if the latter, how in the world do they seem to be broadcast so often? 

The answer is that they appear to be an actual registered charity and I first heard that infamous jingle a few years ago when it was played endlessly on WABC Radio. Since then, it's come to Canada. 

And as it turns out, there's more to this charity than meets the eye. Did you know, for example, that the autos and money collected by this goes partly to an Orthodox Jewish organization to help educate children? There's nothing wrong with that per se, but you might think that those cars are being used to help needy families and not for religious purposes. 

Decades ago, I donated my very first car - a Dodge Colt - to Kidney Car, and was told later that it was restored by mechanics and given to a single mother who couldn't afford one of her own and used it to get to dialysis appointments at the hospital. But I would definitely have thought twice if I thought the donation was being used for something else. 

K4K got into trouble in the U.S. in 2017, when various states accused the charity of not being transparent about where the money was going. CBS did a rather eye-opening report on it, and you can watch that here. Among other things, it alleges that some of the money raised is used to purchase air time to raise yet more money. Which would make it a sponsored commercial, although it seems like a PSA.

That's just part of the criticism it's faced over the years.

Something to think about the next time you hear this spot and that jingle, which has become almost a punchline for comics and TV satire over the years about that annoying song and the number of times listeners are treated to it every day. 

From Billboard:

"Kars 4 Kids is well aware of how much you detest their ads. “Newer people join the team and when they are first exposed to the level of hatred on Twitter they’ll be like, ‘Are you sure you think this is a good idea that we should keep on playing this?,’ says Wendy Kirwan, Kars 4 Kids’ director of public relations. “And we’ve looked at that time and again, and we’ve come to the conclusion that it’s definitely worth sticking with.”

Billboard: A Brief History of the Inane Kars 4 Kids Jingle You Can’t Get Out of Your Head