1 of 1- RadioActive
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Spots Before Your Ears
There are some commercials that can drive you crazy. And they don't even have to be bad to do it. For the last few weeks, every single Bell Media radio station has been airing a spot for The Big Bang Theory marathon, airing on CTV's cable Comedy Channel.
The problem? The promo, which contains the irritating Sheldon character repeatedly knocking and saying "Penny? Penny?" along with a chorus regaling viewers with the words "Big Bang Theory" endlessly, has been airing every single break on every single Bell Media station. For days and days and days. I've heard it on CFRB, CKTB and CHAM to name a few.
But really.
Every.
Single.
Break.
In fact, it's playing as I type this. Do they not have enough spots to fill the time? Are they that desperate to promote this thing that it has to play during each spot break? It has become so irritating I want to smash my radio.
Thank God the marathon ends on Sunday, so I'll never have to listen to it again. I have never heard a single spot replayed so many times in a week. It's inescapable. The fact that I hate the show (I know, it was a big hit, but I found it extremely unfunny) only makes it worse.
Speaking of spots, what is the regulation that forces mortgage companies to incorporate their licence number into each and every single commercial they run? "Licence # 21345" or something similar runs before every pitch. And then there are those over-stuffed messages where they speed the thing up so fast, you can't hear it even if you wanted to.
Does anyone here know why this is done for all these money lenders or mortgage businesses? I have to assume this is legally required, perhaps to show the business has been sanctioned. But really, does it register with anyone and do any of the listeners who've struck through the break actually care? It's another fingernails on a blackboard scenario for me. And I wish they'd stop taking "licence" with my ears!
- In Phase
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Re: Spots Before Your Ears
RadioActive wrote:
Speaking of spots, what is the regulation that forces mortgage companies to incorporate their licence number into each and every single commercial they run? "Licence # 21345" or something similar runs before every pitch.
I've often wondered that myself RA.
I found this ""
item #2 - "Effective January 1, 2009, advertising by a brokerage must disclose the authorized name and licence number of the brokerage" (best enjoyed when read very fast.... )
- RadioActive
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Re: Spots Before Your Ears
Thanks. I thought that had to be the reason to waste even a few seconds of precious airtime for something the listener couldn't care less about. It's easier when it's on a TV ad, like for the Princess Margaret Lottery, where you can superimpose it on the screen and you don't have to say it.
But my favourite ones are the car commercials, mostly airing on U.S. radio, where they run through the legalese of the deal they're offering in a sped up version that's guaranteed to be completely unintelligible by anyone, no matter how good a listener they are. They're called disclaimers and they're required, but really, what a waste of airtime.
Here's an example of one, although this guy is actually understandable. Most of them are sped up in post production and it comes out as complete gibberish. But hey, if there's a problem later, the lawyers can claim it was there.
Last edited by RadioActive (January 3, 2021 6:51 pm)
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