Now, I'm a natural skeptic when it comes to studies like this. I always wonder how the question was asked, the specifics, is the respondent lying or over/understating something, etc, but I often find myself not fast forwarding through ads because I'm doing something else at the time (writing an episode review, for example). How about you?
So, let's say TV Squad wanted to have a 30-second ad on CBS' highest-rated show, NCIS. It would cost us $133,304. It would actually cost more, because we'd hire scantily-clad dancers, include a 35 pound bag of Doritios, fireworks in the shape of each writer, guest appearances from people like Tina Fey and JJ Abrams, and would have special effects because some of the commercial would be set in outer space for some reason, but I mean CBS would charge us $133,304.
To give you an idea of how that stacks up against other shows on CBS and shows on other networks, here's a quick list.
Everyone has an opinion about TV commercials. Some people think that advertising is a cancer that has to be erased, and they fast forward through all of the ads when they record a show. Other people love advertising and understand that commercials pay for a lot of our entertainment options (I would put myself in that category). David Simon, creator of The Wire, is in the former category. Is he right?
So I hate summer and I spend most of the hot and humid days of June, July, and August sitting in front of a fan and drinking Diet Coke (and Diet Pepsi - yes, I like both). And that got me thinking about New Coke.
Remember that? It was the disastrous reformulation of the Coke taste that people didn't really like and it came and went rather quickly in the mid-80s (though you could still get it in some areas as recently as 2002!). Wikipedia has the history of New Coke (long, but very much worth the read), and here are the commercials that introduced it to the world.
I'm not sure if anyone else in the world is experiencing this, but every time I watch ABC World News with Charles Gibson, something happens that confuses and scares me a little.
During the commercials, the vocal track is completely silent, and all I hear is the music track.
Snuggie. For. Dogs. I really feel like anything I write after that is just superfluous. So, yes, everybody has written about the Snuggie, ha ha ha. America is fat and lazy and will soon be taken over by the far more efficient Chinese.
But these are all known facts. Ever since Ronald Reagan declared ketchup as a vegetable, the cat's kind of been out of the bag on the whole "America is fat" tip. So when I saw the ad for the Snuggie, my reaction was simply, "meh." Actually, that's a lie. My reaction was, "Dude. That's awesome. Blankets 24/7!" But after I sobered up, it went back to, "meh."
Picture it: An ad airs on television with a nice, middle-class woman grocery shopping with her young daughter. The woman's arm is in a sling, and a concerned older lady asks her what happened. "Oh, rollerblading," the woman replies. The butcher inquires if it was a skiing accident. "Um, mountain biking," is the quick and uncomfortable correction. The kid stocking the shelves asks the same question and gets yet another answer.
The woman continues to shop, and bumps her cart into another woman's. This woman, too, has a sling on her arm. They look at each other. They have a moment of realization. They are abused wives, going about their daily business and being forced to lie about how they sustained their injuries, and now they are being confronted with their own deception and excuses. It's a haunting public service announcement about domestic violence -- except it totally isn't.
I saw this commercial over at AdFreak and I'm posting it here not because I think that it's particularly funny but because the company that puts together these "Truth" anti-smoking ads says that the woman in the video is an actual job interviewee and not an actress. Hmmm...you be the judge. Are you AMPED?
Well, this is odd. Jerry Seinfeld has filmed a commercial for Australia's Great Building Society. It shows him setting up a mic, amp, and stool/pitcher of water on the street and doing standup (the ads were actually filmed in a small New York town and not actually Australia.) He's going to do a series of media spots like this for the next couple of years. I guess he really loves Australia and/or building societies.
I think he should go on tour this way in America, just set up standup routines like this on various streets around the country without notice. Wouldn't that be great?
First off, everyone keeps using the word "infomercial" when describing the ads that Billy Mays did, including this piece at TampaBay.com. Actually, infomercials are longer form ads, usually 30 minutes. What Mays did were commercials (though yes, he did infomercials too). After a meeting between his widow, his son, friend Anthony Sullivan, and marketers, they have decided to resume running all of Mays' ads next week. I'm sure that's going to seem weird to some viewers.
I guess it's not completely odd, because we still watch a TV show that a celebrity has starred in after they die. But commercials are more recent, more "alive," more "of the moment" than some TV show that we all know is a repeat from one, ten, thirty years ago. And that's what's going to be odd about seeing these ads.
If you saw the Microsoft ad that Mike posted earlier today, you might think that the advertising business has been taken over by 12 year-olds. If you still need more convincing, here's the new Hardee's commercial that compares their new Biscuit Holes with other holes. It's juvenile, but I have to admit, also funny.
There's no cause of death yet (an autopsy will be performed tomorrow), but Mays was one of the passengers on a US Airways flight that had a bumpy landing in Tampa, FL yesterday.
I think most people would agree that this been a remarkably strange week for celebrity deaths. Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, then Michael Jackson. We thought those three celebs would be enough for one week (and celebrity deaths often come in threes, as the common wisdom goes). And now we have a guy who is still on our TVs all the time. It's not like he was old or he had retired or he wasn't doing much in public anymore. Commercials with May run all day long, every day. I saw several last night. He also has a weekly show with Anthony Sullivan on Discovery called Pitchmen. The pair were also on Conan's show last week. Video of that appearance is after the jump.
This is one of my favorite recent ads. It's from the UK and it's for Heinz ketchup. Notice that they don't even show the bottle (until the very end) or mention it. Ketchup bottles are such an ordinary part of our lives that just a few hand motions and a shot of where most people keep it in the fridge is all it needs to sell it. I also love the bit with the knife. We've all been there.
I love commercials and I like to pride myself in understanding them (even if I don't like a particular ad). But sometimes they are so strange that they lean into the confusing category. This spot, from Orangina, is like that. It features a giraffe/human creature who runs off with some jogger. The giraffe is kinda hot though.
I know it puts me in the minority, but I've always loved TV commercials. Sure, the bad ones are bad, but the good ones are art. The Clio Awards (for excellence in advertising) last week, and here's the list of winners. After the jump, some highlights from various categories.
Everyone has an opinion about TV commercials. Some people think that advertising is a cancer that has to be erased, and they fast forward through all of the ads when they record a show. Other people love advertising and understand that commercials pay for a lot of our entertainment options (I would put myself in that category). David Simon, creator of The Wire, is in the former category. Is he right?
I'm not sure if anyone else in the world is experiencing this, but every time I watch ABC World News with Charles Gibson, something happens that confuses and scares me a little.
Snuggie. For. Dogs. I really feel like anything I write after that is just superfluous. So, yes, everybody has written about the Snuggie, ha ha ha. America is fat and lazy and will soon be taken over by the far more efficient Chinese. 
First off, everyone keeps using the word "infomercial" when describing the ads that Billy Mays did, including this piece at TampaBay.com. Actually, infomercials are longer form ads, usually 30 minutes. What Mays did were commercials (though yes, he did infomercials too). After a meeting between his widow, his son, friend Anthony Sullivan, and marketers, they have decided to resume running all of Mays' ads next week. I'm sure that's going to seem weird to some viewers.
I know it puts me in the minority, but I've always loved TV commercials. Sure, the bad ones are bad, but the good ones are art. The Clio Awards (for excellence in advertising) last week, and here's the list of winners. After the jump, some highlights from various categories.
Mike Henry and Daryl Hall on a Cleveland Show Thanksgiving
The TV Squad Podcast: The Prisoner, '80s TV, soap news and more
Let's talk about spoilers ...
