Sunday, August 30, 2009

PATHETIC!





I thought I'd take a rare break for a couple days from the usual comments on politicians and political issues...

Have you noticed the disgusting nature of some (many) of the TV ads these days? It seems that advertisers and networks will run virtually anything, at all hours of the day and night. I thought I'd single out a few products on which to vent a complaint or two. Perhaps you'll be familiar with some of these products and their ads and will share your two cents' worth on them, too. I find almost all of them nauseating.

Let's start with Viagra. We see ads for this erectile dysfunction medication running day and night on cable and satellite. While the current ad campaign has a nice spiffy musical signature which paraphrases the old Elvis tune "Viva Las Vegas," that's about all you can say for it. Why does this run all hours of the day, and when a young child sees it, how do you answer the inevitable "what is ED" question? Or "what is a 4 hour erection, daddy?" It just seems to me that advertising for prescription drugs, and particularly for this kind of prescription drug, should be directed at physicians, not consumers. And it would probably be best to run these ads after 9 or 10 PM rather than all day and night, don't you think?

Next we've got these ridiculous ExtenZe ads. You've seen the middle aged guy paired with the much younger woman, and both are talking about how this product will cause a man to become "larger" by using it, (and, of course, big macho guy nonchalantly says "of course, I wasn't so much interested in the 'larger' part, but when I heard it could help me perform better..." Yeah, sure, pal), and both will have more fun in bed and make love more often. How utterly ridiculous and insulting to our intelligence! Every time I see one of this product's ads, I start thinking of snake oil salesmen. And naturally, these stupid ads run in prime time, too, just like Viagra ads.

Then, there's good ol' Nutrisystems. The sound volume on their aggravating ads always jumps out at you, and they always show lots of shots of the most unappetizing food you've ever laid eyes on. That stuff looks HORRIBLE! I think a heaping plate of liver and brussels sprouts would look appealing next to that crud. If anybody ever put a plate of that plasticky, rubbery-looking Nutrisystems shit in front of me, I'd go on a hunger strike and die (no wonder the system is so effective in helping one to lose weight---NOBODY would eat that junk)! We always see a hyper blabber-mouthed, gravelly-voiced tomboy Jillian Barberie making as though she can throw a football (she can't), a super slender Dan Marino, or an ultra-dense Marie Osmond acting like a bimbo and urging us to get on the system. But the worst thing of all is that these ads run CONSTANTLY, 2-4 times each hour, and you never get a break. HELP!!!

Finally, we come to Cialis. Here we see numerous couples smiling, holding hands, hugging each other, and then---and then---a man in one bathtub and a woman in the other, out in a field somewhere, or at a beach. Now how ridiculous is THAT? Why TWO separate bathtubs? If you send in 10 Cialis proofs of purchase, do they send you an additional bathtub for free? Call me stupid, but I've never been able to figure out what two separate bathtubs in a weird, non-bathtub-type location have to do with curing erectile dysfunction! What kind of nonsense is this anyway, and, like Viagra and ExtenZe, why are these Cialis ads also featured during all hours of the day or night?

We are sure getting fed a lot of garbage through all-too frequent TV advertising these days. I say, let's nationalize the television networks (as they are in France, the UK, and the Netherlands) and ban obnoxious TV ads for a full year. We need a break from the constant barrage of nonsense we're hit with every hour of every day. It's PATHETIC! Is anybody with me on this? Let me know YOUR thoughts, or share with us YOUR most hated TV ads, ok?

UP NEXT: "BEWARE THE CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICAN PIRATES!"

6 comments:

Marc McDonald said...

re:
>>>Let me know YOUR thoughts, or
>>>share with us YOUR most hated
>>>TV ads, ok?

The TV ads I hate the most are the ones that cynically market directly to children (who, in turn, then pester their parents to buy the product). It's a sneaky, shameless tactic. Some of the Nordic nations, like Sweden, have actually banned this form of advertising.
The worst part of it is that (without exception) every one of these products is BAD for children. McDonald's "food" is poison and they are an evil company on every level, from their destructive corporate agricultural practices to their fiercely anti-union, crappy treatment of their workers.
BTW, thanks for your recent comment, asking about my whereabouts. I took a trip to Europe. Like you, I'll be taking a brief break from political writing on my blog and write about my experiences in Paris (as soon as I recover from the nasty virus I picked up overseas).

Mike said...

Um, they can do it while in separate bathtubs because he's been taking Extenze. That's my theory.

BTW, have you noticed how the actors in Viagra commercials now are younger than the ones 10 years ago? It's being marketed to guys in their 40s now.

I find myself longing for the days when sugary cereals and McDonald's junk were the worst things advertised on TV. Prescription drugs shouldn't be advertised on TV.

Jack Jodell said...

Marc, great hearing from you, and I hope you had a fabulous time! Paris is GORGEOUS---one could spend an entire YEAR there! I'm with you on the sneaky ads. I guess sneaky corporate America wouldn't be sneaky corporate America without sneaky, deceptive ads, would they? Get better real quick, Marc, and we'll all look forward to your Parisian musings!
============
Stimpson,
Yeah, they've gone from showing real, regular-looking impotent old farts to showing handsome, sexy, debonair-looking younger guys. Typical dishonest American media glossover. And yes, I'm glad you agree that prescription product ads don't belong on TV!

Anonymous said...

I think you guys are right on the money. These ads are definitely targeting younger men than in years back. That's probably because younger men are taking prescription medication regularly these days, and their peckers don't work because of it. Also, weren't there laws requiring these ads be run only after a certain time? If so, what happened?

I see that the people at Extenze are now trying to double their customer base by selling extenze for women. How absolutely ridiculous!

Jack Jodell said...

Yeah, just more evidence of the excesses corporate America will go to make a buck. They'll stop at nothing!

Vigilante said...

I'm too lazy to look it up, but just curious enough to ask this non-rhetorical question:

How many existing private for-profit health insurance plans cover pharmeuticals that profess to cure erectile dysfunction?

Anyone know the answer?

Anyone want Viagara or Cialis covered by Obamacare?

I'm not sayin' anything. I'm just askin'.