by Ted Sherman

Created on: February 15, 2007   Last Updated: May 09, 2007

I don't know what "extremely nave" means, except perhaps it is the haunted part of a church. The writer's long, long dissertation seems to have originated as an Economics 101 class project. If anyone survives long enough to read it all, it will have all the brain-numbing effect of a long, long TV infommercial.

Seriously, after a 40-year career in advertising and sales promotion with a major insurance company, I understand and appreciate the premise. Therefore, as long as the writer used many quotes and derivations, I feel compelled to use just one from the infamous Nazi propagandist, Dr. Joseph Goebbels.

"If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. If you repeat a lie often enough, it becomes the truth." Little did that evil little guy realize when he said it in the 1930s, but his quote became the holy bible of the US advertising industry, particularly in radio and TV. Radio started it all at about the same time Dr. Goebbels and his Nazi pals were convincing German listeners that Hitler had the cure-all for all their political and economic ills. And everyone knows the wonderful results of that inspiring ad campaign.

In the US, radio content has evolved from mildly-pleasant jingles, such as "Pepsi Cola hits the spot" to hogging at least half of most on-air hours with loud sound effects, obnoxious music and squawking voices. Considering the current state of so-called popular music in the US, radio broadcasting seems to be one continuous stream of noise. I know I'm very old and not up on today's music, but I can't stand listening to radio (except PBS, of course) for more than a minute or two. Any advertising coming out of it is completely lost on me.

TV advertising, which was slightly intrusive at its start in the late 1940s, has evolved into an extremely annoying and often overwhelming ogre that has combined all the worst of radio with pictures. Perhaps the most egregious example of what TV advertising has become was the halftime "ceremonies" and commercials during the recent Super Bowl. Another example comes to mind. I've noted lately that my favorite local 10 to 10:30 pm TV newscast actually uses more than half of the half-hour for commercials. Some are local and some national, and often the exact same infuriating commercial is aired two or three times during the same program.

Obviously, those who make commercials and those who choose to run them believe in the premise that ad repetition ad nauseam sells products. And, as any advertiser would never admit, there's no relief in sight, at least for those watching regular TV broadcast. Even that former bastion of commercial-free TV, PBS, now runs ads, and has also come up with periodic begging jags that rival the worst of infomercials.

In conclusion, radio and TV commercials, as obnoxious as the are, do sell the products. They will continue to be spewed out at prospective buyers. Those who've had enough of the endless commercials on regular broadcast TV can take advantage of the new TV- and music-playing DVD geegaws. For radio listeners, there's now satellite subscription radio, CDs, the little, hand-held gizmos and other recording and playing devices.

Of course, there's another solution to the problem. Turn it all off and go sit by a babbling stream. Or, if you don't turn it off, you could eventually go nuts and spend the rest of your days doing your own stream of babbling.

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