5 of 25

Write now Article Tools

I actually have mixed opinions on whether television advertising has a future or not. From my childhood days, to the present, I have watched television advertising change. The early black and white, simple but effective adverts, seemed less sophisticated and less catchy. Having said that I can still remember many of the jingles such as 'You'll wonder where the yellow went when you brush your teeth with Pepsident', so the brain washing obviously worked.

Early adverts also seemed less intrusive, as there were never quite as many. Today a break in a program can herald umpteen adverts. It's sad to say, but I have heard many comments that the adverts are better than the programs. These current adverts can be entertaining and certainly still persuade us to buy various products which we may not have considered purchasing otherwise. Some of the car adverts for example use are quite big productions which often have clever little plots and sub plots all aimed at persuading us to hand over our hard earned cash.

However there are a couple of problems these days. Since the advent of the remote control for TV's it has become much easier to avoid the adverts by channel hopping. As someone guilty of this I know how easy it is to avoid all television adverts. In England we have always had at least a couple of channels where you can get a welcome break from interrupted programs, as they have no adverts. The BBC channels, for example.

As people embrace the technology available today I think that adverts are becoming much less viable and profitable. England will be switching over to digital broadcasting in the next few years and so some ex viewers may return to the fold, so to speak. However with many people choosing to watch DVD's or films on their DVD players they do not have such a large audience. Of course the advertisers are getting to us in other ways such as via our computers, but that's another story.

Overall I think though that it depends if TV programming improves, and it manages to retain an audience or not, as to whether advertisers will feel that they have a future on television or they don't. Let's hope it's a negative.

Learn more about this author, Ethel Smith.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.

Add your voice

Know something about The future of television advertising?
We want to hear your view. Write now!