by Texas Homesteader
Is it just me, or has the audio level of the advertising sector gotten crazy?
Picture this: You’re cuddled on the couch watching a romantic movie with your Honey. And after only about 10-15 minutes of movie entertainment it’s time for the station to take an advertising break.
Has anyone else ever noticed the difference in volume level between that movie and a commercial for, say, a car dealership? The movie is at a comfortable listening level but the screaming salesman & flashing BUY NOW of the commercial is crazy.
RancherMan & I both race for the MUTE button on the remote control. It wouldn’t be so bad if they would just talk about their product. But it’s the loud way in which they do so that drives me bonkers.
Audio Visual Bombardment
Of course I’m used to those tactics on TV. But more & more those same techniques are being used elsewhere.
Recently I stepped up to the gas pump to put gas in my car. As soon as I moved the gas lever on the pump a loud noise started blaring and a video screen blinked on, screaming at me. I almost hit the dirt thinking I was about to be mugged or something.
Of course at each pump was yet another screen blaring at those customers at the same time. They were all staring blankly like zombies at the hypnotizing flashing screen.
Screens At The Grocery Store
Then when walking down the aisle at a large grocery store a motion-sensor detected my proximity. And on pops the screen, screaming about how if I was a GOOD mom I’d be feeding my kids XYZ brand.
Of course as I walk down each aisle I get more & more of these screens popping on. Buy this! Try this! You’re not a good person if you DON’T BUY THIS!
It was like a goblin was chasing me as I zig-zagged down the aisle, finally hiding behind the display of breakfast cereal.
Wow. Just wow.
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not opposed to advertising. I’m a responsible adult and I’m not easily swayed into buying things I have no need for.
But the flashing screen with vivid bright colors and the screaming speakers is just distracting. Instead of tempting me to buy XYZ, it makes me want to ditch my shopping cart & exit as quickly as possible.
There’s Got To Be A Better Way
There’s just got to be a better (and less obnoxious) way of bringing the values of a product to the public eye. At first I thought these screens were a novelty and I was only mildly irritated at the urgency they seemed to project. But now these pesky screens are showing up everywhere.
And it’s not good enough to put the volume on a regular decibel level. NNnoooooo… Oh man how I wish there was a MUTE button on those screens.
Have you noticed an uptick in the number of these screaming screens at the places you shop?
~TxH~
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This must be a USA thing? I have never encountered these video screens in stores here. I live in Ottawa, the capital city of Canada, so it isn’t a small town thing.
We don’t see them much in our small town either Sherry, but the slightly-larger towns close to us have them at the gas stations and the Walmart in that same town has motion activated screens. You walk by and the advertising screen lights up & begins droning on & on with an advertising video. I hate them!
Jenny, online shopping often saves me as well. I struggle with the extra packaging of sending a single item though so I weight the ‘cost’ each way and sometimes that puts me in the land of the audio/visual bombardment. (and even at the GAS STATIONS for cryin’ out loud!)
I feel the same way as you and as others from the comments i see,you want to buy from someone else! I noticed that the stores tend to put those ad boxes right at your ear level too. Iv’e also noticed in the commercials the camera tends to flit about from one object to another at lightening speed. Right now I sit with only the sounds of life going on outside and the hum of my refrigerator, Im thankful for the peace 🙂 Iv’e just found your site and will be following! Thank you!
I think MOST people hate the obnoxious noise so it surprises me that the advertising folks haven’t figured it out yet. I’ve noticed the lightning-speed thing too, so frustrating. Almost like they think we’re so underdeveloped that we’ll be entranced by the pretty lights… Sheesh… Thanks for stopping by Deb!
I ditched the TV 10 years ago and when I do go to a grocery store, I have a list and ignore anything screaming at me. If it gets that annoying I’ll be finding a way to turn it off, maybe a frozen chicken?
Luckily none of those screaming ads have made it to the grocery stores or gas stations I do business with. If anything, screaming ads will convince me NOT TO BUY their product. Just as the pop-ups which occur when I try to watch an online video. I make a note of the product and purposely will not buy it and on occassion have contacted the company to let them know exactly why I am boycotting them.
I was bombarded by one of those screaming video screens at a gas station in a larger town recently. I felt like you did, “What the heck is going on?!?” I will not be using that station next time! LOL!!
The video screens at Wal-Mart really annoyed me at first but I don’t even hear them anymore. It does seem as though the commercials on TV have gotten louder recently, maybe the old ‘law’ expired or something.
I’m sure I read or heard that the congress or the FCC was looking into requiring that ads on television would not exceed the loudest section of the program that was in progress. Yes, I just googled it and the CALM act (Commercial Advertising Loudness Mitigation ) was passed in December 2010. If you go to this web address: http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/consumerawareness/a/When-And-How-The-Calm-Act-Will-Be-Enforced.htm you can file a complaint. Yes! Of course it won’t do anything for the ads in stores or filling stations but will be of some help but only if complaints are registered it seems.
Just yesterday driving home I was privy to an extremely obnoxious radio ad by a car dealership designed to make me want to run out and buy a Kia. It was one of those where they talk really fast, go on for forever, and are LOUD, LOUD, LOUD. My husband said that they were probably placing it at that point in the program because it was a stock car race and that type of advertisement would probably go over well with that demographic. Maybe so but what about all the innocent non stock car racers just along for the ride who were forced to listen to it. I told my husband that if i was in the market for a Kia I would purposely go somewhere else and then write the dealership running the ad and tell them that I had bought a really nice Kia and that I got it somewhere else and why I chose the competing dealership rather than them.
It’s true that I am very noise adverse but it does seem to be getting worse and that sort of thing just escalates since the whole idea is to attract people’s attention and they just have to push it up a notch when their competitors come out with a similar ad.
I’m real big on complaining because if a business doesn’t realize that something they are doing is found to be offensive or obnoxious to consumers then they will see no reason to change their approach. It may just be one voice crying in the wilderness but once more voices join in then things may very well change.
Victoria, I thought I had heard years ago about some sort of requirement for the acceptable sound level of ads, but I assumed the special-interest groups had ‘convinced’ lawmakers not to act. Good to know the CALM act was passed and that I can file a complaint. With all the screaming on TV these days I’m about to be really busy, huh? LOL Thanks so much for sharing this information – hopefully LOTS of people will act on it!