Commercials...

I know that TV ads are necessary to business, but I also consider them to be one of the plagues we must endure in this life. Commercials used to be somewhat entertaining and straight to the point, and left you remembering the product brand by it's jingle. These days, they leave little to the imagination when they hawk their wares. Often I am left, remembering the commercial, but haven't any idea what the product was that was being advertised.

Remember the old Nestle's commercials, with Farfel, the furry, brown puppet dog? He sang the jingle, "N-E-S-T-L-E-S, Nestles makes the very best....CHOC-late!" And then his mouth slammed shut with a snap. How about Arnold Stang, who, with his goofy appearance and heavy accent, chewed hard on a candy bar called "Chunky." He exclaimed, "What a CHUNK-a Chocolate!" Then there was a cartoon commercial of a beaver named Bucky, who brushed his teeth and sang, "Brush-a, Brush-a, Brush-a...new Ipana toothpaste, IPANA for your teee-eeeth." Another toothpaste ad sang, "You'll wonder where the yellow went when you brush your teeth with Pepsodent."

It's been many years since I've seen those commercials, but I remember them. Those were ads
that were cute and stuck to the walls of your mind. When you went shopping for toothpaste, you would remember the little tunes, even if you ignored the product at the store.

Most of the visual ads thrust at us, seven or eight at a time between brief segments of our favorite shows, are presented in ways we'd prefer not to see. I'm so ornery that if I needed a product of the sort they're trying to acquaint me with, I'd buy something else of the same ilk with no big advertising budgets. It annoys me to hear of problems people have in their private bedroom time. Isn't that what doctors are for...to prescribe some solution for 'unmentionables'? What about those home pregnancy product ads, or constipation, female infections, femine monthly needs or UTIs? Do we really need to hear, via the air waves, the details of how to use these things? Is there nothing that we don't talk about publically?

Aside from the fact that I consider commercials to be the bane of my existance, I'd love to ask WHY anyone would buy the products being offered after hearing the lists of possible side effects, which, by the way, generally take longer to announce than the schpiel given by the salesperson!

Not that advertisers are reading this, or would care about my individual opinions, but I just had to get this gripe off my chest. How many of my readers have an opinion about this, pro or con?
I'd love to know.