VT fo Erutuf Eht

As the promp mentioned, Television as a whole is changing. DVRs, TiVo, Internet TV, illegal YouTube and LimeWire, and other television stations online broadcasting programming has ultimately forced networks to rethink their advertising strategies for commercials.

Ultimately, for my own sake, I find it utterly annoying to have [what seems] as much programming as commercials during my favorite time slot. CBS Monday Night is a familiar culprit of such atrocities: while watching Big Bang Theory, I find myself doing homework or channel surfing for onwards up to five minutes. For example, the majority of preparation of this blog was written during commercial breaks during CBS Monday Night programming.

Though I find product placement a cheap and [frankly] desperate way to get advertising across to a viewer, I am willing to bet that any viewer would rather see an increase in properly used product placement and less commercials between programs and program scenes than more "enriched" advertisements during a break. I think cheaper prices and going rates for advertisements will also help advertisers get products into script easier and find more effecient means of displaying those images.

Furthermore, I agree with the idea of telling a viewer ahead of time that the commercial break will only be x minutes long. To me, that seems to be like a mutual agreement between the advertiser, programmer, and myself that simply means that I am willing to watch the commercial and let it be absorbed (or whatever emotion I feel toward it) if the advertisement does not distract me from my sole purpose of viewing: watching my show. If an advertisement, such as those on Comcast's FanCast, a program viewing site, were to say something like "this will only be 90 seconds of your precious time...", I will acknowledge that that ad company is trying to make a profit/living yet respecting my values as a consumer. I think many viewers will be far more agreeable to terms and more likely to buy products from said companies if they were to switch to this method of advertising because as a consumer, I would feel more appreciated.

slush on decks.

Bret Michaels

Although I am a Poison fan, I am not obsessed with Bret Michaels. Some said he was a good man, but Lord I think he sinned. However, seeing as how this entry is OPEN and that the current song playing is "Ev'ry Rose Has Its Thorn", I felt it fitting to open with that. Also, Bret Michaels is coming to Moondance Jam^(trademark) this July in Walker, MN; after seeing that advertisement for it, I thought it was dually fitting to choose such an inspiration to blog.

Just like every Prom has its dawn, the letdown can be quite excruciating. I did find it quite amusing that seemingly every event/situation I was involved in dealt with some sort of product placement or advertising gimic....

I awoke at 6:00 AM to ready myself for my work meeting. The radio, both in the car and during breakfast, had varying advertisements. Only one ad actually caught my attention: ProFlowers^(trademark) was talking about flowers for mother's day, and I was only then remembering that I was supposed to pick up my flowers for that night after work. (As it turned out, I did get some flowers for my mom while I was picking up the flowers for Prom just because a sign on the cash register at Renaissance Floral mentioned something about Mother's day as well.)

All while at the meeting, some of the training videos and operation-change clips were basically straight-up ads. Though none of them made me want to buy any products, they did make me feel better about the changes that were to occur within the company and the store. Was there any bias? Of course there was. It was a video advertisement made by Best Buy itself. But hey, it gave me something to believe in, especially during these economic times.

At the conclusion of the meeting, one of my coworkers, who also works part-time at Perkins, was complaining about how she had to work both jobs that day. The name Perkins began to activate the salivary glands in my mouth as Classic Conditioning made me remember the tasty foods associated with that name. So a few co-workers joined me at Perkins for a pancake breakfast and nothing but a good time telling juicy, gossipy work stories.

Later, while I was putting on my tux, I found the salesperson had slipped a coupon for a "Free $20 off the next Tux rental", so I gave it my dad since he was going to go to a coworker's wedding in the upcoming weeks. I stopped and thought about it for a second--"free" did not mean free, as it clearly stated in the fine print "with values greater than $100", and that that weasel word was one that could get a ton of people. I, as an aware consumer, realized this, chuckled to myself, and said to the mirror I was dressing in front of, "I've never seen you look so good!"

After picking up my date in my old man's ford, almost losing my wallet behind those bushes, calling my dad for more more money, we were on our way. I listened to my favorite song playing on the radio while we were driving to dinner, and the DJ said something about this restaurant downtown--I didn't catch the name--having a "Date eats free night", where it was basically buy one meal get the other free. The people I was driving immediately regretted our current plans for Osaka that night, but as the commercial continued, the date was not for the correct day anyway. Still, I thought it was successful advertising, basing the emotional appeal of exhilaration and food in an ad that caught everyone's attention.

There were various other subtle advertising ploys throughout the night that I noticed or only subconciously noticed. The final instigation of advertising I saw was a bit terrifying--as I was driving home past curfew, since I still have 24 days left of childhood, a highway patrol began following me home. As I was battling to stay awake and concentrate on driving, I suddenly noticed the patrol fly around me and pull over a jeep a few blocks ahead. As I drove precautiously by the scene, I saw a logo for Bremer banking firm on the driver door. Seeing as though he was not speeding, I could only surmise that he had stolen a company car and was using it for his own purposes. Told me not to ever use a service where company cars are readily stolen. When I pulled into my street, while still shaking from the patrol following me, a car's familiar bumper sticker that used to say "Jesus Saves" reassured (through religious advertising/media) my "something" I believed in.