Talk:Television advertisement/Archives/2012

Commercials form a proper subset of the set of advertisements
This article needs rewording. Careful use of the words "advertisement" and "commercial" is required. A commercial involves, by definition, commerce; an advertisement can be for a non-commercial purpose. Please let us use proper wording. Alfred Legrand 20:30, 26 September 2006 (UTC)
 * I have replaced "commercial" with "advertisement" throughout the article. I have left the word "commercial" as it is when it is used as an adjective to describe commerce - for example "commercial TV channels". I hope that the article is now a bit more clear. EuroSong talk 23:55, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

"Commercials are small snippets of film that occur periodically during a television program.
Commercials are usually paid for by a corporation to sell a product. In North America, commercials are usually presented every 10 or 15 minutes during a television show. A commercial usually lasts 30 seconds and an entire commercial break is usually 2.5 to 5 minutes in length.

The SuperBowl is famous for its expensive commercials because it garners such high ratings. Another variant of commercials which are shown late at night are infomercials."

This text will eventually be inserted into the entry for TV commercials. -- Modemac

Japan
I removed the entry about 15 second commercials in Japan - that is not unique. If the (anon) editor meant 15 second commercial breaks, that should have been stated. --Janke | Talk 10:20, 27 November 2005 (UTC)

Spot advertising / Sponsorship
Most commercials are produced by an outside advertising agency and airtime is purchased from a television channel or network in exchange for sponsorship of its programming.

This is confusing spot advertising with sponsorship. Removed last seven words. -- Picapica 13:37, 4 June 2006 (UTC)

Sentence too broad
"The effect of television commercials upon the viewing public has been so successful and so pervasive that it is considered impossible for a politician to wage a successful election campaign, in the United States, without airing a good television commercial." This is only true on the most well known offices (President/ US Senator/Governor) Some US Congressional Districts are drawn such that Television Ads are a waste of money because the population of the district is too low a percentage of all TV markets in the district. (TN Congressional District #4 between 1992 and 2000 is a prime example.) It's also unusual for a state legislative election to have a radio commerical let alone a tv commercial. Jon

Sentence needs reworked; has assumptions
"In other words, over the course of 10 hours, American viewers will see approximately an hour and a half more commercials than they did in the sixties." That assums that the commerical is actually watched; many viewers will use the facilties / go to the fridge / read a few pages in a book / otherwise zone out for a few minutes during the commericals. Jon 14:46, 5 June 2006 (UTC)

Rename to "Television advertisement"
This is, after all, what it is. If you look up "commercial" you find, after the older, reasonable meanings, the new 20th-century meaning with the definition "Commercial: An advertisement broadcast on radio or television." —Centrx→talk 02:14, 16 June 2006 (UTC)
 * I agree, after all 'Television Advert' is a much more self-explanitory name since 'commercial' has many meanings throughout the english speaking world, two other deifnitions of commercial are 'concerned with or engaged in commerce' or 'making or intended to make a profit.' -Aled D 13:44, 17 June 2006 (UTC)

Actually, I did it too soon. After looking through the redirects, I think "Television advertising" would be a better name, as this is encyclopedic topic. This is not a simple definition of what a "television advertisement" is, but about television advertising in general. Britannica, for example, has a general article "Advertising". —Centrx→talk • 02:16, 17 July 2006 (UTC)


 * There are many countries where those same ads are shown in movie theatres as well (=not TV). If there is a more generic term (like "advertisting spot"), maybe we should move the article there. Peter S. 12:19, 21 July 2006 (UTC)

Future of Television Advertisment
I noticed that this section is noted as a stub. I am considering adding note on the 'red button' logos which appear on much of the UK digital satellite and terrestrial programming. This is where a logo is placed in the top right of the screen urging the user to press the red button, which normally brings up a screen advertising a product or channel feature. There has been an explosion of this advertising in recent years. Should I add this information to the section or even add a section dedicated to it? Let me know. c-bro 19:02, 13 August 2006 (UTC)C-bro

New Resource for UK TV commercials
As I'm the site's owner, I don't think it would be right for me to add this directly to Wikipedia, but it may be that someone else will see this and (objectively) feel that tellyAds.com might be worth adding as an external link on the main page. We're filling it up, on a daily basis, with all current TV ads in the UK. It's free to use, and presents ads in Flash video format (like YouTube). There's also a daily top twenty of most-viewed ads, and a weekly one too: www.tellyads.com Tellyads 06:45, 11 October 2006 (UTC)

Commercials in Spain
As a suggestion, I think it would be useful to include the fact that in Spain, TV advertisements are exceedingly long, up to 30+ mins, but appear less frequently than other countries like the UK. Chris Buttigieg 19:28, 17 December 2006 (UTC)
 * The US gets them two by two, too damn many of them and too damn stupid. 65.173.105.125 01:51, 12 March 2007 (UTC)

Stupidity
The latest trend in advertisement is to be as idiotic as possible. Seen the recent Pizza Hut Commercials ? Now THATS stupidity in action. 65.163.112.107 07:08, 11 March 2007 (UTC)
 * The adverts are aimed at a clientele that has the IQ of a ground hugging mushroom's height from the ground. 65.163.112.107 07:10, 11 March 2007 (UTC)

Ad blocking
Does anyone know if television advertising carries some kind of separate identifier when broadcast, so that it can be identified and removed/blocked by hardware at home? Couldn't find this in the article, but my friends variously say it exists or that it's impossible. Leushenko 13:37, 6 August 2007 (UTC)
 * I agree. When I watch a kid's channel, our be loving kid's commercials are blocked by adult commercials on purpose!! I don't know how to do that, but adult commercials on kids commercials rot childrens commercials. But I accept you comment. Those HAVE to go away! Permanently!! 24.251.234.86 04:23, 16 August 2007 (UTC)

Add Australian commercials!!!
I believe that Australian advertising should be added to this article for sure! There's is different and unique compared to other countries around the world. Also, you should add in notable commercials such as the Bugger ad and the Not Happy Jan ad. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 211.27.243.108 (talk) 14:15, 1 September 2007 (UTC)

biased
I don't see criticism of commercials anywhere. this article is not neutral, or it barely is obvious. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.228.248.54 (talk) 00:09, 14 March 2008 (UTC)

Merger Proposal
Would there be any complaints against merging commerical break into this article?

They deal with pretty much the same content and I think it would be quite difficult to justify two seperate articles as there would be enormous overlap. Instead couldn't the lead jsut mention that they are also known as commercial breaks? Donegal92 (talk) 14:00, 6 May 2008 (UTC)

Oppose The proposed target, Television advertisement, is too specific to one medium. Commercial breaks happen in radio and the developing internet-based media. The merger should go the other way, subsuming TV into the more general concept. Colonel Warden (talk) 22:09, 27 December 2008 (UTC)

Add anything necessary to Malaysian television commercials
Do you have any necessary information about Malaysian television commercials? Please add to the Television Advertisement section. Thank you -- MrFawwaz 03:50, 26 February 2010 (UTC)

What are the standards?
(In the U.S.) I've occasionally seen clear statements that networks refuse to run "advocacy ads", i.e. statements on "controversial issues of public importance". Yet they seem to have no shame running things like the Liberian silver-leaf 9+11 non-circulating certificate that seem in comically bad taste. I really can't figure out their willingness to run screwy ads like the freecreditreport.com ad (which tries to confuse consumers away from annualcreditreport.com and make them pay for companies to spy on them) - I find that I can become so annoyed by these ads that it is necessary to flip away to avoid becoming overly distracted with fantasies of violence... and since they are scheduled conveniently in the second minute of the hour as reminders to check other channels, they often sink the hopes of every ad that follows them! Really, it often seems like the television advertising is composed only halfway of honest attempts to sell products used by sane people, and the other half with scams and gloating in-jokes that lower the prestige of the rest.

Can someone explain how the heck the industry has come to agree on such an inverse morality, and just exactly what is allowed and what isn't, and why someone hasn't broken ranks at least to include interesting advocacy ads in a bid to attract more eyeballs to their commercial segments? Wnt (talk) 20:34, 27 August 2008 (UTC)

Are all TV ads primarily intended to persuade consumers?
The article states a commonplace: that television advertising is intended to sell a product. But there is more than one way to sell a product - rather than persuading a consumer, for example, it might be better to persuade a government to be more favorable to your brand than others.

Specifically, there is a remarkable tendency for advertisements in the U.S. to include rather undisguised statements of loyalty to a police regime. Thus in ads for T-Mobile Shadow, phones used to identify four different family members, then an ex-cop father frisks a visitor, saying "You don't mind if I give you a little check here". Ad for Epsonality.com shows a blindfolded woman operating a copier given commands "print", "scan", "fax" repeatedly, until at the end of the commercial she uses a cell phone and says "hey mom" i.e. literally phoning home. An ad for the Acura Advance gloats that "If it knows where the sun is, imagine what else it knows. Satellite linked..." For the Chevy Malibu, police run past a car without seeing it, followed by the statement that "Soon, there will be a car you can't ignore". Microsoft Sync advertises their in-car bugs with the simple slogan "You talk. Sync listens.", while Mercury accompanies a description of the same exposure with a song that you "might as well be walking on the sun". These are only the examples that I happened to note in two short sessions, and represent only a fraction of ads with similar motifs. Sometimes I feel as if the consumer is not even in first place among their concerns.

Can someone point me to an in-depth article discussing such observations? Wnt (talk) 20:51, 27 August 2008 (UTC)

History
The first, paid, official television commercial was, indeed, the Bulova Watch placement on NBC flagship station WNBT New York on July 1, 1941. However, it is a widespread and often misquoted piece of misinformation that it was a map of the USA or a watch face that was televised that day as the commercial. It was, in fact, a placement on the WNBT test pattern, which was modified to look like a clock, with the phrase "Bulova Watch Time" in the lower right hand corner. That was, in fact, the first paid advertisement on the very first day of commercially licensed telecasting. The Early Television Society of Columbus, Ohio has confirmed this report by unearthing a photograph of the test pattern/clock itself as evidence and confirmation of the recollections of surviving NBC crew members and viewers of the telecast. http://www.earlytelevision.org/images/rca_bulova_ad-1.jpg

Here's a source: New York Times, July 6, 1941. Article entitled: "Imagery For Profit" by R.W. Stewart. This is an article about television going commercial five days earlier, and some specifics about WNBT and what they did on that first day. Quote from the article:

"As last week's lone starter under the new rules, WNBT began its commercial career with four sponsors, all of whom presented programs to mark the first day of television as an advertising medium. The station, located atop the Empire State Building, received the first license for business operations, since NBC made early application for commercial standing, indicating its ability to go into immediate service under the new status. No transmitter problem was involved because the station has been on the air experimentally since June, 1936. The first attempt to attract prospective customers was made under the sponsorship of a watch manufacturing concern, which paid $4 for the privilege of having a test pattern resembling a clock face flashed on the screen. The pattern remained on the air for a minute, while the second hand traced its way around the dial" 24.252.242.230 (talk) 03:36, 31 December 2008 (UTC)


 * Could you please keep the discussion in one place, i.e., Talk:Bulova. Thanks, Pro hib it O ni o ns  (T) 10:14, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

The problem with this article, is that it totally neglects the mention of when network television (and also radio) programs had a SINGLE sponsor, that is, the WWII ABC television program called "Combat" was payed for entirely by the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company; ALL the ads on the show were for their different brands of cigarettes and even their pipe tobacco.

Network television broadcasts of prize-fights were generally sponsored by one well-known company that made razor-blades and shaving creme; CBS had a show about a farm boy and his dog that was exclusively the bailiwick of The Campbell Soup Company.

At some point, some arm of the Federal Government prohibited this; instead the networks developed their own programs and then sold the airtime.

To not include an explanation for this is pretty ridiculous and downright irresponsible. Indeed, many people mark the "dumbing-down" of network broadcasting precisely for this reason.Satchmo Sings (talk) 21:12, 11 February 2010 (UTC)

Image copyright problem with File:Ad apple 1984.jpg
The image File:Ad apple 1984.jpg is used in this article under a claim of fair use, but it does not have an adequate explanation for why it meets the requirements for such images when used here. In particular, for each page the image is used on, it must have an explanation linking to that page which explains why it needs to be used on that page. Please check


 * That there is a non-free use rationale on the image's description page for the use in this article.
 * That this article is linked to from the image description page.

The following images also have this problem:


 * File:Logo Ofcom 300dpi 35mm-1-.png

This is an automated notice by FairuseBot. For assistance on the image use policy, see Media copyright questions. --07:17, 2 January 2009 (UTC)

What about radio?
It's not as though the older medium doesn't have a long history of commercial breaks as well. Shouldn't the article be expanded to include radio commercials? Mdumas43073 (talk) 04:29, 18 February 2009 (UTC)

Gender Stereotyping in Television Advertisement
I'm adding "Gender Stereotyping" in "Television Advertisement" since this section is mainly centered around advertising and its purpose. I feel that much of our current degrading trends in society are mimicked from short, but repetitive ads displayed on TV constantly...

The main focus of "Gender Stereotyping" is to demonstrate the demeaning behaviors or actions Women are scrutinized under to sell products. Products on TV are just sold to us---so is our culture we recreate.

Does anyone have any good resources for me to draw from? Lapendoe (talk) 00:41, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

Frequency section
I don't have a 'source' for it, but that annoying re-accuring Grey Powers Insurance commerical (the woman growling "Com everybody, let's go") should get mentioning in this article. GoodDay (talk) 17:13, 9 October 2009 (UTC)

Central air bumpers
For those of us not familiar with American culture, could someone please explain the meaning of "Central air bumpers"? ( ... or perhaps re-format the sentence?)   D b f i r s   20:59, 23 September 2010 (UTC)

Tobacco Advertising in Motorsport
The image of the F1 racing car with tobacco advertising is misused here. Such adverts are effectively dead in F1 now, this image being from 5 years ago. Tobacco in F1 I'd like to replace the image with a current racing car with such advertising, but I can't find any. Any suggestions? OrbiterSpacethingy (talk) 19:23, 7 December 2011 (UTC)