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Is It Legal To Force Stop "Promotion Of Ignorance"?

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pepanee

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? California

Hello, so I have a question that I will try to describe as best as I could.
Question is: Do I have the right to force stop any technology that broadcasts "promotion of ignorance"? And if so, where can I go to sign up for that?

So let me describe this as best as possible.
You know when you're watching TV and it's time for commercials? The TV station plays 4 or 5 commercials. Yet lately in the "now-a-days", a lot of the commercials that you see are very annoying, non-as informative as they should be, and seem like they have been produced by some high school drop-out (please bare with me and continue reading; don't let that last sentence make my post sound immature; it gets more mature & logical after this paragraph).

**NOTE** I want you to try to remember how commercials were about 10 to 15 years ago compared to today's commercials. Think about it for a few minutes. Remember how more simple, more informative & intelligent they were? Even the music played in those older commercials were not annoying sounding like today's commercial music. Yet you still see those good commercials today, but very rarely.

This also applies to commercials that are played on YouTube. You see how many commercials are played on there that are very annoying, right?

Let's get to the main point here. I have been noticing that having those commercials show up and play, instead of the good commercials, may be causing me harm to my mental health very slowly over time. That is not a good thing at all!!! That's terrible!
Let me state this as well: I'm not trying to find some work-around for the commercials that are played in general; I do Not mind watching commercials that are actually intelligent, simple and informative! I would LOVE to only see those types of commercials being played in replacement of the bad commercials. Obviously I have the right to manually mute those bad commercials when they show up, but I shouldn't stress myself doing that 90% of the time. There must be some government service that will automatically detect and mute bad information that is being broadcasted from causing mental harm to my brain. Yes these commercials are "Freedom Of Speech" or whatever, but when they are so repetitive and massive in quantity, that is considered dangerous and causes harm to the other party. That should be illegal right?

Let's take another example. I watch GSN (The Game Show Network) which plays a lot of game shows that are challenging and use the intelligent part of your brain. (Some shows are really awesome and funny, such as Steve Harvey on Family Feud, you use your intellect to figure out answers to questions.) Notice here that you're using your intellect to solve puzzles? Then the commercial break starts. The commercials that start playing dumben you down! Hey, that's not fair! What's all this?
I don't want to press mute on the remote, that's just annoying to always do.


Anyways, I hope you got the simple jist of what I'm talking about.
I believe that it's illegal for a device to automatically mute commercials that play on TV (because I tried looking for one online and cannot find anything. I'm sure someone else thought of this idea before me, so not finding results implies that they cannot be sold).

But I should have the moral right for technology to automatically block ignorant commercials that play, in order to avoid damaging my mental health.
There should be a government database that stores all this information with some sort of rating system that detects what is very ignorant compared to what is well enough for an individual to attempt to comprehend. You see what I'm saying here?

Thank you for reading this.
 
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Shadowbunny

Queen of the Not-Rights
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? California

Hello, so I have a question that I will try to describe as best as I could.
Question is: Do I have the right to force stop any technology that broadcasts "promotion of ignorance"? And if so, where can I go to sign up for that?

So let me describe this as best as possible.
You know when you're watching TV and it's time for commercials? The TV station plays 4 or 5 commercials. Yet lately in the "now-a-days", a lot of the commercials that you see are very annoying, non-as informative as they should be, and seem like they have been produced by some high school drop-out (please bare with me and continue reading; don't let that last sentence make my post sound immature; it gets more mature & logical after this paragraph).

**NOTE** I want you to try to remember how commercials were about 10 to 15 years ago compared to today's commercials. Think about it for a few minutes. Remember how more simple, more informative & intelligent they were? Even the music played in those older commercials were not annoying sounding like today's commercial music. Yet you still see those good commercials today, but very rarely.

This also applies to commercials that are played on YouTube. You see how many commercials are played on there that are very annoying, right?

Let's get to the main point here. I have been noticing that having those commercials show up and play, instead of the good commercials, may be causing me harm to my mental health very slowly over time. That is not a good thing at all!!! That's terrible!
Let me state this as well: I'm not trying to find some work-around for the commercials that are played in general; I do Not mind watching commercials that are actually intelligent, simple and informative! I would LOVE to only see those types of commercials being played in replacement of the bad commercials. Obviously I have the right to manually mute those bad commercials when they show up, but I shouldn't stress myself doing that 90% of the time. There must be some government service that will automatically detect and mute bad information that is being broadcasted from causing mental harm to my brain. Yes these commercials are "Freedom Of Speech" or whatever, but when they are so repetitive and massive in quantity, that is considered dangerous and causes harm to the other party. That should be illegal right?

Let's take another example. I watch GSN (The Game Show Network) which plays a lot of game shows that are challenging and use the intelligent part of your brain. (Some shows are really awesome and funny, such as Steve Harvey on Family Feud, you use your intellect to figure out answers to questions.) Notice here that you're using your intellect to solve puzzles? Then the commercial break starts. The commercials that start playing dumben you down! Hey, that's not fair! What's all this?
I don't want to press mute on the remote, that's just annoying to always do.


Anyways, I hope you got the simple jist of what I'm talking about.
I believe that it's illegal for a device to automatically mute commercials that play on TV (because I tried looking for one online and cannot find anything. I'm sure someone else thought of this idea before me, so not finding results implies that they cannot be sold).

But I should have the moral right for technology to automatically block ignorant commercials that play, in order to avoid damaging my mental health.
There should be a government database that stores all this information with some sort of rating system that detects what is very ignorant compared to what is well enough for an individual to attempt to comprehend. You see what I'm saying here?

Thank you for reading this.
Two things: Who decides which commercials should be muted? The government? You? Don't you see that as a HUGE infringement of rights?

Second: stop watching television that has commercials. Seriously. If your mental state is so fragile as to be harmed by a commercial, then you shouldn't be watching anything but PBS.
 

CTU

Meddlesome Priestess
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? California

Hello, so I have a question that I will try to describe as best as I could.
Question is: Do I have the right to force stop any technology that broadcasts "promotion of ignorance"? And if so, where can I go to sign up for that?

So let me describe this as best as possible.
You know when you're watching TV and it's time for commercials? The TV station plays 4 or 5 commercials. Yet lately in the "now-a-days", a lot of the commercials that you see are very annoying, non-as informative as they should be, and seem like they have been produced by some high school drop-out (please bare with me and continue reading; don't let that last sentence make my post sound immature; it gets more mature & logical after this paragraph).

**NOTE** I want you to try to remember how commercials were about 10 to 15 years ago compared to today's commercials. Think about it for a few minutes. Remember how more simple, more informative & intelligent they were? Even the music played in those older commercials were not annoying sounding like today's commercial music. Yet you still see those good commercials today, but very rarely.

This also applies to commercials that are played on YouTube. You see how many commercials are played on there that are very annoying, right?

Let's get to the main point here. I have been noticing that having those commercials show up and play, instead of the good commercials, may be causing me harm to my mental health very slowly over time. That is not a good thing at all!!! That's terrible!
Let me state this as well: I'm not trying to find some work-around for the commercials that are played in general; I do Not mind watching commercials that are actually intelligent, simple and informative! I would LOVE to only see those types of commercials being played in replacement of the bad commercials. Obviously I have the right to manually mute those bad commercials when they show up, but I shouldn't stress myself doing that 90% of the time. There must be some government service that will automatically detect and mute bad information that is being broadcasted from causing mental harm to my brain. Yes these commercials are "Freedom Of Speech" or whatever, but when they are so repetitive and massive in quantity, that is considered dangerous and causes harm to the other party. That should be illegal right?

Let's take another example. I watch GSN (The Game Show Network) which plays a lot of game shows that are challenging and use the intelligent part of your brain. (Some shows are really awesome and funny, such as Steve Harvey on Family Feud, you use your intellect to figure out answers to questions.) Notice here that you're using your intellect to solve puzzles? Then the commercial break starts. The commercials that start playing dumben you down! Hey, that's not fair! What's all this?
I don't want to press mute on the remote, that's just annoying to always do.


Anyways, I hope you got the simple jist of what I'm talking about.
I believe that it's illegal for a device to automatically mute commercials that play on TV (because I tried looking for one online and cannot find anything. I'm sure someone else thought of this idea before me, so not finding results implies that they cannot be sold).

But I should have the moral right for technology to automatically block ignorant commercials that play, in order to avoid damaging my mental health.
There should be a government database that stores all this information with some sort of rating system that detects what is very ignorant compared to what is well enough for an individual to attempt to comprehend. You see what I'm saying here?

Thank you for reading this.
Pepanee, could you please tell me who is forcing you to watch commercials?

Thanks much!
 

justalayman

Senior Member
I had to laugh when you praised family feud with Steve Harvey while taking issue with the dumbed down commercials of today. If you see family feud as challenging, well, I think the commercials have won. You could have at least chosen Jeopardy as your example.
 

quincy

Senior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? California

... I have the right to manually mute those bad commercials when they show up ... these commercials are "Freedom Of Speech" or whatever ...

... But I should have the moral right for technology to automatically block ignorant commercials that play, in order to avoid damaging my mental health ...
You would not have the TV shows you like if there wasn't commercial advertising to pay for the broadcasts.

You have already outlined some solutions to your problem (mute the commercials, fast-forward through the commercials) but you failed to mention the best solution to the problem of annoying commercials on TV. Don't watch TV. Hit the OFF button on your remote and find some board games to play with friends (Scrabble, Boggle, Family Feud) or pick up a book (or crossword puzzles, Sudoku) or simply take a walk outside. Those have all been shown to improve a person's mental health.

And if you find an advertisement especially annoying, you can always contact the company directly and let them know. A company's purpose for advertising is not to annoy consumers but to draw consumers to the products or services being offered. Companies usually appreciate the feedback.

As an aside: I started off my college career in advertising and interned for a large advertising company in the Detroit area. Those who create advertisements for TV are limited in what they can do creatively not only by the companies who hire them to create the ads and the advertising budgets of these companies but also by the time within which the information the company wants to communicate to consumers can be imparted. It is extremely difficult to capture in 60 seconds or less a message that will connect with the consumers targeted by the ad.
 
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CTU

Meddlesome Priestess
I wonder if OP would prefer having a "license" system, similar to that of the UK.

<crickets chirping>
 

quincy

Senior Member
I wonder if OP would prefer having a "license" system, similar to that of the UK.

<crickets chirping>
I doubt it.

But pepanee could always use the time he has between game shows to work on inventing technology for himself that automatically blocks ignorant commercials from his TV, based on his own rating system.
 

pepanee

Junior Member
Some examples are Geico's newest commercials. They are completely stupid and not thought out.Check their channel out on YouTube and watch their latest commercials. YOU tell me those are funny and not completely stupid. Remember when their first commercials came out? They were informative and not annoying. That is one example. I can come up with more, but you gotta give me time, because I cannot remember any at the top of my head right now.

Shadowbunny: I guess the government can hire people who notice what could be rated as an annoying commercial with a survey of people. If the majority says it was stupid, then it gets removed
& "Second: stop watching television that has commercials"? There's television with no commercials? WELL, tell me where it's at! And thanks for degrading me, saying my mental state is so weak that I should only watch PBS. Thanks for that extreme. I am asking for help and I get replies trying to bring me down or something.

CTU: No one's forcing me to watch commercials. They always are there and there is nothing to really do than to watch them when I'm sitting on the couch. They, are, just, there. I'm not gonna get up to a different room everytime they come on. PLEASE people, can we stop taking extremes, and be helpful please?

justalayman: Family Feud is good comedy that you can actually laugh at, instead of an ignorant attempt at comedy in crappy commercials. I don't watch Jeopardy, because that's boring compared to the game shows GSN plays.

quincy: At least you weren't rude in your reply. I thank you honestly for that. Yes, TV shows wouldn't be there if no commercials, which kinda sucks... But yes, muting manually just gets to be slightly annoying in its own way, but no fast forward, because Live TV. I do exercise a lot, which helps, but I want some entertainment watching videos (either TV or internet). No board games, not enough people are interested in that. I thank you for the idea of contacting the company about it, but I'm only 1 person out of so many. They will most likely ignore that I said their commercial is really un-interesting.
And yes, it needs time to send a good message through a TV commercial, yet there are some really good commercials that are short out there. I don't understand why the company just spends a little more time to come up with something fun and creative.
And yes, I want some company, IF POSSIBLE, to create a device that can auto-mute commercials. THAT would make a LOT of money.

Someone please put that idea into reality.
 

quincy

Senior Member
quincy: At least you weren't rude in your reply. I thank you honestly for that. Yes, TV shows wouldn't be there if no commercials, which kinda sucks... But yes, muting manually just gets to be slightly annoying in its own way, but no fast forward, because Live TV. I do exercise a lot, which helps, but I want some entertainment watching videos (either TV or internet). No board games, not enough people are interested in that. I thank you for the idea of contacting the company about it, but I'm only 1 person out of so many. They will most likely ignore that I said their commercial is really un-interesting.
You may not be the only person who objects to the commercial so contacting the company could have an impact.


And yes, it needs time to send a good message through a TV commercial, yet there are some really good commercials that are short out there. I don't understand why the company just spends a little more time to come up with something fun and creative.
Every company, and all people, have a different idea of what makes a good commercial and what is fun and creative. Some of the most annoying commercials can be effective because people talk about them a lot - getting the company name out to the public. For example, we have in the Detroit area some of the very worst attorney law firm TV ads and yet people remember the attorneys names. Sometimes that is all a company wants.

Hiring the most creative of the ad agencies (the agencies that consistently win awards) tend to get a company the most memorable and effective ads but the ads do not come cheap. Not all companies have large advertising budgets.

And yes, I want some company, IF POSSIBLE, to create a device that can auto-mute commercials. THAT would make a LOT of money.

Someone please put that idea into reality.
I think there are some automatic mute devices on the market. You might want to check online to see if any do what you want them to do. I don't believe any allow you to select which commercials you don't mind watching and which you want to watch, though.

Good luck.
 

AdoptADog

Member
Three letters... D V R. I cannot remember the last time I watched a show live. Fast forward is my friend! I also let companies know when I hate their commercials. A local car dealer here had a screeching sound on theirs. I emailed them. I am guessing others did, too. The commercial didn't last long on the early morning news. Subaru's commercials with the dog tested campaign, I LOVE.

I do wish that the volume of commercials was not louder than the shows during which they are presented.
 
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