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Enough With The Sappy Coronavirus TV Ads
The Federalist ^ | April 27, 2020 | David Marcus,

Posted on 04/27/2020 8:12:34 AM PDT by Kaslin

A new kind of television advertisement has crept into our collective consciousness here in the age of virus. In an effort to show that they care, and you know, sell stuff, major corporations are inundating the airwaves with saccharine-sweet, super-sincere TV spots that are not a little bit dystopian. Indeed, the virus, it seems, is inescapable even when we cut to a few words from our sponsors.

You’ve all seen them. They include phrases like, “In this time, more than any other,” or “As we all rise to the challenge,” or “Stay safe, stay home.” The last one is particularly infuriating. I mean, I am home! I’m watching freakin television! Where do you think I am, a sports bar? I’m just trying to tune out watching “Friends” over here.

In a Dunkin Donuts ad, employees in one store are making masks. An AT&T ad like dozens of others is a for-profit celebration of frontline responders. There is ad after ad after ad of cozy indoor shots of parents teaching kids, people cooking, virtual happy hours, all of it.

And they aren’t even honest. A lot of families are at each other’s throats. What there should probably be is more Peloton divorce ads about couples who now hate each other, or some single guy sadly taping together used pizza boxes for the recycling.

It is honestly enough to make me long lovingly for the days “Mike Bloomberg for president” ads were more prevalent than grains of sand on the beach. Remember that? It was about 14 years ago, I think. But annoying as they were, those ads weren’t as cloying and Orwellian as the 30-second spots reinforcing lockdown orders while selling products.

We all know already about the shutdown. It’s not a public service to constantly remind us that we have barely left our houses for two months. One of the big reasons people watch TV is to escape this weird reality for a few hours, to settle into the world as it was, not as it is. But the next thing you know it’s back to hospital rooms and facemasks on the screen, stirring music swelling beneath. Just stop.

You know what I want from TV ads right now? I want pretty people with good, strong teeth pushing products that can dramatically improve my life. I want jokes, and celebrity cameos, contests and yelling. I want some affirmation that someday life will be back to normal, not constant reminders of the current drudgery.

A great danger in a long-term slow-motion crisis is that a narrative can start to set in across the culture. Increasingly. that is reinforcing a victim narrative. After all, there is little some Americans crave more than the mantle of victimhood. It is a message of powerlessness in which all we can do is heat up a can of baked beans and wait for the dictatorship of expertise to give us the all-clear.

Television ads play an outsized role in crafting that narrative. This is in part because TV viewership among Americans is so fragmented that we don’t watch the same news, or the same shows, but we do watch the same ads. It is one of the few forms of television that can still saturate society. Please saturate it with something other than shilling while putting on a coronavirus pageant.

There is a danger of wallowing. Yes, our lives have temporarily changed, but no, coronavirus need not be at the center of our every waking moment. In fact, if we let it be, we will all slowly go insane. So please, big companies and advertising companies, just cut us a break. Let us think about something else. I’ll buy it, whatever it is. I promise.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Editorial; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: att; coronavirus; dunkindonuts; television; tvads; wuhanvirus
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To: Fishtalk
 
 
they work for a while. But only early on.
 
At this point in time I view it as a psyops campaign of gaslighting to keep people wound up and the hysteria going.
 
 
people want their lives back
 
In spades - I have a feeling the quarantine hysterics died a prominent death around here at a local lake park last Friday night. A crowd of 100+ had a get together, and of course some busybody called 911(!) to report it. Deputies refused to respond, the two lake rangers went by, told them to keep an eye on the fire pits so there is no accidental spread, and went off duty. It would have been the height of stupidity to try and enforce social distancing nonsense on a mob like that. There would have been a riot and they knew it.
 
 

121 posted on 04/27/2020 1:17:54 PM PDT by lapsus calami (What's that stink? Code Pink ! ! And their buddy Murtha, too!)
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To: funfan

“Did he say anything about the opening of salons?”

Salons and barbers still closed. Dentist’s open. Masks in public not mandatory. I will still wear one in a store just because it so easy to do. Not sure what if anything stated on travel ban. Some business’s can open at 25% capacity not sure how that is practical. Counties with 5 or less COVID cases ( many in Tx) can be less restrictive. I agree with that not sure how the counties will react however.


122 posted on 04/27/2020 1:32:34 PM PDT by nomorelurker
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To: nomorelurker

Thank you.


123 posted on 04/27/2020 1:34:22 PM PDT by funfan
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To: Kaslin

We’re all in this together;

so you’re on your own


124 posted on 04/27/2020 1:43:15 PM PDT by Nachoman (Following victory, its best to reload.)
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To: Wuli

I can’t wait for some new Arby’s ads.

They have been so funny and irreverent recently. They could sell a whole hell of a lot of roast beef if they could get people laughing again like we used to do at their ads. And I think they could get away with it better than any other national advertiser if the writing is good and if the ads are well-timed.


125 posted on 04/27/2020 1:53:05 PM PDT by one guy in new jersey
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To: Fishtalk

The 1st couple times were fine. After that, basta (enough)


126 posted on 04/27/2020 2:59:55 PM PDT by combat_boots (God bless Israel and all who protect and defend her. Merry Christmas! In God We Trust!)
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To: Professional

Yea we were eating dinner while watching episode 3 last night.
First we found out the two FBI guys used to date each other then 20 mins later the freak is getting a BJ from some male prostitute.
i went into the kitchen and never finished the episode.

Apparently this is now the new “normal” with television shows.
sad..


127 posted on 04/27/2020 3:57:42 PM PDT by mowowie ( day)
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To: vg0va3

Oh man.....
unbelievable


128 posted on 04/27/2020 4:01:09 PM PDT by mowowie ( day)
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To: vg0va3

That is actually pretty scary...
ugh


129 posted on 04/27/2020 4:05:50 PM PDT by mowowie ( day)
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To: al baby
Clydesdale in n 95s walking down the street spaced 6 feet apart

Now THAT would be funny!

130 posted on 04/27/2020 4:08:46 PM PDT by Ratman0823 (2020 Logic: We all stand together when we all stand apart!)
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To: Kaslin; Bender2; BillyBoy; GOPsterinMA; NFHale; fieldmarshaldj; AuH2ORepublican; LS

I click them off, barf, barf, barf.

I don’t know what’s worse, the sappy crap, the crappy sykpe views of people’s living rooms, the new-found worship of grocery workers (who can’t tell me what’s on sale or not or whether something is in stock) or the notion we should be giving ourselves medals for obeying big brother and staying inside like we’re all soldiers storming Normandy beach.

Actually what bothers me the most is the anthropomorphization of free-floating RNA.


131 posted on 04/27/2020 4:56:17 PM PDT by Impy (I have no virtue to signal.)
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To: Impy; BillyBoy; NFHale; fieldmarshaldj; LS

You’ve become dour.


132 posted on 04/27/2020 5:36:26 PM PDT by GOPsterinMA (I'm with Steve McQueen: I live my life for myself and answer to nobody.)
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To: GOPsterinMA
Become? 🙈
133 posted on 04/27/2020 6:51:54 PM PDT by Impy (I have no virtue to signal.)
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To: Kaslin

The people who created these advertisements, are highly paid, ESSENTIAL workers who don’t give a damn about the mere peons who are out of work.


134 posted on 04/27/2020 6:55:59 PM PDT by reg45 (Barack 0bama: Gone but not forgiven.)
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To: Impy

Well...;)


135 posted on 04/27/2020 6:58:08 PM PDT by GOPsterinMA (I'm with Steve McQueen: I live my life for myself and answer to nobody.)
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To: cymbeline

I like the old “Columbo” episodes.


136 posted on 04/27/2020 7:24:44 PM PDT by reg45 (Barack 0bama: Gone but not forgiven.)
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To: GOPsterinMA; Impy; BillyBoy; fieldmarshaldj; LS

“Dour”...

There’s a good word... not used a lot anymore, but a good word nonetheless...


137 posted on 04/27/2020 7:30:02 PM PDT by NFHale (The Second Amendment - By Any Means Necessary.)
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To: ClearCase_guy

Pretty much
It’s stupid

Like blacks in medieval history shows

Roma Downey making Semitic characters tropical Africans in her retelling


138 posted on 04/27/2020 11:52:34 PM PDT by wardaddy (I applaud Jim Robinson for his comments on the Southern Monuments decision ...thank you)
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To: reg45

“I like the old “Columbo” episodes.”

A great series! It’s available on one of the streaming services now.

There are a lot of older ones that I didn’t list. The original Hawaii Five-O is another.

I remember Danno saying to McGarrett “We made a horrible mistake [whatever it was]”. McGarrett said “We don’t make mistakes. We just have great learning experiences”.


139 posted on 04/28/2020 4:44:34 AM PDT by cymbeline
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To: Kaslin

There is a terrific youtube video of these, showing how they all start with “soft somber piano music” then go to the “in times like these”/”challenging times,” blah blah. Then they all end with the “we’re in this together,” and many have a finale of people clapping with uplifting piano music.

I contacted a friend-—actually, the woman who does all my branding for the “Wild World of History” curriculum and website. As a marketing person on the board of Penn State’s business school, she is appalled by the lack of creativity in these. She said it was like the ad teams were in their basements and just threw something together from the internet.


140 posted on 04/28/2020 6:29:16 AM PDT by LS ("Castles made of sand, fall in the sea . . . eventually" (Hendrix))
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