Jeep Fury

 No, that title isn't a make of car. It's how I feel about certain commercials.

When my mother was a girl kids in all the California schools sang the state anthem every morning. She taught it to me when I was a kid.

A couple of years ago I was furious when the anthem showed up as part of a TV commercial. I called the company and complained and they told me they'd gotten similar complaints from other people. Soon afterwards those commercials disappeared from television, which made me feel better.

But now they've showed up again with the only difference being that a different verse of the state anthem is used. Even though only the first verse was sung in our schools, that still makes me angry.

I wish hundreds of people would contact the Jeep manufacturers, tell them they find the commercials offensive, and refuse to buy their cars.

And, if the commercials in other states are similar, I hope people will complain about those, too.

If you want to know the California State Anthem, here's a link:
http://www.50states.com/songs/calif.htm#.VYCKv-vlkng

Commercials

I've heard people make positive comments about the Superbowl Commercials, but ads are still ads. Back in the 1950s TV shows might have five minutes of commercials every hour. Now it seems like there are at least 15 minutes of ads during of every half hour. Well, almost.

Are you old enough to remember subliminal advertising? I think that was during the 1970s when ads were shown to have subtle messages meant to infiltrate people's brains.

In a way, all ads are almost a form of hypnosis, intended to sink into our subconscious minds. Even (or maybe especially) the irritating ones keep the brand names in our memories, making it more likely that we'll buy the products.

I've read that young children usually believe everything they see in commercials. Even some adults are naive enough to believe them.

And I hate the way ads for prescription meds (which I don't think should be advertised anyway) play soothing music while listing horrible possible side effects quickly and more quietly than the rest of the commercial.

Long ago people predicted that someday we'd pay for TV service so there wouldn't need to be anymore commercials but now we must pay for the privilege of watching the ads.

In the Sci-Fi novel 1984 by George Orwell governments beamed propaganda into people's homes. That sounds a lot like todays political commercials to me. Ads are probably the main factor determining who wins elections now.

At least I understand it's becoming illegal for the ads to be louder than the programs, so it will be possible to leave the room during commercials without hearing them. That should help a little bit.

Commercials

I've read that little kids tend to believe everything commercials say is true. Hopefully, they'll learn that isn't so.

But commercials are trying to make us all believe their claims. Could they be a form of attempted hypnotism? Are people actually more likely to choose brands they've seen advertised?

When I was young and TV was new there were about five minutes of commercials every hour. Now the amount of time spent on advertising often seems equal to the actual program time. And the ads are louder than the programs so leaving the room doesn't protect us from hearing them. I understand there's a new law that's supposed to forbid that, but it obviously hasn't taken effect yet.

And many commercials are just, plain rude.

Of course businesses must have a way to let people know about their products and services just as I want people to know about the books I've written, but it must be possible to advertise without hitting people over the head. Have you seen any polite commercials?

Commercials

I recently found some notes from an Early Childhood Education college class I took years ago. They're about a study that showed the results of allowing preschoolers to watch commercials. I didn't find a reference to the study so I can't quote it exactly, but the things I did write down are important.

Preschoolers who often watch commercials usually believe them. They also tend to believe social stereotypes and try to persuade adults to give them the things advertised. The study also said those kids may get desensitized to violence, become less verbal and have less social communication, but I think those things may be a result of watching TV, movies, etc. in general and not just from the commercials.

Either way, it's probably a good idea not to let young children get a lot of media exposure.