Most Offensive Ads...Ever

Television viewing habits are changing. Duh. This we all know. Various technologies make it easier for us to *gasp* skip the commercials. So the industry is trying to come up with new ways to force us to watch ads most of us would rather not see.

The first mildly annoying practice was to constantly display a logo. Especially early on, these were fairly discreet and mostly transparent. Still, I felt invaded. Somehow it just wasn't right for the network to intrude upon my viewing pleasure outside of the usual commercials. Today I barely even notice them.

Then came the little pop-up promos in the corner of the screen. These are full color and several times the size of the original network logo. Now it's not uncommon to have a constant stream of these promoting a half dozen different shows all day long. They are much harder to ignore, but most of the time, I can and do.

Now these pop-up ads have motion and sound--like a little video clip for the television show being hyped. These are so ubiquitous now that they often interfere with your ability to watch the show. The sound is harder to ignore, but at least it doesn't interfere with your ability to see what's going on.

Saturday I was watching Made. There wasn't anything else on, and this episode featured a cheerleader wanna be. I have always wanted to be a cheerleader...always. While other little boys in the neighborhood were playing peewee football, I was busy on the sidelines memorizing cheers. In high school, I knew all the motions for all the cheers...all of them, including the pompom routines. I can still do the pompom routine that went with our school song.

But I digress...

So I'm watching Made on MTV. The chubby little girl has come a long way and is starting to look like a real cheerleader. All of a sudden, a full screen ad for an upcoming MTV show appears DURING the show I was watching. The sound from Made continued, but the picture was completely blocked out for about 15 seconds by this other ad. This happened maybe four or five times during the course of the one-hour show. My head damn near exploded I was so pissed.

We really need to do something to nip this crap in the bud. For starters the next time I see one of these ads, I'm changing channels or turning off the television. Damned if they can make me watch their ads. That's what happens when you mess with...

The Crotchety Old Man