Watching a prolonged sports championship on TV, such as the current NBA playoffs, becomes an ordeal about now. It’s not the games, which generally increase in drama and tension. (Tonight’s Lakers-Timberwolves game is a great example.) No, it’s the commercials. The same commercials are shown over and over and over and over. How many times have we seen Lance Armstrong riding with the Harley guys, etc.? Worse, how many times have we seen the three people text messaging “it’s over,” “so over,” “now it’s over”? (And, by the way, where do you get your hair cut while basketball is being shown on TV? Most hair cut places are closed for several hours before these games end.) How many more inane discussions must we see between people and jilted Budweiser bottles?
For the most part, the cost of producing a 30 second spot is minor compared to the cost of buying the television time to show it. Why can’t they have at least a handful of different ads for us to see?
And don’t even get me started on the network promos. They’re repeated even more often.