Political Infomercials - What Next?

The Tampa Bay Rays lost the MLB World Series last night. It was a continuation of the Tuesday night suspended game. I would have liked to have seen them win and bring the games back down to Tropicana Field.

But that’s not what this Blog is about.

Before the game last night there was a Barack Obama infomercial on Fox and several other networks. As a general rule I do not watch television news, talk shows or Presidential Debates. I’m one of those old fogies who prefer to read the news or the transcripts of talk shows and debates.

Last night I made an exception to the general rule. The people that put this together for Obama did a superb job. I was impressed with the production quality, the message (although it was somewhat depressing) and Barrack’s oratorical abilities.

Senator Obama didn’t directly address the issues, but he made it clear in which direction he would be heading if elected President. He was telling us about the problems but offered no direct solutions.

The infomercial was geared towards the middle class common man. The underlying message was that he was a man of the people and that he would work for the people. I’ve heard this message before. The one time that I believed the message was when a young Democratic Senator from Massachusetts told us that it was a time for change, a time to give America back to the people.

He tried and look what happened to him. Every time that I think about John F. Kennedy, I cry, which I am doing as I finish this Blog.

The Beach Bum

Mindless Drivel

With the Presidential Election coming in less than 40 days, we are being bombarded with Paid Political Announcements (PPA) on television. I don’t watch a lot of television (except for baseball games) and yet I saw at least a dozen or more yesterday in 8 viewing hours.That is almost as many as the GEICO and AFLAC (I like the Duck but detest the Lizard) commercials that I had seen.












I really don’t see the need for PPA’s. Are we so shallow that we need to be reminded what the candidates stand is for or against any issue? Do we really need Barack to remind us of what John said and vice versa? Even those people that do not read the newspapers know what’s happening from watching television news. Unless you live in a cave (and some my friends claim that I do) you have many television news channels that you can view.

PPA’s are a waste of money. In my opinion most television commercials are insulting to our intelligence and a waste of money. My buying habits (or voting habits) have never changed because I saw a good commercial. But they pay for the programming that I watch and therefore I endure the mindless drivel. What happened to all those good commercial from the 1960’s and 1970’s? I didn’t buy the products, but at least I enjoyed some of the commercials and didn’t feel compelled to leave my chair and go to the Kitchen or Bathroom.

I am The Beach Bum and I approve this message!

Advocating Unsafe Sex

During the past few months I been viewing a commercial, actually there are at least 4 different commercials in the group, on a variety of television programs that I watch. And no, it’s not the ubiquitous Caveman series from GEICO.

I am not a mainstream television viewer and I rarely watch programs that are on the major networks. My feeling is that if they are good programs they will end up in syndication on one of the cable channels that I watch. This way I can see a seasons worth of programs in 6 weeks.

So I don’t really know if the aforementioned series of commercials are played on prime time network TV. Nor do I know on what type of programs they are being aired. On the cable stations that I watch they really don’t seem to have a pattern and you can’t tell on which programs they will appear and who they are really targeting with the commercial.

The commercials are for a product called KY Yours & Mine. The theme is the same in all of the commercials; a couple sitting on a bed talking about the great sexual experience they are about to have. The latest one that I have viewed features a couple saying “let’s hurry before the kids get home”.

The couple then hold up two colored test tubes containing gels. The commercials then flash to an old black and white movie clip of an enthralled couple dancing. The final scene is of the elated couple lounging in bed. If I was having sex with someone other than myself, I’d be running down to the Walgreens to try this stuff out, and I’m not usually swayed by television advertising.

The problem that I have with these commercials is that they do not promote safe sex. Did I mention the fact that you cannot achieve the desired effect if you are wearing a condom? Although they always show a seemingly monogamous couple using their product and the implication is that it will bring new life into a relationship, I doubt that the majority of the users will fall into this category.

Let’s face it, if this product was on the market when I was young and sleeping around, I’d be in the Walgreens on a weekly basis. I’d like to see the demographics to whom and where this product is predominately being sold. I’ll bet that stores near college campus rank high on that list.

The Beach Bum