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"Advocating Economic & Personal Change" |
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Commercialism and Commercial Intrusion Radio and Television These broadcast media have always been punctuated by commercials or advertisements of one kind or another. Indeed, I have cynically observed that the actual or principle purpose for the very existence of these media is to serve as advertising vehicles, and the only reason there is any non-commercial content (i.e. the programs, themselves) at all, is because advertisers know that people will not tune-in to programming that is entirely commercial content. The link, then, between these media and the commercial element is putative and well-established. However, in recent years an accelerating trend has emerged, that is arguably consistent with, if not an actual part of, the reality of capitalism today as a kind of "hyper-capitalism." This trend is toward the inclusion, in radio commercials if not television, also, of a legal "tag" or "rider" at the close of a commercial. This tag typically consists of several long sentences, or a paragraph, of legal stipulata, clauses, qualifications, detail, and specification (and whatever other legal mumbo-jumbo the relevant capitalist or their attorney thinks might earn them a few extra pennies, or save them a few). The immediate problem is that these riders, occurring at the end of a commercial, are typically read at breakneck speed. Some are mercifully brief, but some are incredibly long and hard to hear. Listening to them tends to be uncomfortable and disorienting. When they occur frequently, as they increasingly do, radio-listening itself starts to become disagreeable. Thus, as of today, 04-20-06, I declare that I can no longer easily do something as organic and wonderful as listen to the radio. Thanks, capitalist system. |
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