WTF? TV commercials with Alarms or Beeping?

[Quiksilver]

Is this some sort of new fad for TV commercials to make the very first sound heard in the commercial is an annoying ass alarm or beep?

Just for some examples off the top of my head...

A 5 hour (or 6 hour) energy commercial it starts off with some dude waking up to his alarm then he pisses and moans about hows its morning and nothing is prepared...

This one might be more local area for me, but its for Detroit Medical Center and it starts with a series of different beepers being paged claiming how other doctors are always on call.

Now there is another commercial too but its more newer and I can't recall it off the top of my head maybe someone else knows it....

What is pisses me off is that they are being shown at very annoying times, like early morning (5:30am) when the last damned thing I want to hear is another alarm.

JUST WTF?

 

[AstroManLuca]

I hate when radio ads have sirens. That's much worse.

Why are you watching tv at 5:30 when you're tired and irritable anyway?

 

[Sluggo]

I hate when radio ads have sirens. That's much worse.

Especially in the car, of course that probably what you were referring to. O also hate commercials with a cell phone ringing.

 

[Spacehead]

I'll be happy when they actually make the shows & commercials the same volume level (if they ever do)

 

[Mermaidman]

There's a wireless commercial in which a phone starts to vibrate. I ALWAYS think it's my phone dammit!

 

[MikeMike]

Ugh, that old (4-5 years) Old Spice (i think?) commercial, where at the end of it, they yell "MICHAEL!!!"

i could be passed out, sleeping at 4am, and that scream sounds just like my moms from when i was little. It would wake me up, every fucking time that commercial came on.

 

[Newbian]

Wait.. people still watch commercials?

 

[PingSpike]

Yeah, the sound of an alarm clock going off pretty much immediately makes me angry. They should use old timey alarm clocks for the commercials that just had the bells. I doubt most people associate that noise with being jarred out of a deep sleep these days, but it would still be understood as an alarm clock in a fictional commercial.

But yeah, horn honks and sirens on the radio in my car are way worse.

 

[Anubis]

learn to use the mute button

 

[PingSpike]

learn to use the mute button

But then how will I learn about new products and services?

 

[OutHouse]

I hate when radio ads have sirens. That's much worse.

Why are you watching tv at 5:30 when you're tired and irritable anyway?

yip, ive sent bitch letters to radio stations about having sirens in the commercials they pay.

 

[Ninjahedge]

Here's the thing, it gets your attension.

Annoying as it is, you remember it, and the product. So long as that product is not something you can get directly angry about, you will remember it in the back of your head while shopping (or, at least, most people will).

So as bad as it is, the general public is at fault for being such absolute brain dead pavlov dogs that will believe skinny people eat McDonalds and that Infomercials MIGHT have something that will make their life better.

HEY! I can cut an aluminum can with this cheap ass knife!!!!!

 

[spidey07]

It's in response to congress not allowing commercials to be louder than programming. They have to do something to get your attention since they can't raise the volume anymore.

And the ones that use screeching tires or car crash sounds on the radio are as bad or worse than sirens.

 

[shortylickens]

Stop watching TV. I gave it up in 1997 and do not miss it at all.

 

[Homerboy]

It's in response to congress not allowing commercials to be louder than programming. They have to do something to get your attention since they can't raise the volume anymore.

And the ones that use screeching tires or car crash sounds on the radio are as bad or worse than sirens.

I hardly doubt that. They've been around a lot longer.
Commercials have used alarms and the like, and even SILENCE because it grabs your attention. Plain and simple.

 

[Squisher]

I hate when radio ads have sirens. That's much worse.

Why are you watching tv at 5:30 when you're tired and irritable anyway?

Sirens, horns honking, tires screeching, etc. especially if they're background noises to the commercial all make me jump to attention and check all my mirrors. Pisses me off to no end.

 

[dainthomas]

Not nearly as epic as the bug spray commercial from a few years ago. A roach crawled across the screen and a bunch of people broke their TVs by throwing shoes or whatever at it.

 

[Modelworks]

I can't remember the name of the documentary but it is about all the techniques that tv ads use to get peoples attentions since the 1970's . Beginning with the subliminal stuff to word plays and noises . One ad displayed the product for 1 frame and a woman in a bathing suit talking about it the other 28 frames every second. Another flashed red and yellow for the entire picture while it talked about the ad until they were sued by someone with epilepsy.

But yeah the phone vibrating commercial pisses me off the most, gets me almost every time. The rules for volume go into effect soon so at least the annoying loud commercials will go away. There was already a limit on volume but the damn advertisers figured out they could use compression to make it seem louder even though the meters would read within limits. The new rules closes that loophole and require them to consider how loud it sounds to humans not how loud it is electronically.

 

[darkswordsman17]

That commercial with the fucking annoying pig...

 

[PingSpike]

It's in response to congress not allowing commercials to be louder than programming. They have to do something to get your attention since they can't raise the volume anymore.

And the ones that use screeching tires or car crash sounds on the radio are as bad or worse than sirens.

Has that law even gone into effect yet?

 

[Modelworks]

Has that law even gone into effect yet?

No. What happened is something better than a law. Instead of sending it to the FCC and getting the government involved, they sent it to the ATSC organization that all broadcasters and equipment makers are members of. The ATSC is giving broadcasters until December 2011 to make sure they comply.

The ATSC has a very detailed document on the changes and some interesting stuff about how audio is processed since the switch to digital. A lot of stuff I had no idea about was even part of a digital broadcast now. Things like the ability for a broadcaster to set their own AC3 channel levels in a home receiver making specific channels louder even if the consumer sets them lower by manipulating reference values in the data stream.

http://www.atsc.org/cms/standards/a_85-2009.pdf

 

[amdhunter]

That commercial with the fucking annoying pig...

That's not a commercial, it's Fox News.

 

[marvdmartian]

I hate when radio ads have sirens. That's much worse.

Man, ain't that the truth! I start checking my mirrors, to see which lane the fire/police/ambulance is in, so I don't accidentally block them while moving over, and there's nothing there.

 

[Mermaidman]

Wait.. people still watch commercials?

Actually, NOT watching the commercial is the problem because people hear the sounds without the visual context.

 

[Ninjahedge]

Babies crying.
Alarm clocks
Phones ringing
Timers beeping
Breaking objects (especially if you have a kid)
PEOPLE CHEWING!!! (Frigging Kit Kat commercial!)

The sound levels are really annoying though. Especially when you are watching something that you need to crank the volume to hear the dialogue and all of a sudden someone is shouting at you to put the WonderMop or shop at Joes Furnature on rt. 17 in HeedleHosen NJ.......

This gets really hard when you have a small kid you are trying to get to sleep......