Yesterday's final word on Marketplace (which, I should add, I listened to in podcast form):

Bob Moon's final note ...

Remember earlier this week when we told you that American Idol was going to save a season of television crippled by the screenwriter's strike? That people -- listless from so many Law and Order reruns --- would turn to the reality show as a bright spark of original content?

Well, preliminary numbers seem to indicate something else. Nielsen is reporting that ratings are down 11 percent from last year. American Idol is still the most-watched, non-sports show on TV. But the ratings seem to imply that 4.2 million people might just have found something better to do with themselves.

Possibly the Marketplace podcast?

...probably not. But I am beginning to wonder if the writer's strike is going to end up seriously diminishing the impact of television in the form that we know it.

On a sort-of related note, I can't stand huge amounts of cross-promotion by "news" organizations. The presence of advertising and marketing make me really suspicious of a lot of sources of information. Have you watched any of the nightly news broadcasts by NBC, ABC, or CBS?

Ok, I know you haven't, it's ok, no one does anymore (at least, under the age of 40). But if you were to watch them, you'd see that 90% or more of the ads are for prescription medicines, in which commercials promise to do something about the health scourge that is Restless legs syndrome or how to help you get a 4-hour erection, control your heartburn, deal with allergies, shrug off depression, etc. All, of course, as long as you can accept that certain side effects may include vomiting, bad dreams, or death. But my point is this: how could you possibly trust any news story in that setting about a health issue? If, say, ABC were to say something bad about about, say, Pfizer in their news broadcast, Pfizer would pull their advertising dollars. Which is the whole point of the program.

You see this sort of corporate dependency in, well... just about everything. It's why it's difficult to believe anything you read from sources that are a part of any industry's hype machine, things like automotive reviews, videogame reviews, movie reviews, consumer electronics, etc.

Now, I'm not necessarily making some huge case for public broadcasting here (or Consumer Reports, although, yes, I love it), as I've said before I don't necessarily mind advertising as long as it's targeted well. Unfortunately it never is.

And besides, I'm waaaaay off-topic. Really I just wanted to complain about the local morning news on (FOX) Channel 8 feeling the need to spend a bunch of time reporting on what happened last night on American Idol. I'm not going to go so far as to say "nobody cares," because obviously someone does, but I wonder if the person that really cares is the FOX Network, so they promote their own stupid show during a news broadcast instead of covering real news.

Ok... I guess I really got the engine fired up on the ol' Rant Train. I'm just sick of eating my breakfast and wanting to get the weather or the news instead of watching clips of those assholes on American Idol laugh in the face of people who honestly don't realize that their singing is really bad.

current weather: Cloudy, 33, Wind: S 7

Tags: advertising, marketplace, news, rant, television
Current Location: 41.197N 81.433W
Current Mood: aggravated
Current Music: American Public Media - Marketplace for January 15, 2008

I just got my December issue of Consumer Reports, and I see they have an interesting little section on the World Privacy Forum's "Top 10 'Opt Outs'" to help get your contact information off of contact lists.

There are lots of options there for helping put yourself below the advertising and marketing radar, ranging from simple things like registering with the Do Not Call List to some more hardcore measures like performing a Credit Freeze.

At the very least it's probably worth getting yourself on the Do Not Call List, and keep in mind - if you registered back in 2002 when it started (like I did) your registration is about to expire. After 5 years anyone that doesn't re-register gets taken off the list and is free game for telemarketers again.

I think it's kind of funny that Consumer Reports points out that they do send out subscription offers for Consumers Union products, which could be affected by this sort of thing. But they're pretty upfront about it:

Because CU publications take no ads, subscriptions are their main revenue source. "We are advocates of opt-out options for consumers," says Meta Brophy, Cu's director of publishing operations. "It's in the consumer's interest and our interest to send mail they want."

It's not mentioned in the article or on the link, but I've heard good things about 41pounds.org, which claims to essentially eliminate junk mail (which averages about 41 pounds per American each year). The only caveat, however, and the only reason I haven't gone and done it myself, is that you have to pay $41 for five years of service. If/when I get out of my apartment and move into a house or condo though I think I might make use of it.

Tags: advertising, consumer reports, junk mail, marketing, privacy
Current Location: 41.197N 81.433W
Current Mood: optimistic
Current Music: none