Irritating music on TV ads

Subject: Irritating music on TV ads
From: Rafflesbear
Date: 02 Jan 10 - 08:18 AM

In the UK we are currently being subjected to a barrage of advertisements featuring (IMO) an intensely irritating pseudo-operatic performance

This has got firmly under my skin and I have now passed the stage of switching channels as soon as it comes on, to avoiding altogether the channels that I know broadcast it

Am I alone in this? Does anyone have a better strategy? Am I over-sensitive?

Subject: RE: Irritating music on TV ads
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 02 Jan 10 - 08:40 AM

If it's that feckin Go Compare thing I hit the mute button instantly.

I think they work on the theory that extremely irritating ads are the ones people remember the most.

Dave H

Subject: RE: Irritating music on TV ads
From: Darowyn
Date: 02 Jan 10 - 09:07 AM

My own approach is revenge via YouGov surveys.
Anything with an annoying advertising campaign, such as the Moustachioed Tenor or Michael Winner, or the old ones with a dog called Lucky, I just label as "Poor Quality" and "Poor Value for Money".
I'm not just being vindictive- but that is really the impression that the ads give me- that of a really tacky company. Needless to say, I never use those companies.
Any advertisers on here (a remote chance, I think) please take note.
Cheers
Dave
P.S. Isn't it odd that all those examples are insurance companies? You would think that a more responsible image would be what was required!
D

Subject: RE: Irritating music on TV ads
From: Mooh
Date: 02 Jan 10 - 09:26 AM

Mute, and return to my reading until it's over.

Peace, Mooh.

Subject: RE: Irritating music on TV ads
From: Will Fly
Date: 02 Jan 10 - 09:26 AM

Yes, the Go Compare ad has me reaching for my Walther PPK .177 gas pistol...

Subject: RE: Irritating music on TV ads
From: Rafflesbear
Date: 02 Jan 10 - 10:10 AM

"I think they work on the theory that extremely irritating ads are the ones people remember the most"

I certainly still remember a campaign quite a number of years ago now which featured people in a petrol station who suddenly started to dance to an altered version of 'the locomotion' singing "do the Shell promotion" I think I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times I have been into a Shell garage since then

Anybody care to suggest what makes these so annoying?

Subject: RE: Irritating music on TV ads
From: melodeonboy
Date: 02 Jan 10 - 10:26 AM

I find the "Go Compare" adverts so ridiculous, cheesy and over the top that they make me giggle.

Most car adverts, however, make me want to put a brick through the screen! (Sorry, that's slightly off topic.)

Subject: RE: Irritating music on TV ads
From: kendall
Date: 02 Jan 10 - 10:28 AM

All ads irritate me.

Subject: RE: Irritating music on TV ads
From: melodeonboy
Date: 02 Jan 10 - 10:33 AM

Even the meerkats?

Subject: RE: Irritating music on TV ads
From: Will Fly
Date: 02 Jan 10 - 10:49 AM

The only ads I like - and they only do them once a year - are the UK ads for Famous Grouse whisky. Good stuff - and so is the whisky, with a nice American dry...

Subject: RE: Irritating music on TV ads
From: Mark Dowding
Date: 02 Jan 10 - 11:04 AM

Funny isn't it - I was stopped by a market researcher a few years ago who was showing me pictures of a TV advert which featured scenes from Thunderbirds with Lady Penelope, Parker and Fab 1. I remembered the advert very well being a fan of that genre but could I remember that it was for Swinton Insurance?? I was looking for car insurance this year and my regular broker (who happened to be Swinton) sent me a ridiculously high couple of quotes. I went online to see what else was on offer - I remembered Go Compare from the advert being drilled into my brain and whilst I normally get quotes that are very similar to what I get quoted at renewal time from the broker I was pleasantly surprised to find that the RAC could offer me the same cover for less than half what I was quoted from Swinton. The secret is to have an annoyingly repetitive line using the company name that gets into your head and won't go away. I think Swinton's mistake was using the Thunderbirds motif and hardly any mention of their name in the narrative.

Other insurance companies, brokers and annoying adverts are available.

Cheers
Mark

Subject: RE: Irritating music on TV ads
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 02 Jan 10 - 11:29 AM

You POLLUTE Grouse with ginger beer Will ? you will never get to heaven, the only thing to put in a Grouse is another one.

Dave H

Subject: RE: Irritating music on TV ads
From: GUEST,Sales Rep
Date: 02 Jan 10 - 11:33 AM

We are all being subjected to a psychological bombardment which, it is hoped, will trigger a subconscious reaction at the appropriate time, e.g. we are shopping, which shall we buy? The mind flags up the witty jingle, ("DRINKAPINTAMILKADAY"), the celeb.girls, ("Recent M&S Ad for Underwear"), the car, ("0-60 in 7 Secs."), the location, "sunny, sandy beaches", etc.,etc. If the hit rate is reckoned to be as little as 15% the project is still a winner.

Subject: RE: Irritating music on TV ads
From: Leadfingers
Date: 02 Jan 10 - 11:44 AM

Blended Whisky is for mixing ! It the Single malts that matter !
And onr of the reasons I DONT have a television is the bloody awful programmes and the slightly better adverts !!

Subject: RE: Irritating music on TV ads
From: GUEST,Ray
Date: 02 Jan 10 - 11:49 AM

The go compare advert is probably the most annoying advert in the history of commercial TV. It has convinced me to do two things- (i) never to visit their website no mater what they may be selling and (ii) If I feel inclined to watch something on a commercial channel, record it first, that way I can skip all the adverts. (Incidentally - on a Panasonic hard disk recorder - one press of the appropriate button skips from the end of one part to the beginning of another missing out the adverts.)
Ray

Subject: RE: Irritating music on TV ads
From: Carol
Date: 02 Jan 10 - 11:55 AM

Go compare, b... thing!

Subject: RE: Irritating music on TV ads
From: Tootler
Date: 02 Jan 10 - 04:29 PM

Sorry to spoil the party, but the Go Compare ads are so over the top as to be amusing.

I find the confused.com ads far more irritating with some patronising (usually female) person showing how they have got 500 hits and you can save £100's of pounds if you use this wonderful site.

Subject: RE: Irritating music on TV ads
From: Commander Crabbe
Date: 02 Jan 10 - 04:53 PM

The go compare adverts (annoying as they are) aren't half as annoying as the endless barrage of "here come the girls" from "Boots"

CC

Subject: RE: Irritating music on TV ads
From: Will Fly
Date: 03 Jan 10 - 01:14 PM

You POLLUTE Grouse with ginger beer Will ? you will never get to heaven, the only thing to put in a Grouse is another one.

Dave H

Not ginger beer - American (or Canada) Dry ginger tonic water. Famous Grouse, though very pleasant, is not a single malt, therefore worth mixing with ice for a nice long drink.

My single malt of choice is Dalwhinnie - for which, thank the lord, there are no advertisements. I drink it with no ice and no water - just as it comes. Failing that, I can get by with Glenmorangie, Lagavulin, Talisker...

Subject: RE: Irritating music on TV ads
From: Tootler
Date: 03 Jan 10 - 06:04 PM

Much more annoying than go compare is some belipsticked female mouth singing the second half of each line of the song on a CD player while pouring herself a glass of Baileys (yuk)

CC I agree with you about "here come the girls" on the Boots ad. I can just imagine them being loud, raucous, and generally obnoxious in some town centre bar.

Subject: RE: Irritating music on TV ads
From: melodeonboy
Date: 03 Jan 10 - 06:19 PM

I agree with both parts of the last posting!

"Here come the ladettes!", more like! (Shurely "shlappers"? - Ed.)

Subject: RE: Irritating music on TV ads
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 03 Jan 10 - 06:33 PM

Thanks to the extra advertising on this thread I got pissed out of my head on Famous Grouse, went shopping in Boots and M&S, and changed my insurance on Go Compare. Am I easily led?

Subject: RE: Irritating music on TV ads
From: kendall
Date: 03 Jan 10 - 07:12 PM

I dont just turn them off, or hit the mute button, I go out of my way to avoid buying any product that annoys me.

Subject: RE: Irritating music on TV ads
From: Clontarf83
Date: 04 Jan 10 - 12:18 AM

Love the Cialis ads--marketers having fun....

My pet hate is Setanta Sports--great for european soccer but they run endless loops of a moronic piece of electronic music between games. I got to the point where I wrote a nasty lyric (All day they play the same stupid tune/I f***king hate Setana) to amuse myself while waiting for the game to come on.

Subject: RE: Irritating music on TV ads
From: cptsnapper
Date: 04 Jan 10 - 02:02 AM

I think that there's to much background music on tv and radio in general.

Subject: RE: Irritating music on TV ads
From: melodeonboy
Date: 04 Jan 10 - 04:35 AM

"went shopping in Boots and M&S"

Presumably that was "your" M&S! :)

Subject: RE: Irritating music on TV ads
From: pasher
Date: 04 Jan 10 - 07:06 AM

I hate the Go Compare ad, the Misses loves it!!
Surprised no one's mentioned the ones that use pseudo folk music (for butter iirc).
The Michael Winner ads for motor insurance make me smile for some inexplicable reason, but it is ironic that in reality, the company wouldn't cover him, or any other 'entertainers' (in fact most motor insurers back off if you mention to them that you play in a band!!).

Subject: RE: Irritating music on TV ads
From: Ruth Archer
Date: 04 Jan 10 - 07:13 AM

Pasher, are you referring to this?

Winster Gallop - Annoying fiddly bit

Subject: RE: Irritating music on TV ads
From: pasher
Date: 04 Jan 10 - 07:39 AM

Yes Ruth, there's that one, then there's Wild Rover for some make of butter, and didn't Walkers Crisps have Gary Liniker singing something folkie?

Subject: RE: Irritating music on TV ads
From: A Wandering Minstrel
Date: 04 Jan 10 - 07:49 AM

The Go Compare ad was a light and whimsical thing compared to the blood-boiling BBC trail for 'The Royle Family' with that ****** Lilly Allen ear-worm sing-along!

Subject: RE: Irritating music on TV ads
From: DMcG
Date: 11 Mar 11 - 09:23 AM

Ever since TVs came with remotes, I have always muted the thing as the adverts start and turned it back on when the programme restarts. Nowadays, thanks to hard-drive recorders, there is almost nothing I watch as it is broadcast either, if it is from a channel with adverts. Instead I tend to record it and watch next days fastforwarding through the adverts.

So the only adverts I am really inflicted with these days are at the cinema. Even so, I've somehow been 'go-compare'-ed.

Subject: RE: Irritating music on TV ads
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 11 Mar 11 - 09:33 AM

I think most broadcasters assume that people have the TV on while doing other things. They make the sounds of ad distracting so that people will stop what they are doing and look at the TV (or focus on the radio.)

Thank goodness for the Mute button.

(I don't have a TV myself. The programming isn't worth the irritation to me.)

Subject: RE: Irritating music on TV ads
From: C-flat
Date: 11 Mar 11 - 09:44 AM

I'm with those who don't like the Go Compare ads!
In fact, for some unknown reason, I get massively irritated by them!!
Most adverts are a mild irritation, some are clever enough to be amusing, but I usually can't remember what they were selling.
The Go Compare adverts transcends all previously known levels of irritation and drives me F****** BANANAS!!!!!!

Subject: RE: Irritating music on TV ads
From: Rusty Dobro
Date: 11 Mar 11 - 01:26 PM

I've no idea what sort of product 'Adios' is, but I'll never forget the girl in pink knickers who dances down the garden path (not a metaphor) to advertise it.

Subject: RE: Irritating music on TV ads
From: gnu
Date: 11 Mar 11 - 01:33 PM

Didn't read the whole thread. When I get really bugged by ads, especially the ones on my puder screen that block my reading or viewing, I take the time to drop a note to the company saying that I would pay more for a competitor's product because of the ads.

C-flat... Chiquita or Dole?

Subject: RE: Irritating music on TV ads
From: GUEST,henryp
Date: 11 Mar 11 - 02:00 PM

"advertisements featuring (IMO) an intensely irritating pseudo-operatic performance"

The actor is a tenor, Wynne Evans, who sings with the Welsh National Opera.

Subject: RE: Irritating music on TV ads
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 11 Mar 11 - 02:32 PM

Not just the ads either: the "music" on "Wanted Down Under" is nothing short of an assault on the ears: Bam Bam Bam BAM! (Obviously written by a Bampot!)

Subject: RE: Irritating music on TV ads
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 11 Mar 11 - 06:18 PM

I well remember the day I watched a production of 'The Importance of Being Ernest' with two of my friends. The director had knocked himself out to make the film attractive - handsome actors, beautiful costumes, lovely settings. My two friends did needlework the entire time, never looking up. They never saw the film, only heard it.

Commericals, loud music, sound effects, etc, are designed to make people put down what they are doing and actually look at the TV. This is bad luck for those of us who actually watch.

Another thing I have noticed is that actresses' voices are much highter than that of most women, at least of most women where I live. If you are female, try it. Say a normal word, then stretch it out, listening to the pitch. Then listen to a woman on TV and stretch it out. You may find she's talking much higher.

Again, it's to cut through the noise of a busy household and drag attention to the TV.

Subject: RE: Irritating music on TV ads
From: Rafflesbear
Date: 12 Mar 11 - 03:48 AM

I agree leeneia - to the extent that I wonder if our defensive reaction to alarm type noises (not just man-made ones) are being dulled.

Over-use of alarm type noises leads to a sense that these are no longer dangerous so over time we could possibly find that we do not react when we need to.

I'm sure the police have found this which is why they now have the multiple tone sirens with wizzes, wows, whoops and rat-a-tat-tats.

If a car alarm goes off near your house do you automatically think "Oh my goodness, someone is breaking into a car" ? In 99% of cases the only crime going on is disturbing the peace.

Subject: RE: Irritating music on TV ads
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 12 Mar 11 - 10:49 AM

Those are excellent observations, Rafflesbear.

Subject: RE: Irritating music on TV ads
From: C-flat
Date: 13 Mar 11 - 07:47 AM

Gnu, that would be fyffes of course!

What did you think I meant by F*****????

Subject: RE: Irritating music on TV ads
From: Johnny J
Date: 13 Mar 11 - 09:10 AM

More innocent times

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdJVj2x9wNk

Often heard on the BBC these days....,.,.

Subject: RE: Irritating music on TV ads
From: Bo
Date: 13 Mar 11 - 09:17 AM

The stuff that really annoys is the "you get 100% of the compensation" stuff. It helps put our insurance costs up because everything has to be paid for in the end (including the ads)
I believe that if the solicitors took some of these claims to court they would be laughed out of the place with "You tripped? You fell off a ladder? Why didn't you look where you were going?"
I'll now climb down off my high horse (very carefully)
Does anyone remember the Round the Horne episode when Mr Horne said they were going to turn their attention to "commercial television where the high quality of the entertainment is often interrupted by those annoying little things they call programs".
Bo