TV programming just the stitching for all those ads (Ricky Thomason)

Ricky Thomason By Ricky Thomason The Huntsville Times
on January 29, 2012 at 6:55 AM
etrade-baby.JPGThe E*Trade baby amuses viewers with his silly commercials.

"I've been in solitary. Apparently, riding the big dogs like they are small horses is frowned upon by the establishment here."

Don't you just love that mouthy E*Trade baby? I do. We may be kin.

My family ran a rural paper route for the Decatur Daily for 15-plus years. It started when I was about 10 years old. I was E*Trade baby mouthy way back when.

I have been smacked in the nose with rolled up newspapers before. The more ads they had the worse it hurt, so the first Sunday of the month was really bad.

It was always the largest paper, and it took me a while to figure out why; that's when the eagle flew. The government checks landed in the mailboxes, and people like teachers also were paid on the first.

As Clint Eastwood's character in "Unforgiven," Bill Munny said, (sic) "I'm not like that anymore." I have been re-educated, re-debilitated, given new glasses that allow me to see the big picture and the writing on the wall. In all forms of mass news media these days it's all about the advertisements, and I have come to enjoy some of them very much.

The "wee-wee-wee" little pig in the Geico commercials is even more fun than the E*Trade toddler. Judging from the number of spots in the most prime of times, auto insurance must be a very, very lucrative business. The number of ad dollars spent by the major players must be greater than the gross domestic product of half the world's countries.

The type of ads in relation to the programming is interesting as well. Sporting events are rife with beer commercials, auto commercials, restaurant pitches, sports and fitness shoes and drinks, and insurance, of course.

All of the "Judge Whomever" shows runneth over with commercials that appeal directly to the very type of people most often on the show, largely a motley collection of people who want something for nothing or are trying to collect money owed because someone else took something for nothing.

There are more ads for Social Security disability lawyers than dogs in a pound. Ditto the personal injury firms and enticements for anyone already on the dole to get cell phones for free.

Let's not forget ads for pawn shops and payday loan sharks and any and everything that helps some firm or the other bilk and milk Medicare are rampant, too. Need a scooter chair or a stair lift? How about some of Wilford Brimley's "diabeetus" supplies? The ones that repeat their 1-800 phone numbers a dozen times at the end are the worst.

The programming, news, real information and entertainment are but stitches that sew the commercials together. Almost without exception, content is dictated by advertisers, and who is about to saturate America with ads?

Politicians, PACs and other groups, both right and left, play fast and loose with facts and substance. The ads are designed for emotional reaction as opposed to rational thought. The staggering amount of cash thrown into political ads could make what the insurance companies spend look like chump change. If you care to know who or what has the greatest influence on the spin of what you see, read and hear, just follow the money.

I noted with interest that Canada recently denied a broadcast license to Fox News because "it's against CRTC requirements to deliberately lie or distort news broadcasts." They like things fair and balanced for real.

When Ronald Reagan abolished the Fairness Doctrine in America, our political process entered a downward spiral of hate, deception, and crowned money the kingmaker. Nowhere is that more evident than Alabama.

If you doubt that, watch, read and listen in the year ahead.

Ricky Thomason's email is