Americans and TV

What do Americans love more than TV?

Almost nothing, if the time we spend watching TV is any indication of our fervor for it. Most American’s average 4 hours a day. Barring sleep, there is nothing that the average American does more.

That said- how closely do you pay attention to the commercials on TV? True, with the advent of TV-on-DVD and various DVR’s, it is possible to skip or eliminate commercials to some degree, but I think most of us find that we are still exposed to a variety of commercials.

Pick a show that you watch often and pay close heed to the commercials. What do they say about you? About the other people that watch the same shows? Aside from widely popular things, such as the Super Bowl, most commercials are very closely tailored to their audience.

If you see chocolate commercials? Know that they are generally created for women. Truck commercials? Men. Others are more specific, like Axe products, which are made for men from the ages of 13-28. Baby food commercials are usually adapted for women in their 20’s (the age when most women have children).

Now, watch your show and pay attention during the breaks. See how they often seem to perfectly describe you and the position you are in.

When I watch America’s Next Top Model (my own personal guilty pleasure show), I see chocolate commercials (women-I am a woman), then Venus razors (women that care about their appearance- I do). This is followed by a whole slew of weight loss commercials, (I just had a baby- I AM working on losing the baby weight) and 30 seconds on how Huggies will make my baby’s bottom happy (I DO have a new infant).

 It goes on and on- and you can see how these commercials are so closely tailored to me, it is almost like it was made just for me.

There are a few shows that are poorly funded with their commercials or else are more for a general audience, but for most shows, you may well be surprised at what your will find if you simply pay attention.