Advertising Overload
I don’t know if the nation will have announced a 2020 President or Congress by the time this is published but what I do know is that I will be glad when it strikes midnight on Wednesday. Why? Because I can’t take another prime time commercial break with the back-to-back-to-back candidate political advertisements.
It has been a slow crescendo of ads that began this summer that has progressed into a volcanic explosion. I am a media person. I value the right to free speech and having worked in television programming I know the value and understand the reward of a solid 30 to 60 second media buy…just think Super Bowl. But unlike the Super Bowl, when I am usually more into the advertisements than the programming, election seasons are very different.
During the football pinnacle event, it’s a four hour stretch of television interjected with lots of comedic ads whereas the elections last a whole season or two and the ads can often get downright grimy though some are comedic. Now I don’t mind some stealthy competition or a good fight to the end but too much can quickly become enough.
I usually turn on the tube when I arrive home, not necessarily to watch but for background chatter while I complete other tasks like checking emails, prepare a meal, online browsing, etc. But in the last month or so, turning on the tube is not as frequent unless I am settling down for some Netflix or firestick TV which has no commercials. Ads are fine—candidates must get their faces, voices, and views out there and you can definitely tell who has the bankroll to power their campaigns. There are reports about how much funds campaigns raise whether by drop-in donations or super PACs with “super’ funds.
Super PACs can raise unlimited funds to spend on political messages and activities that are not connected to a particular candidate. There are 1,959 super PACs on file with the Federal Election Commission. Altogether they have raised about $1.1 billion and spent about $300 million in the 2020 cycle as of last week, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
During the midterm elections of 2018, we saw the super PACs in full force here in Georgia with the campaigns of Karen Handel, Lucy Mcbath and Jon Ossoff. Guess what, they are back for the same candidates and pumping a lot of dough their way. If you have been watching any of the major networks over the past week, every other ad was likely an Ossoff or David Perdue ad.
It has even been hard to listen to the radio without being bombarded politically. On a recent getaway to Florida via I-95, during the stretch of the drive through Savannah, I must have heard at least 20 radio spots for the heated South Carolina senate contest between Lindsey Graham and Jaime Harrison. That was about an ad for each minute of our drive through Chatham County, which is just outside of South Carolina. In Florida, it was no different. Different candidates, different stations but same incessant political ads. Luckily, the warm sand and beach waves were a great distraction.
Sunday afternoon the kids and I were playing a card game we had never played before, New Phone Who Dis. The tube happened to be on and before we began playing my astute son asked, “mom can we put the TV on mute I can’t take another ad” I chuckled and said “sure.”
Turning the tube on for the remainder of the week I am sure won’t produce a slew of political ads at least until the candidates for the runoff for the senate seat with nearly two dozen candidates is announced. However, I am sure there will be election return analyses for days, if not weeks. Be that as it may, I just hope those that could vote did so and now we can enjoy some ad peace!