Radio Advertising ; Disclaimers and Tag Lines

Dominic

I have begun to find most radio advertising annoying and unlistenable .Given that most advertising relates to financial products,banks,insurance,phone contracts etc .......the Coda of non-ending disclaimers now takes longer to broadcast than the advert itself. 
 Even the most basic things like a Mc Donalds burger promotion is beset with 'offer lasts until April 6th ,Participating Stores only,Not available to Drive through Customers ,Offer only valid when buying 2 McFlurrys, Not available on delivered services, Paricipants must be Carnivores over the age of 21 with 2 grandparents present one of whom must be wearing a silly hat . McDonalds is a trade style of Golden Arches restaurants . All Burgers contain mechanically recovered meat.Vegan Options available.
 Remember to eat Junk food sensibly .keep a balanced diet .One quarter Pounder provides 93% of your recommended daily unsaturated Fat Intake .
I'm Loving it !
By the time you combine the paternalistic legislation jingo with the ubiquitous Mission Statement it's just Radio Gaga .
I particularly hate "To TFL and the The Mayor of London every Journey matters " ......NO "To the woefully mismanaged and debt ridden offshore Jersey registered TFL and the awful ,ineffective Mayor of London Every Journey MEANS MONEY " that they desperately need as it's likely to go bust in 6 months time.
Can we not dispense with the disclaimers or are people so unable to look after themselves that it's imperative ?

EricTheWeary

I can't remember the last time I listened to commercial radio for more than five minutes. There was a heyday in radio advertising ( Smith and Jones made a bunch for example) but the start of disclaimers years ago made it all too painful. 
Planet Rock was on FM for a while so that was okay in the car and they made a point of keeping ads to a minimum. But that was several years ago now.

Dominic

Yes,agree about Commercial Radio but I'd rather be tortured to death with disclaimers than have to listen to 30 seconds of Jeremy Vine !

Sassafras

I have Radio 4 Extra on in the background all day.
Haven't listened to any other stations for at least 15 years, apart from a little bit of Radio 4, at least the bits that aren't too depressing and dull.

bertie

don't "willingly" listen to commercial radio  -  (ie at home or in my car)  R2 or R4  only 

goldtop

Even Aunty puts adverts (for her own stuff) into R4 news programmes. And it's now started doing clickbait ads: "You won't believe what happened to this mother of 4 when X, Y, Z. Find out after the news at nine." Bah!

But you're right about disclaimers and 'smallprint' making commercial radio unlistenable.

Mattharrier

I haven't listened to the radio (other than background at my parents' house or in someone else's car) in years. More than 10 years certainly. Podcasts or music - so much content out there for free or already included in a subscription to something - I have little interest in hearing what's in the pop charts (I'm too busy "discovering" all the stuff I missed by virtue of being a blinkered teenager, being obsessed with dance music in my 20s, or not being born yet, to worry about what the kids are listening to), and there's so much great music from the last *checks watch* 70-ish years (if we're just talking about rock and roll and the things that came after) that I can never listen to it all.

Thousands of podcasts out there, catering to every conceivable interest, and mostly free; the quality varies of course but lots of them are made with high production values by people who know what they're doing (currently I'm listening to lots of Clash of the Titles (movies), Rule of Three (comedy, focussed on comedy writing) and An Hour or So With... (Sue Perkins talks to interesting people for, oh, 60 minutes or thereabouts).

So commercial radio can suck a bag of dicks. At least I can skip any adverts on podcasts.

scrumhalf

I mostly listen to 5Live and they have loads of trailers for their own stuff. You can be listening to something quietly at night only to be disturbed by a trailer for sports coverage which ONLY INCLUDES THE SHOUTY BITS OF COMMENTARY. This is particularly annoying at 3am.

It's more annoying than hearing thirty seconds of disclaimer packed into eight seconds which effectively limits the amazing offer you've just heard about to ninety year old ex-gravediggers from even-numbered houses in Thurrock. 

TheOtherDennis

YOU hate the 'small print' in radio ads?? I used to have to write the bastards.You've got 30 seconds of ad space to fill, and 29 seconds are already taken up with the small print and tag line. The job's hard enough as it is without having to deal with all that shit.

Don't do it now, though. Haven't had to for several years, thank fuck.

Ads are specifically why I've never listened to commercial radio - either the ads were shit, in which case it would be frustrating because I knew I could do better, or they were excellent, in which case I wish I'd done it, or mine, in which case they made me realise how wrong I was about reason one.

Redlester

Annoying yes, but it'd open up a legal world of pain and ballache for everyone if it wasn't there. That's just how it is. 

I listen almost exclusively to commercial radio. The weird thing is, I can sing loads of jingles from ads, but my mind just does not engage with the content. Those ads could be reading our the GPS co-ordinates for a genuine crock of gold at the end of the rainbow, and I still wouldn't be listening. Tuning stuff out it seems is easy for me, although I do find it hard not to swear at the radio when the bloke who does voiceovers for MacDonalds comes on. Really don't like his voice. Vocal Kryptonite for me. 

3 is a magic number
There's an Ocado just for you
Ocean Credit Card
Purple Bricks do your thing
Opportuni
Saga Cruises- go on spoil yourself. 

They sort of enter my head and settle in the dustbin of my brain. 

Dominic

Yes sir.........I hate those awful buskerish Ukelele type Ocado ditties............meant to sound so cuddly and grandsonish.
Another pet hate is all the Northern Voice-overs used because apparently the British psyche identifies them with thrift and good value honesty . It's Manipulation .
Asda Priiiiiiice !

ICBM

I listen to the radio a lot, both commercial and BBC. I just mentally adblock them. They wash over my conscious mind like the babble of other people's conversation in a restaurant - I'm aware of its existence but I pay no attention to the content. 

I'd rather listen to them than the inane drivel from the presenters on most of the BBC stations, anyway.

rogd

How the hell do they manage to talk so fast?

Philly_Q

Like @scrumhalf I listen to 5 Live and have it on pretty much all day every day, apart from odd occasions when the callers to Nicky Campbell's or Stephen Nolan's shows infuriate me so much that I have to turn off.

I ended up on 5 Live because I can't stand most of the music on music stations and I can't stand the adverts on commercial stations.  It's true that 5 Live has a lot of promotion of its own shows and podcasts, but they don't really bother me.

DefaultM

There's a button on the steering wheel that changes station so I just press that instead of listening to them.

dindude

DefaultM said:

There's a button on the steering wheel that changes station so I just press that instead of listening to them.

The rhythm of radio means that most other stations are also in their ad break at the same time, then you have to listen to some BBC crap. BBC do their share fair share of promo guff instead of adverts. 

GoldenEraGuitars

Dominic said:

Yes,agree about Commercial Radio but I'd rather be tortured to death with disclaimers than have to listen to 30 seconds of Jeremy Vine !

Same here, I listen to Planet Rock or Absolute 90s and the ads are shocking sometimes. If you took a shot every time the small print said “not available in Northern Ireland” you’d be pissed after the second ad break. I’d much rather listen to these stations… no political discussion at all. Bliss.

scrumhalf

Radio programme - adverts - traffic news - adverts - news - adverts - sports headlines - adverts - back to programme, "coming up in the next half hour..." - adverts - finally, after eight minutes, back to what you were listening to in the first place. 

PolarityMan

Terms and conditions are modulated inside this 2 secs of white noise! Screeeeee

chillidoggy

Dominic said:

Yes,agree about Commercial Radio but I'd rather be tortured to death with disclaimers than have to listen to 30 seconds of Jeremy Vine !

Vine makes me sick when he affects that really solemn voice. And the subject matter of his shows are worthy of the Daily Mail, as are the kind of morons that call in.

Redlester

chillidoggy said:

Dominic said:

Yes,agree about Commercial Radio but I'd rather be tortured to death with disclaimers than have to listen to 30 seconds of Jeremy Vine !

Vine makes me sick when he affects that really solemn voice. And the subject matter of his shows are worthy of the Daily Mail, as are the kind of morons that call in.

If you dislike Vine for being audio Daily Mail, do not go anywhere near Nick Ferrari on LBC.