Commercials

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m running low on patience these days. As things continue to trend downward, I just don’t have the capacity to deal with things that drag on me. My tolerance for nonsense is at an all-time low.

I understand the need for commercials. I understand that advertising runs the world, and I even enjoy watching old commercials. There’s a quaint novelty of it. But in the past, commercials felt more diverse. It didn’t seem like every break you got hit with the same exact commercial or you’d see that same commercial on YouTube or online. It’s almost like you can’t escape certain genres of commercials and the two right now that I’m fucking done with are: sports betting and pharmaceuticals.

I’m good never hearing about DraftKings or MGM Bet or anything else ever again. I don’t gamble, I have no interest in gambling, and the fact that gambling commercials are allowed on TV (alongside alcohol) and cigarette commercials are not is just insanity. Either ban all the bad things or don’t ban anything, it truly makes no sense. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I don’t smoke and I don’t care for cigarettes, but those companies should be allowed to run commercials with the same fast speaking narrator who runs through the side effects as Ozempic. I mean, we literally hear them say some side effects can be death, so how is that any different that cigarettes?

As I flipped through my YouTube app, after watching football and seeing LeBron James and Kevin Hart so many times I’m good never seeing either one of them ever again, I was served up yet another gambling commercial and I had to ask myself, when is it too much? When is the line crossed where the entertainment stops being worth the commercials? I have to admit, we’re only two weeks into the NFL season and I don’t think I can deal with sixteen more weeks of this.

After watching football and YouTube, I decided to watch some Shrinking on Apple TV, and while it doesn’t have traditional commercials, I am forced to hear Denzel Washington every single time before Apple launches into what’s coming in September. The same commercial, every time, all four episodes of Shrinking I watched.

So, it’s not that I have a problem with commercials, it’s a problem with the lack of diversity in commercials. I am just tired of hearing the same old things over and over again. It’s kind of like being online too much. You hear the same arguments, the same insults, the same memes, and I guess, I’m just tired of it all. Lucky for me, I have physical media and there are some alternatives to the commercials that I may have to explore because right now, the entertainment that I’m getting in exchange for being annoyed is just not worth it.