Please take a second to completely wrap your mind around that concept. Philips Electronics intends to enable the gluttony obsessed corporate sponsors to shove their advertising down our collective throats. Channel surfing, a truly American patriotic past time, will forever be inhibited thanks to Philips Electronics.
This should please the army of sports fans who check the scores of other games during breaks. It is also sure to bring joy to the millions of TV watchers who enjoy clicking back and forth between several programs. But, most assuredly, it will elate every individual who attempts to change their channel for any reason what so ever and realize they are being held prisoner by the commercial they are being forced to endure.
It has always been acknowledged that advertising was a cost of doing business and therefore smart businesses have always tried to get the most for their advertising dollars. In the past, responsible governments have stepped in when businesses overstepped boundaries, whether legal, moral or just common sense.
- Lawmakers passed legislation preventing movie theaters from showing films that contained subliminal advertisements. This was determined to be a form of brain washing that manipulated audiences to purchase products they didn’t really want.
- Many state highway departments had to step in and limit the number and size of billboards along the roads, in some cases also regulating their distance from the traffic and use of lighting because it was having an adverse effect on the flow of traffic and safety of passengers.
- The “Truth in Advertising” law was necessary due to the abuse many companies were guilty of in promoting their products. Unsupported claims about products are reminiscent of snake oil salesmen of old, yet even with regulations banning the practice there are still many willing to employ this method.
- False advertising is flat out lying about products or services being advertised.
As evidenced by the long sad history of companies and their willingness to step outside the law, it must be acknowledged that most companies will do anything to sell their products. It should also be evident that governments must do more to protect consumers from the predatory tactics some companies are willing to employ. In the case of forcing TV audiences to watch commercials, Philips electronics should be prevented from introducing this device into the commercial television market. This device will have global impact and the international community needs to unite to ban this aberration from entering the market.
Yet, there is still one effrontery by Philips Electronics I have not mentioned. Take a look at their concern for customers who may be upset by their new invasion of privacy device:
Philips' patent acknowledges that this may be "greatly resented by viewers" who could initially think their equipment has gone wrong. So it suggests the new system could throw up a warning on screen when it is enforcing advert viewing. The patent also suggests that the system could offer viewers the chance to pay a fee interactively to go back to skipping adverts.
Perhaps it would be best to fight fire with fire. Corporations understand one thing better than anything else, Money! Notice how easily they justify adding yet another service charge to retain a feature we already have. Charging viewers who may be upset by being held prisoner by their televisions seems simply natural to the mentality of corporate gluttony. So why shouldn’t we, the viewers who pay their salaries through our purchases, demand payment for the time we are forced to view unwanted advertisements. If enough people write the representatives to demand we receive the same monetary consideration for our time that corporations want for sponsoring programs we could shut this idiocy down quickly.
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