By Nina Housman
Even more depressing than watching the news on TV is watching the ads that go with it.
Hawkers of hemorrhoid remedies, ED cures, adult diapers, affordable funeral homes, drugs to slow memory loss, false teeth cleaners and home nursing services march through my living room promoting their wares and a vision of present or future misery. They promise all their remedies will help to make these things more bearable—or at least less expensive when it comes to the funeral home.
Hale and hearty as most of my ancestors have been, I'm less likely than most of my friends to need most of these services, but they still cast a sad shadow over my evening, as I think of friends less genetically blessed and the sad fate awaiting them … and maybe even me, to be totally honest.
It also makes me wonder who is watching, or who the networks think is watching, the nightly news.
Have the networks simply determined that those watching the news are people over a certain age consisting of those who are deaf, incontinent, lack memory, have no money and are planning their imminent departure from this vale of tears? Although I'm no expert, with ads like these, I can't believe their target group is any younger than 50 (even 100 might be too young).
If I'm right, what an insult. Whatever the age range they're targeting, the networks' prejudices are certainly showing. With an aunt who, at 90, quizzed me about the developmental stages my young son was going through, I know what dangerous garbage age stereotyping is.
Even scarier is what this scenario, if the age assumptions are true, says about the U.S. TV news audience as a whole. Young people and those in early middle age aren't watching. And given the state of the newspaper industry, that would mean they’re probably not reading the news, either.
And that is scarier than both the ads and the news, because informed citizens are essential for a healthy democracy. So I can only hope the networks and advertisers are wrong.
No comments:
Post a Comment