One of my oft-repeated statements is "I don't watch TV adverts"
If only this was strictly, rather than broadly, true.
Last night, I was at a bit of a loose end. Couldn't be bothered to settle down to anything proper, had a TV date (ad-free) at 9. So I flopped on the sofa and channel flicked to Bremner, Bird and Fortune. A few years ago this used to be obligatory viewing. Then Rory Bremner stopped being funny. Last night proved that the habit cessation was correct.
However, this was a rare unscheduled viewing of a commercial TV channel. And, remember, I was feeling lazy and apathetic, so I ended up enduring those dreadful TV ads.
In parenthesis, if people watch on average, reportedly, 50 hours of TV a week, I guess that probably means that they watch as much as five hours of adverts every week. For nearly an hour a day they willingly subject themselves to being told what to think, what to do, repetitively, over-and-over-and-over-and-over again.
How scary is that!
There was some advert for some foodstuff or other, with an enticing tagline "Because it only contains 10% fat, you can eat it without feeling guilty..."
Forget consideration of how much sugar, salt it contains. Forget considerations of whether 10% fat makes it healthy. Forget even the fact that human beings need fat, it's a vital nutrient.
Guilty...!
Guilty
Guilty is what I feel is I've done something wrong. Like committed a mass murder. Or an armed robbery. Or forgotten to bring my partner a glass of water, as he requested. Or surfed the internet when I should be working.
Why on earth should eating induce feelings of guilt?
I don't get it.
