There is a dark side to watching TV. Although the content of the shows is another topic (or two) I’m putting that on the shelf for now. What I am referring to when I say the dark side is the advertising. There are a number of reasons that I dislike (understatement) the commercials. And so I offer my Top Ten reasons to turn off the TV during commercials.

#10 The commercials are louder than the show. IS THERE REALLY A GOOD REASON FOR THIS? IT IS ANNOYING.

#9 If you call in the next 18 minutes you will also receive a second set free, we will make one payment for you and you can keep the widget as our gift to you even if you return the gadget. Really? What if I want to talk it over with my wife and I don’t order for 22 minutes. Do I miss out? Will you refuse my credit card if I don’t order in the next 18 minutes? Do your telephone agents get off work for the night 19 minutes from now?

#8 Commercials advertising the upcoming news show give you 80% of the information you need to know. But for the whole story including the right amount of spin you need to watch the news show later. I don’t even do that. I record it and watch it later when I can fast forward through the fluff and the constant repeating of the same info the previous commercials had. “Coming up we will tell you for the fourth time that there is something you need to know. We could have already told you what it was three times by now, but once you heard it there would be no need to a full hour show. So stay tuned until the end of the show when we give you one last detail that pulls it all together.”

#7 Music by itself doesn’t sell anything. I am often doing something else during commercials. If I am not watching the TV and the commercial only has music and no words I have no clue what they are advertising.

#6 In grade school and even before then I learned many important things about our world. I learned there were four seasons; summer, fall, winter, and spring. I learned there were particular times when certain sports were played. There was baseball season, football season, and every four years there were the Olympics. But things that happen all year long don’t really have a season. So why on Earth do they sell trucks during “truck season”? I see them on the road every day. When are trucks out of season?

#5 Until recently any commercial for Target looked as if it had been designed by a high school freshman on drugs.

#4 Law firm TV commercials: Put an end to creditor harassment. File bankruptcy now with most attorney fees deferred? What? How stupid are people? If you are filing bankruptcy you don’t have much money. Why get through bankruptcy only to have attorney fees to pay afterwards? Take out a cash advance on your credit card and pay your attorney before you file. That way you aren’t stuck after bankruptcy with a lawyer after you to pay him.

#3 A birthday party is an event. A concert is an event. A Christmas meal together with extended family is an event. Watching your kid playing football in the college playoffs is an event. A sale at a local store is not an event.

#2 I have never asked my doctor if a drug was right for me, and I never will. If I go to a doctor I expect him or her to know more about drugs than I do. If a particular drug is an appropriate treatment for my condition my doctor will prescribe it. The doctor didn’t take 20 years of schooling for me to second guess him. When one particular drug came out and advertised all the time on TV it listed side effects, it said to talk to your doctor, it said my life would be better with this drug. But it didn’t tell me what it was for! For several months I thought it had something to do with reproduction but it was for hair growth.

And the number one reason to turn off the TV during commercials is

#1 (Advertisers: Please read this.) Not everyone enjoys listening to rap. In fact, I hate it. Why does almost everything have rap music?

Legal disclaimer: No advertisers were harmed in the writing of this Hubpage. But if they had been, they probably deserved it. No legal advise regarding bankruptcy was given. Do your homework. If you feel smarter now than before you read this you came up with the idea on your own. I had nothing to do with it. If you have been entertained here it was purely by accident. The true purpose of this hub was to get you to shut off your TV during commercials. It will save so much electricity that Al Gore global warming expert will probably get on his private jet and fly to your house to personally thank you for saving the planet.