Last week, Harris Interactive and global public relations firm, Fleishman-Hillard, teamed up to host the 2010 Digital Influence Index Event. The Digital Influence Index is in it's second year and aims to understand online consumption practices around the world. We at Harris were tickled to get to conduct the research and our own George Terhanian was invited to speak to the data as part of the event panel (far right).
More on the findings of this landmark study tomorrow - in the meantime, here is a recent Harris Poll based on data from the study.
Do you cover your ears when commercials blare on TV? Do you reach for your remote to turn down the commercials before they even start? Do you find yourself shrieking “TURN THAT DOWN!” during every commercial segment? (And is your shouting even louder than the commercial itself?) Well friends, you’re not crazy and you’re not alone.
If America thinks commercials are louder than the show; and,
If the loud commercials are bothersome.
And it’s no surprise that the answer is “yes” to both questions. However, the part that made me blink twice is the fact that such great numbers of Americans say it bothers them—93 percent! (If only we could get this kind of agreement on health care, right?)
Well, this annoyance certainly hasn’t gone unnoticed; back in December, the House of Representatives passed the Commercial Advertising Loudness Mitigation Act (the CALM Act, for short—cute, huh?) to make it so the volume in commercials cannot be any louder than the volume in the corresponding TV program. The legislation still has to pass through the Senate, but I know I already feel more CALM knowing something is being done.
So you might be asking yourself—WHO turns up the volume on these commercials? This clip is from CBS’s Early Show back in December—take a look and find out.
