Commercial Changes

It's been a while since I watched live TV without fast forwarding through commercials, but this weekend we were watching some shows, and I was surprised to see the shift in commercials ~1 month into the social distancing. My husband makes commercials for a living, so we've speculated about this and seen it a bit in the commercials he has done (e.g. buy a car, sight unseen, have it delivered!), but it was interesting to see it in person.

There are currently almost no commercials running that show non-related people gathered together. Instead, you see individuals and families, animations, or product/text only. If there are in-person gatherings, it's with narration like, "Someday in the future we'll be able to get together again."

Many companies are also specifically referencing the current situation - either thanking their front-line, essential employees (bet those employees wish they would have gotten some kind of raise instead of paying for network air time...), or explaining the actions they're taking during this time. I've also seen public service announcements, paid for by various organizations, reminding people to stay home, wash their hands, etc.

QVC live on March 20

I've been really fascinated by the home shopping channel QVC. I don't watch often, but ever since local lockdowns went into effect, I was curious to see how they would be able to remain live on the air. Usually there would be a host (sometimes two), maybe a special guest to present their company's product, and sometimes a model to demonstrate a clothing or cosmetic item. But due to state mandates and CDC recommendations, the network quickly pivoted to all sorts of alternatives: one host in the studio and another calling in from home on a split screen; a host on TV with guest presenter calling in by phone; multiple people on set but remaining at least 6 feet apart and not touching. And I heard one host say they were doing their own makeup now instead of having makeup artists apply it for them.

One last area of advertising where I've noticed a change is online ads. Maybe it's because I was searching for mask patterns a couple weeks ago, but half the Instagram ads I get are for fabric masks! If it's not masks, I'm seeing ads all around the internet for places to order toilet paper and cleaning supplies, UV lights that will sanitize your electronics, some kind of plastic stick with a cover you can use to push elevator buttons, a cloth pocket I think you clip to your belt and put your hand in when you need to touch something (I didn't look too closely and why would you then want to keep that dirty cloth by your side?), and other contact-limiting tools.