Loud Commercials Are a Big Turnoff

People don’t listen to loud television ads—they tune them out.

Do you find yourself muting or turning down the volume when television commercials come onscreen? If you do, you are not alone. An Adweek Media/Harris Poll reveals that the majority of American adults (86 percent) say that commercials are louder than the shows they are watching, with more than half (57 percent) contending that the commercials are “much louder” than the shows. The poll, which surveyed 2,194 people, also found that the majority of those who say that commercials are louder are bothered by the volume (93 percent), while nearly two-thirds of that group says the excess volume bothers them “a lot” (62 percent). While nearly a third (31 percent) say the louder ads bother them a little, only 7 percent state that it doesn’t bother them at all.

Ads that don’t get any attention at all are waste of money and energy. “I mute or fast forward them 100 percent of the time,” says Portland, OR-based psychotherapist Susan Pease Banitt, LCSW.  Notably, the poll found that women are more bothered by too-loud commercials more than men. Why?   

“It might simply have to do with the fact that women may be more sensitive to noise stress than men,” says David Smith, executive creative director at MD-based Carton Donofrio Partners.

Citing work by Dr. Mary W. Meagher and Dr. Jamie Rhudy, published in The Journal of Pain, February, 2001, Smith adds, “There have been several studies that seem to validate this.”

Another reason that women may be more irritated by the high volume may be due to gender roles, Smith says.

“This is completely conjecture on my part, [but] in our culture women appear to be the enforcers of etiquette,” he states. “When someone does something rude or impolite, women are usually the first ones to notice it and do something about it—at least in my family they have. Perhaps loud commercials are perceived to be rude.”  

While the poll focused on Americans, the trend has spread to Canada, where science-fiction author Joseph Picard resides; apparently loud commercials are just as annoying there too.

Picard, who also turns down or mutes the television when loud commercials come onscreen, says that high-volume commercials may actually hurt his perception of a product. “It goes hand in hand with ads engineered to annoy,” he says. “Such tactics almost show a lack of respect for potential customers. As a ‘cranky-old-man-in-training,’ I can hold a grudge against a loud shammy ad for years.”
  

Are commercials that are particularly loud or auditory more likely to be counterproductive to product sales?

While there is no evidence that they hurt sales, there is not any that demonstrates that high volume helps increase profits, Smith says.

“However, I have a sneaky suspicion that loud, interruptive commercials negatively affect the likeability of a brand,” he adds. “Given the fact Congress just passed the CALM ACT (Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation) that will strictly regulate commercial volume, I’d say people are pretty fed up with this rude and interruptive practice and probably fed up with the brands that run them.”

Noisy TV ads aren’t the only example of in-your-face advertising. 

“It’s estimated the average American sees over 3,000 ads each day,” Smith explains. “That’s crazy. As advertising has become more ubiquitous and people have learned to ignore them, advertisers have turned to more and more outrageous practices to get our very limited attention.”

Desperation is not a good look. “The result is the creation of ads so desperate to get noticed they end up annoying and bothering the beejeezus out of the very people they’re trying to persuade,” he maintains.   

“At Carton Donofrio Partners we have a word for these irritating messages—adness,” Smith explains. “Probably the most despised examples of adness are pop-up ads or any on or offline ad that intentionally blocks the content you’re trying access.”

Other examples of adness, he contends, include ads that: use fake adspeak instead of conversational language; employ shocking or deceptive techniques just to get our attention; rudely invade our personal spaces; insult our intelligence; deliver inappropriate messages at an unsuitable time; waste our time with unrewarding content; and utilize hackneyed and clichéd advertising techniques.  

Carton Donofrio Partners, Smith adds, has made a pledge to “stop the adness," promising consumers to create ads that customers like and enjoy.  

“We’ll do everything in our power to produce more rewarding, welcome and respectful advertising,” he vows. “We’re asking everyone in the industry to sign it—and quite a few have.”

Are there some products that seem to lend themselves to more obnoxious ad tactics than others?