Who are these ppl calling in testimonials in commercials?

Lee Linwood · Jul 12, 2017

There seems to be an unfortunate and tiresome trend of annoying radio commercials with people breathlessly calling in testimonials for various products, from magic pillows to miracle vitamins for dogs and cats to amazing pills containing nothing more than dehydrated fruits & "veggies" that cure everything from multiple sclerosis to psoriasis. Who does such a thing and why do they not only sound like the same people endorsing different products but they sound completely staged? And, who falls for such commercials peddling obvious snake oil? Finally, are radio stations not embarrassed by these low-quality advertisers which diminish their own integrity?

Y2kTheNewOldies · Jul 12, 2017

http://www.cc.com/video-clips/a5uhh...-jones-are-healing-america-s-political-divide

Yes the Daily Show just did a segment of Snake oil sales and yes Alex Jones and Gweneth Paltrow were the people mentioned in this rant

.

AbrahamJSimpson · Jul 12, 2017

Lee Linwood said:
Who does such a thing

Actors.

Lee Linwood said:
and why do they not only sound like the same people endorsing different products but they sound completely staged?

Because they're completely staged.

Lee Linwood said:
And, who falls for such commercials peddling obvious snake oil?

Enough people to make it lucrative enough to keep it up.

Lee Linwood said:
Finally, are radio stations not embarrassed by these low-quality advertisers which diminish their own integrity?

Bolstering the bottom line > embarrassment.

TheBigA · Jul 12, 2017

Lee Linwood said:
Finally, are radio stations not embarrassed by these low-quality advertisers which diminish their own integrity?

Funny....if you listen to highly rated radio stations, you never hear these kinds of spots or infomercials.

The radio stations running these commercials are doing so because no other national sponsor wants to reach the audience of these stations.

PTBoardOp94 · Jul 12, 2017

When a talk show has 6 minutes of network time, it is really hard in today's environment to sell that time to 6 different paying clients. Or 18 different clients for a 3 hour show...

So a lot of shows end up playing the same ad 5 times in a 3 hour show, or airing spots like the ones you've highlighted, where people shill for insanely expensive pet food and an announcer tells you repeatedly 800! 924! 0896! 800! 924! 0896!

Lee Linwood · Jul 12, 2017

PTBoardOp94 said:
When a talk show has 6 minutes of network time, it is really hard in today's environment to sell that time to 6 different paying clients. Or 18 different clients for a 3 hour show...

So a lot of shows end up playing the same ad 5 times in a 3 hour show, or airing spots like the ones you've highlighted, where people shill for insanely expensive pet food and an announcer tells you repeatedly 800! 924! 0896! 800! 924! 0896!

Good point So are the commercials for My Pillow, Balance of Nature and other products whose commercials run incessantly fully paid-for or do they pay based just on a per-response basis?

Lee Linwood · Jul 12, 2017

AbrahamJSimpson said:
Actors.

Because they're completely staged.

Enough people to make it lucrative enough to keep it up.

Bolstering the bottom line > embarrassment.

When radio stations run commercials for low-rent products, it diminishes their images IMO and potentially causes prestige, national companies not to advertise.

And, when talk radio hosts endorse these products like the magic pillow which they all swear they couldn't live without, or the gold hawkers etc it diminishes their cred, too

TheBigA · Jul 12, 2017

Lee Linwood said:
When radio stations run commercials for low-rent products, it diminishes their images IMO and potentially causes prestige, national companies not to advertise.

Don't you think it would diminish their image even more if they had no advertising at all?

Would you prefer these stations simply shut down or change formats to something that would attract better advertising?

Lee Linwood · Jul 12, 2017

TheBigA said:
Don't you think it would diminish their image even more if they had no advertising at all?

Would you prefer these stations simply shut down or change formats to something that would attract better advertising?

In the print advertising business, "environment" was a key selling point Major advertisers wanted to feel comfortable being among other major advertisers Perhaps radio is different

TheBigA · Jul 12, 2017

Lee Linwood said:
In the print advertising business, "environment" was a key selling point Major advertisers wanted to feel comfortable being among other major advertisers Perhaps radio is different

Also part of the environment is the programming. In fact, that's percentage wise a bigger environment than other advertising.

Lee Linwood · Jul 12, 2017

AbrahamJSimpson said:
Actors.

Because they're completely staged.

I suppose one would need acting skills to state that dehydrated fruits & "veggies" in a pill cured your MS without laughing

TheBigA · Jul 13, 2017

Lee Linwood said:
In the print advertising business, "environment" was a key selling point Major advertisers wanted to feel comfortable being among other major advertisers Perhaps radio is different

That may be a factor in the print world, but I've never heard that expressed in radio ad sales.

The main concerns radio advertisers have are cost per thousand and reaching their desired demographic.

wadio · Jul 13, 2017

In the print advertising business, "environment" was a key selling point Major advertisers wanted to feel comfortable being among other major advertisers Perhaps radio is different

That may be a factor in the print world, but I've never heard that expressed in radio ad sales.

I personally know the head of a local ad agency who some years ago complained to a top NYC radio station when they began running lots of snake-oil ads. He threatened to pull his spots but of course he didn't because they got results.

boombox4 · Jul 13, 2017

Lee Linwood said:
In the print advertising business, "environment" was a key selling point Major advertisers wanted to feel comfortable being among other major advertisers Perhaps radio is different

The print business is presently losing money, or at least seeing their ad revenues diminish, so I sort of doubt they should be the standard for anything successful in advertising right now.

And these staged testimonials you hear on radio are as old as radio itself. Advertising isn't necessarily based on truth, and it never has been. Many are the times I heard a talk host or radio announcer read a testimonial, and you know they never used the product. They were paid to say what they said. It's part of radio.

Being that a lot of listeners tune out commercials (at least from what I've read here on the forums), I sort of doubt the ones you're commenting about really detract all that much from the stations involved. I don't listen to late night talk radio to pay attention to the commercials. I basically tune them out -- especially the ubiquitous Ad Council PSA's.

Lee Linwood · Jul 13, 2017

boombox4 said:
The print business is presently losing money, or at least seeing their ad revenues diminish, so I sort of doubt they should be the standard for anything successful in advertising right now.

And these staged testimonials you hear on radio are as old as radio itself. Advertising isn't necessarily based on truth, and it never has been. Many are the times I heard a talk host or radio announcer read a testimonial, and you know they never used the product. They were paid to say what they said. It's part of radio.

Being that a lot of listeners tune out commercials (at least from what I've read here on the forums), I sort of doubt the ones you're commenting about really detract all that much from the stations involved. I don't listen to late night talk radio to pay attention to the commercials. I basically tune them out -- especially the ubiquitous Ad Council PSA's.

Few years ago, a caller asked Mark Simone if he slept on the My Pillow and Simone laughed and dismissed it That was before they advertised on his station Now, My Pillow advertises on his show and he gushes over it as life-changing!

Lee Linwood · Jul 13, 2017

boombox4 said:
The print business is presently losing money, or at least seeing their ad revenues diminish, so I sort of doubt they should be the standard for anything successful in advertising right now.

And these staged testimonials you hear on radio are as old as radio itself. Advertising isn't necessarily based on truth, and it never has been. Many are the times I heard a talk host or radio announcer read a testimonial, and you know they never used the product. They were paid to say what they said. It's part of radio.

Being that a lot of listeners tune out commercials (at least from what I've read here on the forums), I sort of doubt the ones you're commenting about really detract all that much from the stations involved. I don't listen to late night talk radio to pay attention to the commercials. I basically tune them out -- especially the ubiquitous Ad Council PSA's.

I love the talk show hosts who endorse gold sponsors and sing the company line about gold being a fantastic investment, but never mind that gold plummeted in price by 30% in the 2008 stock market crash

TheBigA · Jul 13, 2017

Lee Linwood said:
I love the talk show hosts who endorse gold sponsors and sing the company line about gold being a fantastic investment, but never mind that gold plummeted in price by 30% in the 2008 stock market crash

Compared to other investments, that was pretty good.

Personal endorsements are the only thing keeping talk radio alive right now. Major advertisers have very specific instructions that say "Do not air in any controversial programming." So without Home Depot or Geico commercials, talk stations have to rely on personal endorsements. The other issue is reaching older listeners. We've talked here before that older listeners hate commercials, and don't buy products based on advertising. However, they will accept personal recommendations from people they trust. In the radio world, that means the personalities. That's how Larry King makes a living today. He hosts infomercials where he personally endorses products. You may remember Fred Thompson's reverse mortgage spots on TV. Fred was one of the most trusted personalities in broadcasting. If he told you to buy a reverse mortgage, you'd be more likely to buy one than from anyone else. It's all about building that personal relationship with the listener, gaining their trust, and then selling them products.

Lee Linwood · Jul 13, 2017

TheBigA said:
Compared to other investments, that was pretty good.

Personal endorsements are the only thing keeping talk radio alive right now. Major advertisers have very specific instructions that say "Do not air in any controversial programming." So without Home Depot or Geico commercials, talk stations have to rely on personal endorsements. The other issue is reaching older listeners. We've talked here before that older listeners hate commercials, and don't buy products based on advertising. However, they will accept personal recommendations from people they trust. In the radio world, that means the personalities. That's how Larry King makes a living today. He hosts infomercials where he personally endorses products. You may remember Fred Thompson's reverse mortgage spots on TV. Fred was one of the most trusted personalities in broadcasting. If he told you to buy a reverse mortgage, you'd be more likely to buy one than from anyone else. It's all about building that personal relationship with the listener, gaining their trust, and then selling them products.

I have never purchased products based on radio talk show hosts' endorsements, knowing they endorse everything and anything, but that's just me.

I love how one NY radio host boasted that every sponsor is carefully screened and among the station's advertisers were one purporting to teach real estate flipping ("New York is a PERFECT market for our system!") and another claiming to help people avoid paying off their credit card balances ("Don't let the credit card companies trick you into paying off the entire balance!")

TheBigA · Jul 13, 2017

Lee Linwood said:
I have never purchased products based on radio talk show hosts' endorsements, knowing they endorse everything and anything, but that's just me.

If more people go that route, talk radio as we know it will go away. Unless you're willing to pay a monthly fee to listen. That's the choice.

Conventional advertisers have left talk programming, and they won't be returning.

Lee Linwood · Jul 13, 2017

TheBigA said:
If more people go that route, talk radio as we know it will go away. Unless you're willing to pay a monthly fee to listen. That's the choice.

Conventional advertisers have left talk programming, and they won't be returning.

I have no problem buying products or services promoted on radio, on their merits rather than the hosts' "personal" endorsements or the actors phoning in their phoney endorsements