If you have been watching television in general or any one of the seemingly thousands of college bowl games specifically, you have most likely seen one of the competing ads for Verizon or AT&T focusing on maps of their coverage, etc. While I find ads from both companies marginally entertaining, I can't help wishing for a pause button to read the fine print that flashes briefly on the screen during the 30 second plea for business.
For, you see, it is in this fine print that the truth is told. We all know it. The FCC dictates the size, length of visualization and content of much of this fine print and it is done in order to protect us, the ignorant consumer, from being taken advantage of by evil corporations. This same regulation has brought us the super fast voice over in radio commercials and the laundry list of potential side effects (nausea, vomiting, anal bleeding, erectile dysfunction, increased ear hair or audible flatulence) for every drug currently marketed on television, radio or in print.
I've often wondered why any drug company would pay for an ad where over half of their media purchased time is spent pointing out potential problems from usage of their product instead of the benefits of the same. Imagine if Pizza Hut had to warn you of weight gain, stained shirts and lactose intolerance in every one of their ads.
The fact most people aren't even aware of the fine print in commercials is yet another example of the ineffectiveness of this type of government intrusion in to capitalist endeavors. Marketers have found ways to minimize their exposure in these disclaimers and ads often make outright fun of them.
So why is it that our lawmakers feel the need to impose regulations that serve little purpose, produce no results and frustrate both the producers and consumers of advertisements? I wish I knew but....I think of this type of ineffectiveness often when considering the increased regulations sure to appear with Health Care reform and new laws around supposed climate change.
Next time you are watching a show from your DVR or, in the old school case, VCR, take a pause from skipping a commercial to pause the commercial and read the fine print. Better yet, take a pause from the boob tube altogether and read the fine print in the health care bill. I think you will find that, instead of protecting us from evil corporations, we should find ways to protect ourselves from evil government instead.
S2
Monday, January 4, 2010
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Why do lawmakers enact these feckless rules? Knowing that few people think as hard as you do about them, lawmakers can take their accomplishments back to their constituents and say, "See, I did this." They also do it because most of them are (or appear to be) unaware of the Law of Unintended Consequences. In this case, they assume that the newly regulated businesses will just stand for the new rule and obey it. The idea that these businesses might become creative in dodging the rules never seems to occur to them. Lawmakers and environmentalists have similar lack of foresight when it comes to AGW. Assuming for the sake of argument that it exists, they predict doom in the not-so-far-distant future. The idea that as climate and weather change, people and institutions will adapt is incomprehensible. I opine that things like building sea walls (cf The Netherlands) and moving more things indoors or underground (cf Montreal) will be effective and far less costly that carbon taxes, cap and trade schemes, etc.
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