-- Get my eyes screened or I might not know I have a brain tumor.
-- Check for radon in my house so it doesn’t kill my family.
-- Listen to 20-something women talking about tanning-induced melanoma deaths in the same perky tone as if they were talking about last night’s American Idol. (“Hey, did you know 10,000 a year die from melanoma. You don’t want to be one of THOSE," she says, almost as if those people were uncool.)
-- Listen to the vital signs monitor stop pulsing as the patient who refused to have her high blood pressure checked dies of diabetes.
-- Hear the man’s snort-like snoring and learn that he may have a stroke from sleep apnea.
-- Hear person after person, including chilren and adults, somberly report that they have some sort of cancer.
This is just a sampling of what dominates the inserts in the Brew’s webstream. 80% of it is health-oriented, and presented in maximum-downer fashion. You can frequently hear three (or more?) of these in a row, and you hear the same same limited set of PSA’s across breaks.
It’s truly painful to listen to. It’s really bad. I’m sure they are driving people away from the stream. People don’t want to bury their heads in the stand, but neither do they want to be pummeled into depression at almost every break. Let me make it clear that I am in no way discounting the importance of the messages being presented. But why do these health alarms have to so-thoroughly-dominate most of the Brew stream’s breaks? Can’t they mix them with more non-medical PSA’s? There are certainly scads of public service issues that aren't medical in nature. (Are they trying to remind their listeners that they're getting old?) And to the extent the PSA's must be medical, can’t they avoid relying on almost entirely on the heavy-duty downer approaches? Take the following sample Brew-stream break, paraphrased (OK, they’re not usually THIS long, but I want to get the idea across):
1. Have A checked or you’ll die. Remember, Mom didn’t get checked and she died. Go to www... (followed by Mom’s daugheters giggling about who is the pretty one)
2. Get screened for B (a fairly rare disease) or you’ll die. Go to www...
3. Have C checked, or you’re stupid and you’ll go blind. Go to www...
4. Have D checked, or you’ll end up terminal like all these people (who somberly recite their plight one by one). Go to www...
5. Do E or you and your children will get cancer. Go to www...
6. Get screened for rare disease F! Don’t let it get YOU! Go to www...
7. Did you know 10,000 people a year die becasue they ignored warning sign X (sfx of a funeral). Go to www...
Besides the relentess downer aspect here, it is DIS-motivating. If you’re told to do A, or maybe A & B, to protect yourself, you might listen. But if you’re told -- in a span of a few minutes -- Do A,B,C,D & E, otherwise suffer the consequences...and then on the next break that you MUST do F,G,H and I to protect yourself...well, you throw up your hands and say “which one is most important? I can’t do all of those. I’m not going to worry myself to death Forget it.” Again, I am the LAST person who would discount the importance of health monitoring, but this relentless and intense bombarding is counter-productive and depressing (not to mention that these PSA’s are very amateurish and poorly conceived). It really makes you want to get away from the stream.
Why can’t they be spread out, and mixed with other PSA’s? For every PSA on something like keeping good tax records to avoid problems with the IRS, there are four that talk about death.
If it seems like I’m hammering this point to excess, well...that’s exactly what they are doing too, and in a very unappealing and counterproductive way.
Maybe the Brew’s webstream should expand the station's slogan to say “Real,Fun,Rock & Certain,Painful, Death,” or “Real,Fun,Rock & Real, Downer, Inserts.” Is the target for the stream hypochondriacs 25-44?
Or maybe they think PSA stands for "Public Scare Announcements."
-- Check for radon in my house so it doesn’t kill my family.
-- Listen to 20-something women talking about tanning-induced melanoma deaths in the same perky tone as if they were talking about last night’s American Idol. (“Hey, did you know 10,000 a year die from melanoma. You don’t want to be one of THOSE," she says, almost as if those people were uncool.)
-- Listen to the vital signs monitor stop pulsing as the patient who refused to have her high blood pressure checked dies of diabetes.
-- Hear the man’s snort-like snoring and learn that he may have a stroke from sleep apnea.
-- Hear person after person, including chilren and adults, somberly report that they have some sort of cancer.
This is just a sampling of what dominates the inserts in the Brew’s webstream. 80% of it is health-oriented, and presented in maximum-downer fashion. You can frequently hear three (or more?) of these in a row, and you hear the same same limited set of PSA’s across breaks.
It’s truly painful to listen to. It’s really bad. I’m sure they are driving people away from the stream. People don’t want to bury their heads in the stand, but neither do they want to be pummeled into depression at almost every break. Let me make it clear that I am in no way discounting the importance of the messages being presented. But why do these health alarms have to so-thoroughly-dominate most of the Brew stream’s breaks? Can’t they mix them with more non-medical PSA’s? There are certainly scads of public service issues that aren't medical in nature. (Are they trying to remind their listeners that they're getting old?) And to the extent the PSA's must be medical, can’t they avoid relying on almost entirely on the heavy-duty downer approaches? Take the following sample Brew-stream break, paraphrased (OK, they’re not usually THIS long, but I want to get the idea across):
1. Have A checked or you’ll die. Remember, Mom didn’t get checked and she died. Go to www... (followed by Mom’s daugheters giggling about who is the pretty one)
2. Get screened for B (a fairly rare disease) or you’ll die. Go to www...
3. Have C checked, or you’re stupid and you’ll go blind. Go to www...
4. Have D checked, or you’ll end up terminal like all these people (who somberly recite their plight one by one). Go to www...
5. Do E or you and your children will get cancer. Go to www...
6. Get screened for rare disease F! Don’t let it get YOU! Go to www...
7. Did you know 10,000 people a year die becasue they ignored warning sign X (sfx of a funeral). Go to www...
Besides the relentess downer aspect here, it is DIS-motivating. If you’re told to do A, or maybe A & B, to protect yourself, you might listen. But if you’re told -- in a span of a few minutes -- Do A,B,C,D & E, otherwise suffer the consequences...and then on the next break that you MUST do F,G,H and I to protect yourself...well, you throw up your hands and say “which one is most important? I can’t do all of those. I’m not going to worry myself to death Forget it.” Again, I am the LAST person who would discount the importance of health monitoring, but this relentless and intense bombarding is counter-productive and depressing (not to mention that these PSA’s are very amateurish and poorly conceived). It really makes you want to get away from the stream.
Why can’t they be spread out, and mixed with other PSA’s? For every PSA on something like keeping good tax records to avoid problems with the IRS, there are four that talk about death.
If it seems like I’m hammering this point to excess, well...that’s exactly what they are doing too, and in a very unappealing and counterproductive way.
Maybe the Brew’s webstream should expand the station's slogan to say “Real,Fun,Rock & Certain,Painful, Death,” or “Real,Fun,Rock & Real, Downer, Inserts.” Is the target for the stream hypochondriacs 25-44?
Or maybe they think PSA stands for "Public Scare Announcements."
