By Jan Jaben-Eilon
Marketing Editor of Digital Family Advisor

One of the most misleading commercials on TV these days is for AT&T cellular. Remember, this is the commercial where streams of yellowish orange cloths are cloaked around buildings, the St. Louis arc and U.S. beaches, showing how deep and wide the coverage is.

The lack of clarity in this commercial became clearer to me as I sat around a table with acquaintances at a dinner meeting. One said to another, “I’m thinking of
changing cellular companies. I saw that AT&T covers nearly 100 percent of America.” I quickly pointed out that the words on the television commercial were chosen carefully.
The commercial did not say cell coverage was nearly 100 percent of America, but Americans – despite the varied geography the commercial’s visuals imply is covered. There’s a huge difference. No cellular system covers all of the United States. But the commercial states that most Americans are covered. That is because most Americans live in cities and towns where there is nearly blanket coverage by most cellular companies. But drive out to some beaches, into the mountains and across the Western plains, and good luck getting cell service.

This is just one obvious example of the frequent commercials that are produced that are either misleading, or unreliable. There are many other examples of commercials
that have for years butchered the English language. It’s probably too late to complain about these, however, now that texting has expanded short-hand communication that
further decimates proper spelling of English. I wonder if the younger generations are ever going to know how to spell proper English; no wonder the educational system is in such
disarray….

Notes and Quotes: So you want to switch to a new service provider for your phone, Internet and TV, here’s some more advice for those of you who believe that counter
advertising can or can’t help the consumer. Time Warner, Cablevision, Comcast all have taken their hits in parts of the U.S. as Verizon FIOS gains momentum, so it is understandable that cable operators (who still rate as the most unpopular entity with consumers) ripped apart Verizon for demanding two-2 year contracts and very expensive contract- breaking fees.

So even the not so smart Verizon figured out that by waving those fees, and having no contracts at all, would put them back on the hot track in gaining new customers for its their services. It worked so well, that the fastest growth area for Verizon is taking business from cable operators in which new customers turned down Verizon previously because of the old rules….

Product placement and limited commercial interruptions: Watched three new summer series on USA and TNT and was at first excited that non- network shows…with terrific reviews would not have too many commercials. How naïve was I? There were at least from six to a dozen products placements, so blatant that they actually took away from the exciting scenes or intricate plots….Bring back traditional commercials…ah maybe not!