I found this quote on Dave Ramsey’s Pinterest Board and thought it was very interesting. Do you agree or disagree with it?
I’d love to hear your thoughts!
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I don’t think this is true. My husband and I watch quite a bit of television and we’d be completely broke and in debt up to our eyeballs if we spent an extra $2oo a year for every hour watched each week… and we’re not in debt or broke!
I don’t think so. I watch 0-14 hours of tv/week. I spend $8/month on tv, and last year I spent around $100 on movies, and at most $60 on DVD’s (ooh, got a great deal: $20 for a HD DVD player and 4 DVD’s, including Planet Earth). I don’t watch any commercials, so the only way I could even get up to spending (let alone saving) $200 is fangear such as tie-in shirts, accessories, and events. I think my total budget for cloths, toys/books, and entertainment combined for the year of $1100 is pretty good already though.
No, we mute the commercials while we are watching tv and our children turn their heads away from the tv when a commercial is on, even if it is not muted. We are usually engaged in conversation when we are not watching a show.
Correlation does not equal causation. Did you know the more dentists in a city the more divorce there is? That does not mean dentists cause divorce. Rather both follow population centers and much dentistry is now cosmetic, it also follows income…. Providing such statements are not helpful, and frankly meaningless. For example, people who watch more tv probably have more expensive cable packets, so there is more to watch…. In this case the causal arrow is spending leads to more watching, not the other way around.
Haha, that’s good. I’m going to make a graphic that dentists cause divorce. There could be something to it, though, because of money fights.
I think it can be true to the fact that at times (or most of the time) that extra hour of watching tv is best spent elsewhere. Either directly related to money, like paying for cable or use the time to rebalance your portfolio or indirectly like if you spend the time exercising instead, then you can have less risk of getting sick (which costs money too!).
I myself is very guilty of watching too much tv and I know I should limit it to do something more productive. It’s a struggle to get motivated to do something else when the TV is right there in front of you like it’s saying “watch me!”. I’d love to get your opinion if you have any tips for this though!
Im not in disagreement with this.. however, not me.. nor M’honey… I think many people are influenced by it though.. otherwise all those commercials wouldnt be paying big dollars for those advertising spaces.
I dont watch tv and M’honey isnt much of a consumer and he sure as heck isnt buying anything thats being shown on tv… I however do but a lot of stuff become Im online and Im reading either coupon or lifestyle blogs.. There is no doubt about that. 😉
My response would be “Who cares!” It seems to me this quote is just a guilt trip and I’m not falling for it.
I so disagree! We live really frugally, eat real/whole foods only (so the food commercial, even restaurant ones don’t get me) and I don’t have the $$ to spend on other items or big purchases like cars!
I do notice that when my 4.5 year old watches mainly Nickelodeon she asks for whatever is advertised, so I see her greatly affected by it, good thing she doesn’t have the spending power yet (though she did get a pair of stomp-eez for christmas!)
Nope. disagree entirely – sometimes Dave is REALLY off base, and this is one of those times. I fail to see how for a savvy consumer, it makes us spend more.
I only buy something with a coupon AND a sale – not because I saw it on TV, y’know? I’m a bit smarter than he’s giving me credit for.
😉
I couldn’t resist – I know you’re a HUGE Dave fan and I completely respect that. But Dave also assumes we’re all idiots sometimes, I think… 😉
But I also work part time for a bankruptcy attorney, and we all know how Dave feels about that – even though there are truly situations that no amount of aggressive snowballing will help our client ever pay down bills. Same goes for his touting kids going to community colleges – I’m sorry, but in some fields, it doesn’t cut butter to have a degree from Community College of Wisconsin. He’s just like the rest of us – when he’s on, he’s on. And when he’s off…..he’s really off. 😉
I do, however, love that he gets us thinking and talking – but for this gal, correlation is not causation.
I think this might have been true long ago, when TV was the dominant influence and way to reach consumers. Now with DVR and the internet, emails, social media (lifestyle blogs etc..), I think the blame for consumerism should be shared across all media!
I do think some TV shows, like Sex and the City for example, do cause aspirational spending.
I have to disagree with this. For some people, maybe, but definitely not for us. We don’t have cable, but we do watch TV through HuluPlus, network websites, and then TV and movies through Amazon and Netflix. So with commercials and product placement, we’re certainly exposed to plenty of what I assume Ramsey is saying influences our purchases. But while our TV is on more than I really like admitting (probably 7-8 hours a day on average, so at least 50 hours a week) we certainly aren’t spending $10,000 extra dollars a year in response to advertising.
To be honest, most commercials are actually more likely to make me NOT want to buy a product, because these days the majority of them are just… annoying. I’m more likely to be influence by what the characters on TV are having for dinner sounding good, and adding that to my meal plan! But perhaps this is more accurate for people who aren’t as budget-minded as MSM’s audience?
While there is obviously some correlation, I don’t think that it’s a cause-effect one. Like most of the commentors, I don’t watch much live TV; most of the TV that I watch is on the DVR so that I don’t have to sit through commercials and neither do my boys.
It absolutely does! And I would say for every person in your house. I see it all the time with my daughter. Whenever she does get to watch tv all I hear after every commercial is, “I want that, Mom.” The only good thing about it is we then have an opportunity to talk about how advertising affects us and wants verses needs.
I don’t know about the actual amount of money, but I would think that it probably does increase spending. I, like many others, don’t have cable/antenna, but we do watch Netflix. My life is ordinary, but everything we watch is extraordinary: people with better cars, better clothes, better homes, better friends, better jobs, better kids, etc. It can be easy to want our lives to look like what we see. And the more we watch, the less we live in our own world, and we risk becoming discontented with who we are and what we have.
For me personally, I don’t find that watching TV causes me to spend more. WE have a budget and stick to it. Even when I look at deals on this site or others I have to see if it’s a need and if there’s money for it. Like the deal at Target this week for Nerf guns. It’s a great deal but no money in the budget so it doesn’t get bought.
My kids only watch PBS and Qubo. Qubo is worse for commercials but it’s provided a great opportunity to talk to the kids about we don’t need everything we see on TV. And they are starting to understand.
I watch Biggest Loser but have never bought any of the products advertised or workout DVD’s. For me TV isn’t a pursavive enough force to get me to buy. Even at Sam’s club I will enjoy the samples but have NEVER bought an item I sampled just because I sampled it.
But this is what consumerism is all about. I think those of us who live different act different.
Wow, Dave Ramsey must have watched a lot of TV before he declared bankruptcy! Still wondering if he’s planning to pay back his creditors now that he’s a multi-millionaire.
Not that it’s that important but just wanted to let you know that he did pay back all his bankruptcy creditors. I remember hearing him talk on one of his shows about a year and a half ago about how much of a pain in the rear end it was to track them all down to pay them.
You know, honestly, I think it would be more interesting to study how much more people spend per year compared to how much they spend weekly online. I often find myself wanting something when I hear another blogger talk about having it or seeing a beautiful room or great craft idea on Pinterest than I do when I watch television.
I work 40 hours a week from home and watch TV each of those 40 hours in addition to whatever my husband and I watch at night (which is about 4-5 hours per week). I don’t even make anywhere near the $400,000+ I should be spending annually according to this. I’m sure it does influence me to a degree but in my case, the numbers just don’t work. We don’t even make 1/4 of that.
One more thought, I would be interested to see a correlation between time spent on Facebook and how it equates to buying habits and increased spending. Facebook is full of advertising.
No, I think this is correlation. We watch TV in the evenings, often while working (it’s nice to have something funny in the background), but the commercials/lifestyle promotion/whatever usually have nothing to do with us. We fast forward when we can and just enjoy it.
I question how valid this is. First, I want to know what the connection is. Is it just sitting on the sofa vegging that does it? or is it advertisements? Either way, this stat ought to include social media, youtube, etc. We watch all our stuff via bit torrent or amazon prime — so no commercials. We only see ads on youtube, when we watch something there. Perhaps he means network/cable TV? I find I really despise the imprecise use of language in such ways — reducing things to sound bites just ruins the information communication. Argh. Okay, rant over.
For me personally, I don’t feel it is tv that causes me to spend more, but rather the Internet. The more time I see people’s beautiful houses on blogs, cute crafts on Pinterest, adorable kids clothes on fb…the more I feel I have to have those things too. Trying to break this bad habit!
I’m not sure how much it would be although I do find that if I don’t watch TV I have no idea what the latest gadgets and stuff is.
However, I wouldn’t doubt that you save money on your electric bill by keeping it unplugged all day and limiting it to a certain number of hours a day/week.
I believe it, especially if you have kids!
This is correlation, not causality. An interesting statistic, but two events can be linked without having any kind of causal relationship. The typical example of this is shoe size and reading level. The higher the shoe size, the higher the reading level. Does this mean that big feet cause you to read well? No. It means that children have small feet.
Beautiful. You said it so well and this is so true.
I think its what you’re watching. For instance, dh and I watch calling all midwives- Its on netflix and historical with no commercials. They dont feature food, furniture or clothing- all which is featrued/advertised on some tv and movies to get you to buy.
Thank you for sharing! I’d actually heard of Call the Midwife but I didn’t even realize it was on Netflix! Thanks for giving me something to watch tonight while I clip some coupons! :o)
Hmmmm I wonder for every hour all of us spend online, how much extra money we spend a year! It seems to me I do a lot more shopping online than seeing something on television and going out and buying it! Before we judge the television watchers, we should start with the internet users 🙂
There are other subliminal messages that you take in without watching any commercials. The actors and news anchors have perfect makeup, perfect hair, perfect furnishings in their homes/studios, etc. When we see this, it can influence our purchasing decisions and make us want to upgrade our own clothes, hair, and home furnishings. And how about all those shows on HGTV that make you want to remodel your entire house?
I watch much less tv than I used to, and I find I am more content with what I have. I also have more time to read, and better myself as a person on the inside!
Well said. This is my thoughts as well. We are influenced to some level by the things we see. It may be a TV show, a novel we are reading, music on the radio, etc. This influence is not all bad, but it’s important to be aware of the impact it can have.
Definitely not. It seems ridiculous to me. We watch on average 2 hours a night, usually while doing paperwork or working in Etsy items. Much more than a few years ago and we’ve cut our spending by almost 50% since the.
Does anyone know if this statement is based on any evidence? If it is, then I’d need to have a look at the data to comment on its validity. If it’s not, then this statement is pretty meaningless.
Disagree! Our television is on quite a bit with hours of sports games played each week. Our family is on a budget, including an $80 per week food allowance (which I sometimes have a surplus) and a limited entertainment slot.
This quotation does not surprise me as I find Dave Ramsey very general in many of his statements. I know many are a fan of his, including you, Crystal. However, comments like these make me shake my head.
I don’t agree with it, but I disagree with several of Dave Ramsey’s principals. I agree to disagree, but I think different things work for different people and everyone has to figure out what works for them. Several of his teachings just don’t work for us, but it’s great that others have used them to get out of debt or spend wisely.
I feel like this number is pulled out of a hat, and correlation does not imply causation. Yes, people may see commercials and want to buy something, but I feel like internet ads do the same thing- and make it even easier when you can order online! Commercials may cause influence buying, but so does going to the grocery store hungry, eating the free samples at Sam’s Club, etc.
Personally… we don’t have kids, so no need to worry about kids seeing toys they want on TV and us having to buy them. Second, we strive to eat healthy, so commercials for food don’t affect us as much. Aside from a few breakfast cereals, we don’t eat too many foods that are advertised (we don’t eat from many restaurants that are advertised, either).
I think what I want to say is, if you stop and thinking about the item before buying, and whether or not you truly need it… the amount of TV you watch, time you spend on computer, etc… should not influence your buying habits that much. If it does, I think the problem of impulsive spending is a bit deeper and something the person needs to think about.
with my food allergies the commercials on tv just tick me off. I dont think I spend anything extra because I watch tv. I use over the air broadcasting and amazon so maybe cable tv commercials are funner
my cat Sweetie however may be a different story. My mother once busted her watching one of HSN’s jewelry shows when I was out of town. tv clicker in paw and everything. Sweetie is a girlie girl and likes a good purse as well.
I think it’s another example of questionable data being shortened to a soundbite.
I have no doubt that people are influenced by advertising – that’s kind of it’s whole point, after all. But I think the way the statistic is phrased is probably incredibly misleading. I am not one of those people who brags about how little TV she watches because I watch a fair amount, and yet somehow we manage to have a healthy savings account and keep unnecessary spending to a minimum. We’re just not shoppers.
I’m not saying that it *can’t* increasing spending, I’m just saying that I sincerely doubt it *has* to increase spending.
I watch the news and the kids watch PBS cartoons. All that’s advertised during the news is medicine and cars.
I think that, regardless of the numbers and their shock value and how applicable they are to you, the idea behind them has merit.
The average person is going to watch TV and they’re going to be influenced by what they see. Those of us on tight budgets might be better equipped to avoid the temptation, but we certainly aren’t immune.
Regardless of the quote’s accuracy, the point, in my opinion, is that we should always be aware of why we’re spending money; are you buying that new chapstick because you honestly need chapstick, or because you saw a commercial that made it look irresistible, even though you already have three unopened tubes at home?
It stands to reason that someone who watches zero television (or Hulu or DVR) has no way of seeing those advertisements and thus falling prey to the messages. But they probably still read magazines, or browse the internet, or see billboards, or listen to the radio. So just because someone doesn’t watch TV doesn’t mean that person never spends frivolously.
Well said, and I absolutely agree. That is why I think that the simplicity of this statement removes the truth from it. It makes TV out to be evil, when it isn’t really (although this could be arguable depending on what one is watching….). We are exposed to product placements everywhere we look, not just TV. We, as consumers, have be intentional with our thoughts and actions.
I think it is true. I am a big TV watcher, I normally watch about 2 hours a night. So if they show it is Shrimp Fest at Red Lobster – oh yea I am all over that. However we still live within our budget, so I’m not giving up my TV (or my Red Lobster)!
We are big TV watchers too. I agree, if you keep it in your budget….who cares? I just saw a commercial for Red Robin a week or so ago and my daughter thought it sounded good. So our eating out cash envelope (thank you Dave Ramsey) will support that’s commercials purpose. If we see another commercial, well, we’ll just have to wait for the envelope to fill back up.
We use a DVR to record almost every thing we watch. We very rarely watch a show live. So we skip all the commercials. I think that cuts out a lot of extra spending. I don’t think we spend any more because of commercials.
Is there an hour where it goes down? Like you spend all your time watching TV so you don’t have time to shop? LOL
I have no idea if it’s accurate.
I wonder how much money was spent trying to figure out that statistic.
Editting to add- I’m sure I spend far more by looking at all the “deal” sites than I do from commercials influencing me.
I cracked up on your last statement. 🙂
Isn’t that what QVC is for?
I’m afraid that shortening this point down into one small shocker statement removes all of its validity to me. Really, $200 per hour per week. Really. So if I watch 4 hrs of TV per week, I’m “spending” $41,600 extra a year. I don’t have $41,600 a year to spend— let alone extra. I am sure that there is truth behind the statement that time spent in front of the TV does cost in the long run (whether that be actual dollars and cents, or opportunity cost)– but boiling it down to a simple statement removes truth. In order to be persuaded to change or to feel convicted, I need real numbers and analysis.
It’s $200 per hour per year. So if you watch 4 hours/week, then the statement is saying you’d spend an extra $800 per year.
Oh goodness, that makes much more sense! Thanks for the correction. I would still like to see numbers.
I would like to see what Dave Ramsey says about how much extra one spends in relation to how much time is spent on social networking sites or blogs. I stay away from Pinterest for this reason alone!
I had to work this am and am late commenting. My thoughts exactly. I put all of my blogs in one app so I can just skim over them and I’m not tempted to buy. Plus, I can’t print from my tablet so I really have to want to get on to get a deal (I signed on for the pizza dough lol) I LOVE Crystal and this blog but I would say you could spend even more by surfing a few blogs a day. We love our TV at our house and sometimes I get exhausted by the posts and people mentioning that I have to get rid of it for some reason or another. For me personally, I would ditch the internet before the TV. Yeah, it may be cheaper and you can get free TV but I certainly spend more time on here than I do on the TV…and it’s not good quality time. Our TV time is watching movies as a family or a football/basketball/soccer game as a family or to have people over. My time is wasted on the internet sometimes hours a week. To me, I may be wacko to some…I’m just different I guess!!!
So a question would be…is watching television the causation of extra spending, OR is there a correlation between watching tv and spending. In other words, either watching tv causes us to spend more whether because of commercials or the shows we watch (whether we like it or not, there’s a lot of “keeping up with Jone’s” exposure in a much of today’s programming). Or, are those who spend a greater amount of time watching tv already more prone to spending money or vice versa? I think it could be a little of both. In my experience, during the times our family has lived most simply and frugally, the tv is turned on maybe once or twice each month.
Either way, this quote is certainly something to chew on and be aware of!
Four hours per week of tv would be $800/year, right? At first I read it as $200/week but it’s $200/year. That would be outrageous. We watch about 8 hours a week (during my treadmill runs, plus a movie or two with the kids, and our weekly series). And I know we aren’t spending an extra $80,000+ ($200/week) … but $1600? Maybe. Factoring in the exposure to toys … the “ooh, Chick-Fil-A has peach milkshakes again?!” etc … maybe that’s not too far off.
See, a Chick Fil A or other commerical like that isn’t going to make any difference to me–even if it looks really delicious, because I don’t eat out. It isn’t even going to influence me to make something similiar at home.
But, as you pointed out, it does influence many people, which is why they advertise in the first place. Most people eat out.
This is a big number. I don’t think most people spend that much; that’s quite a bit.
My husband and I watch Hulu (for free). Yes, we spend money on internet access, but my husband also works from home part of each day, so that is covered (and if it wasn’t, the cost of internet coupons would get it down pretty low).
Electricity spent watching tv is certainly a factor. If you’re online working, or reading online, or reading a book, there is still electricity involved, so the total from this is debateable.
But when it comes to commercials, they’re aren’t a huge influence for us. Hulu has increased the number of commericals in recent months, but they are for things I don’t buy: new cars, fast food, and last night I saw one for toys. None of these are a problem for me because they’re not something I’m going to buy.
Snacks bought to eat while watching tv could be included in his number; many people like to eat while watching tv, and some have parties for sports games that include many expensive snacks. If you weren’t watching tv and snacking, those expenses wouldn’t exist.
I think the number is too high. I don’t see it factoring in ANY difference in my own family’s spending, however.
I’d say that exposure to anything that presents products that will ‘improve’ my life can influence me to spend money.
I believe it with commercials. I hate them – I can’t stand how they talk to viewers like we are stupid. I guess it works. We don’t have a TV and commercials are a large part of that decision.
But I find that I have to be careful with blogs too. I read a blog that show beautiful pictures with something new that the blogger is trying, or I see a suggestion for a ‘better’ baby bib/new book/cleaning solution/thing that will save money eventually/whatever and I’m much more likely to click around to some online stores to check it out and maybe purchase.
Because of this, I’ve unsubscribed to some blogs, particularly the ones that focus on products (though I have to guard my heart everywhere). The spending influences are all over… it isn’t just limited to TV.
So true Ellen!
Just took a look at where this reference came from – it’s from a book called “The Overspent American: Why We Want What We Don’t Need,” written in 1999, by Juliet Schor. Her claim is that for every hour that people watch TV per week above the national average (she used 11 hours per week) they tend to spend $200 per year more (or about $4 a week). Her data sample was 2000 people (which is quite small) who all worked at the same company, and she used savings figures to calculate that.
So in my opinion the quote is a bit misleading at best.
This quote does not at all say the same thing as the book quote you reference. The book quote is talking about the results of TV consumption in excess of some average.
If I read in a book, “For every 100 calories you eat above your daily allotment, you will gain 10 lbs per year.”; I could not shorten it to “For every 100 calories you eat per day you will gain 10 lbs per year.”
Again, I do believe in the principle of this quote….watch less TV and you’ll probably be tempted to buy less. However, it is a personal pet peeve when people make up statistics and they are plastered all over the internet as fact.
The thing about quotes from the internet is that it’s hard to verify their authenticity.
-Abraham Lincoln
Well said, Abby! Lovely quote :-p
What group did the research that produced this quote? I was unable to find any verification that this number is vetted.
I do not disagree with the idea that watching TV can increase discontentment and encourage spending. However, this truly seems like a made up statistic to support a great idea. It actually reminds me of a bumper sticker slogan 🙂
67% of statistics are made up on the spot. 😉
It makes me curious in what ways.
Is that calculated using the cost of TV, so the more you watch the more likely you are to have a big expensive TV and/or cable, satellite, etc.?
Is it saying those who watch a lot of TV spend money paying other people to do things they normally would do if they weren’t watching TV? Like say someone who thinks they “don’t have time” to take care of their landscaping without a professional, but watches 4 hours of TV a week could certainly be spending that.
Or is it strictly saying the influence of advertising costs Americans more than those not exposed to advertising? It’s interesting, but I’d like to see more on what that is in reference to.
Agreed. The causal link is missing – we don’t know if they are just correlated, or if one causes the other. And if one causes the other, everyone seems to be assuming that those who watch tv are influenced by the advertising to buy more, but it could be the direction – that people who spend more money choose to watch more tv. (Perhaps because they have more funds for luxuries.)
Without further information, the quote while interesting, is somewhat useless and should not be taken at face value.
I think it’s probably true for some. I don’t think I spend an extra $200, but the other week I did go and get a subway sandwich that I had seen on TV because it just looked so good. It certainly influences, but maybe not quite to that level.
I think it influences us in more ways than we realize.
I agree with you! Its hard to know how many different I wants come from what we watch.
I agree. We are influenced, as a society, or else they wouldn’t continue to put so much investment into these shows, commercials, etc. It may not be $200 per hour, but it does affect us. And, if it doesn’t affect us monetarily, it may affect us in our contentment with our own lives, expectations, etc.
I don’t find that true for my family. We actually watch very little tv but are on a TIGHT budget. No way!
I personally find that number to be ridiculous and if there’s any truth to it then the number is far too high. Perhaps $20 would be reasonable, but even then I’m skeptical. I think a lot of people spend their screen time on Netflix which doesn’t have commercials and probably isn’t as applicable to this quote. I would also think that people are just as like to spend money when they see products advertised online or projects via Pinterest or blogs.
If you think that this quote refers to people wasting time watching TV when they could be earning money then perhaps that is true, but that is not true in my life and again the $200 would be far too high.
Thank you thank you! Agree with you completely. I know this is completely untrue for us. I will tell you what watching TV costs me a year….nothing. We watch Netflix, I pay for our subscription with survey money.
We have to have internet for my husband’s various training for work, so that was going to be a cost anyways. Plus we have the cheapest net offering available in our area. TV will only influence you if you’re willing to let it.
I also have things I do while the TV is on, clipping coupons, writing out bills, working on our home binder(always updating that baby!), folding clothes and making bread(or muffins, rolls, etc).
I love that you pay for Netflix with your survey money!
I think the number is quite a bit higher than that.
Does anybody else find this post, right after the “Earn Money By Watching Videos on Jingit” post, to be very ironic?
I saw that too, hee hee.
Crystal has our backs if we are spending too much watching t.v. 🙂
Agree that it increases spending. The dollar figure varies, and of course, there are a very few individuals who are exceptions. But most people think they are the exception, and let’s face it – most aren’t. Advertising works. Companies wouldn’t spend what they do on it if it didn’t. We’re more susceptible than we like to admit.
Well… I have never owned a TV and my family of 3 lives on $12,000 a year (living expenses not including savings and charity/tithing). So… works for me!
I know Crystal doesn’t allow us to compare ourselves to others, but I think I will just this once. Maybe there’s truth to this because I spend $4k more for two people, and we have a TV. So that’s more the $200/yr (I definitely don’t watch 20/hrs a week watching TV). But of course I’m being facetious
It MUST. Not only do the shows promote a “beautiful living,” but look at the commercials! I know every time I watch the show SHARK TANK I want 1/2 the things people have invented. Perhaps I shouldn’t swim with sharks! ;o)
Ha, I love Shark Tank! It’s one of 2 shows I watch each week.
Maybe I’m just dumb as dirt, but I don’t understand the meaning of this quote at all. I’ve tried to think through it, but I just don’t get it. :/
lol I had to read it a few times too. I think there are many meanings but my personal interpretation is this. Watching television regardless of the amount of time exposes all of us to spending money we may otherwise wouldn’t spend if we were not watching television. Even though my family watches a documentary per week with this week’s theme being organic eating, we are succomb to spending money on more organic foods which are obviously more expensive than non-organic foods.
I know, for me, reading blog posts has the same effect. Letting me know about stuff to buy I wouldn’t know about otherwise. Oh and message boards. And Facebook.
Oh, and Pinterest.
I would love to know why that is. It is sure good motivation to watch less tv!
I think the cause in question is that people (tend to) respond to advertising and to the fancy-dancy gear that people in TVLand tend to have.
One way to resist the lure of advertisements is to deconstruct the ad and break down what makes the product seem enticing. The music? Collateral aspects of the lives/events depicted? The appearance of the actors in the ads? The association with famous persons?
It’s not a bad exercise to take kids through, either. You can start with the ad-world truism that the way to make people buy stuff is to identify a problem (preferably a new one) and the mfgr has the product to fix it. For example, did you know that before WWI, neither bad breath nor body odor were considered negative things – that’s just what people were like. Or that a generation ago, bright white teeth were considered abnormal?
Sounds real to me. 2 kinds of spending in my mind.
The money in a household budget to pay for cable or streaming packages is one. Second is the opportunity cost of the time spent watching. Time that could be used for studying how to improve the family budget, or the trade off between watching TV with the kids as opposed to playing with the kids.
At least that’s been our experience.
Maybe for some…but I have a hard time believing this for myself and for most people. In fact, for me I know it’s not the case! I watch about 4 hours of tv per week, so about 208 hours a year (yikes!:)) So does that mean then I would spend an extra $41,600?? There’s no way!!
My husband and I sure have slipped this late winter. We usually take in 1 hour a week, and lately it’s been 4-5 hours per week. So I’m no saint here.
But the $41,600? Think about it this way. What if you took that $200 and instead of watching TV you learned how to invest it wisely. Over time that could compound to a future value of $41,600.
or, if we invested more time into whatever, could our children have more productive lives thereby creating a future monetary value of $41,600 somehow?
Think of how much more money we could give if we had those kinds of numbers!
Training children to work their opportunities to earn money increase.
I think you’re missing the “per week.” So… for every hour you watch in one week, that adds two hundred per year. Not, for every hour in a year, an extra two hundred. So… if you watch 4-5 hrs. per week. That would be 4 or 5 times 200 or 800-1000 extra dollars per year.
🙂
youre right… that makes much more sense! 🙂
I think he’s saying that one hour a week is $200 more spent for the whole year. So someone who watches four hours a week would spend $800 more each year. At least that’s how I interpreted it.
Er…$800.
I agree with Emily. We watch Netflix and PBS most of the time.
PBS has sponsored advertising; Sunmaid Raisins and Chuck E Cheese are two that I have seen on there over the years. I have never taken my children there, but they have heard the ads enough to memorize them.
Yes they do have advertising now. My kids are grown. We do eat raisins 🙂
I eat raisins, too, but I would have bought those anyway 🙂
$200 worth of raisins is a lot of raisins! Lol! 😉
I should add, too–that we haven’t had cable since July 2007. I had a dvr that allowed me to record shows to the hardrive (without a subscription; Panasonic made it) and I could edit out commericals. I just haven’t edited all of the PBS sponsers from those shows.
I don’t think thats true, but maybe it could be true for kids toys and their wants.
Definitely. I remember during Christmas I could easily create a multi-page wishlist after an hour of television.
Off topic but when I logged on I thought it was so funny to have these posts back to back:
“Does TV-watching increase your spending?” followed by
“Earn Money By Watching Videos”
I think I should do both to balance it all out!!!
Seriously – I bet that it is probably true that I spend more b/c of TV. Easy to notice in my kids who now watch some TV shows that have commercials. I find them asking for things they’ve seen on TV.
Ha! I though the same thing two about the post about TV increases money and earn $$ watching videos post also 🙂
I think it depends on the person. For one, if you are watching cable TV that costs money. I bet if you have small kids that see toys on commercials, then many people would probably spend money on those things. Myself, I get all wrapped up in those infomercials. I know they are ridiculous, but I have found myself wanting to buy Jillian Michaels workout DVD’s and the Genie Slimming Camisole, lol. I wouldn’t even know about those things unless I saw it on TV.
I know this post is talking about TV watching, but it could probably be true to what we watch online as well. I hear people say all the time they ‘don’t watch TV’, but then you find out they spend hours online watching videos, movies, etc. It may not be TV, but it can still be an influence.
Brandy so true!
We have limited cable but a free dvr package, so we never watch commercials. I’m not sure how accurate this quote is. I think there are too many variables in play to make this assessment, such as does the person watch commercials, do they watch news shows, do they watch documentaries, etc.
You may not watch commercials, but the shows/movies that we watch can also influence our behavioral patterns and purchasing decisions. It may be more subtle than a commercial, but it can have an impact on the average person.
I agree. Those were part of the variables I mentioned. We dvr I Love Lucy, Andy Griffith, The Bible, etc. I still am not convinced that an hour of tv is equivalent to $200 spent.
I don’t necessarily agree with the amount either b/c we do watch some TV but we keep our expenditures pretty frugal. However, as I reflect over my own situation, I wonder how many things I own or accept come from being influenced by something I have seen or read either on TV, radio, in a book, etc.
I remember when we first gave up cable how crazy it seemed. Then, after a while, we wondered why we even had it to begin with. Why? Because we assumed it was part of what we were suppose to do. So crazy!
I agree and it is so funny that right after I wrote my check in comment in your “Early to Rise” post today, this popped up. I was commenting before that we now leave the t.v. off all day until about 6 p.m. Before, most days the television could sometimes be on in the background all day. I know that I have spent at least an average of .55 a day ($200 per year) from watching television. As a matter of fact, I just saw a new product on t.v. advertising Cascade Platinum that claimed to get your dishes shinier and have to say it took alot to not add it to my monthly “needs” list since I have plenty of dishwashing soap at this time.