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Congress Cracks Down on Loud Commercials

by Amar Toor on October 11, 2009 at 12:35 PM


You've been there. Sitting in your living room, passively watching commercials on the TV while you wait for 'Mad Men' to come back on, maybe enjoying a cold beverage or getting lost in a daydream. When all of a sudden, you get hit with a freight train of sound that jolts you out of our reverie. After the shock passes and you crawl out from underneath the coffee table, you realize that no, that wasn't an earthquake. It was a commercial. Annoyance ensues. Pretty soon, though, this common scenario may become a relic of history.

In the latest of a recent series of moves to control commercial volume, the House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee plans to discuss legislation that would outlaw any commercials considered "excessively noisy or strident." The Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation (CALM) was originally proposed last year by California Democratic Rep. Anna Eshoo, who said the bill was critical since ear-shredding advertisements had "endangered hearing for decades." Daily Finance also reports that the nonprofit organization Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) is working to develop voluntary standards that would enable broadcast networks to calibrate and modify volume levels individually. The standards, president Mark Richer argues, will offer "guidance to broadcasters" in how to manage the "audio loudness differential" that so many find aggravating.

We definitely get annoyed by relentlessly blaring advertisements, but we're not sure how to feel about Congress stepping in here. Aurally sensitive viewers can already purchase televisions with Dolby Volume, a feature that can blunt any meteoric spikes in volume, or SRS Tru Volume, which will function in much the same way, with the added bonus of distinguishing between commercials and regular programming.

However justified CALM may be in its intent, it may ultimately end up creating more gray area, and thereby increase courtroom traffic. It obviously depends on the exact wording of the finalized version of the bill, and how scrupulously lawmakers define terms like "strident," but we can sort of understand advertisers' dismay. Although irritating somebody -- volumetric or otherwise -- can be abrasive and downright unpleasant, it's also an effective means of getting someone to remember your brand. If it weren't, why would we still remember this guy? [From: Daily Finance and NewTeeVee]

Tags: ads, advertising, commercial, congress, law, loud commercials, LoudCommercials, loudness, top

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