“Just where the sweet spot is – finding that narrow zone of annoyance that makes it almost, but not quite, worth it to change the station or turn off the program.”
Tel Aviv, June 6 – A survey of broadcast advertisements in member states of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development found that the Jewish state ranks first among the group’s 36 members in the stupidity of advertisement content and presentation.
The OECD’s semi-annual Survey of Transmission Units Perceived as Insultingly Dumb (STUPID) placed Israel far ahead of the other countries in the study for the sixth time in a row, showing that Israeli broadcast advertising outpaces even the United States in the insipidity of its commercial content by a significant margin. Study authors noted that this achievement stands in contrast to Israel’s attainments in the parallel field of broadcast entertainment, where the country’s industry has earned a place among the world’s foremost creators of compelling, entertaining programs.
“Israeli television and radio programs rank among some of the best,” observed lead author Ghee Willigers. “Fauda, In Treatment, and a host of others based on Israeli series – and that’s just TV. On the radio, many of the talk or music programs are world-class. Juxtapose that with the dumbassery that gets aired between broadcast segments and you could get an aneurysm. It’s jarring to the point of insanity.”
The 2017-18 OECD study, published this week, found Israel leading by a comfortable margin at 38.8 out of a possible 40 points, with the United States barely breaking the 30-point barrier, at 30.1. Behind the US clustered Chile, Poland, Hungary and Turkey in the high twenties. The United Kingdom ranked lowest in advertisement dumbness at 5.8, just behind Australia.
Israeli advertising industry executives expressed satisfaction at their repeated achievement. “It takes no small amount of skill to make the listener or viewer experience an ordeal,” boasted Matan Irworm of Segal, Segal, Nudnik and Associates, a prominent ad agency. “We have some healthy competition in the local market, and the pool of ingenuity we enjoy here has led to the development of a cadre of specialists who know just where the sweet spot is – finding that narrow zone of annoyance that makes it almost, but not quite, worth it to change the station or turn off the program.”
Mr. Irworm gave his statement with a sudden increase in the conversation volume, forcing a reporter to back away and turn down the input level on the microphone. The executive then offered to play a jingle that insults the intelligence of anyone within earshot, and repeated his offer twice more within the following three minutes.
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