A new survey commissioned by manufacturer Harris Corporation shows that many viewers take strong measures to avoid overly loud television commercials, including completely muting the volume or even changing the channel.
The House of Representatives just passed Anna Eshoo’s (D-CA) Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Act (CALM) by voice vote 12/15/09. It awaits reciprocal action in the Senate.
Harris’ survey reveals that consumers do not like loud advertisements; often take proactive steps to deal with them and avoid products and services that use such ads.
Harris says 41% turn the ads down; 22% mute them; and 17% change channels.
Loud advertisements cause 61% to have a negative perception of the product; 38% said they are less likely to pay attention to the ad; and in response to this question the number saying they change channels increases to 23%.
Wakefield Research performed the survey for Harris, which is marketing products designed to help broadcasters comply with CALM.
